Dataset · source CMA / Ipsos
UK business banking service quality, wave by wave
The only independent measure of UK business banking service, kept across waves so you can see who is improving and who is sliding — which the survey itself never shows, because each publication replaces the last.
What moved
Overall service quality, August 2026 against February 2026. Sorted by change in score, not rank — a provider can lose a place while improving.
Improved
- HSBC Business — Up 1 place, Joint 11th to Joint 10th, up 5 points to 60%
- Barclays Business — Up 3 places, Joint 16th to Joint 13th, up 4 points to 56%
- Virgin Money Business — Up 1 place, Joint 9th to 8th, up 3 points to 62%
- handelsbanken — Held 4th, up 3 points to 78%
- Zempler Bank Business — Up 1 place, 6th to Joint 5th, up 2 points to 69%
- Starling Business — Up 1 place, 3rd to 2nd, up 2 points to 83%
- rbs — Down 1 place, Joint 11th to 12th, up 2 points to 57%
- Co-operative Bank Business — Up 1 place, Joint 14th to Joint 13th, up 2 points to 56%
- tsb — Down 2 places, Joint 11th to Joint 13th, up 1 point to 56%
- metro-bank — Held 7th, up 1 point to 63%
- Lloyds Business — Down 1 place, Joint 9th to Joint 10th, up 1 point to 60%
- bank-of-scotland — Held 16th, up 1 point to 53%
Fell back
- Tide Business Account — Held Joint 5th, down 1 point to 69%
- NatWest Business — Down 2 places, Joint 7th to 9th, down 1 point to 61%
- Mettle by NatWest — Down 1 place, 2nd to 3rd, down 1 point to 82%
- Santander Business — Down 3 places, Joint 14th to 17th, down 6 points to 48%
August 2026 results
Surveyed by BVA BDRC (now part of Ipsos) between July 2025 and June 2026, roughly 1,200 SME customers per provider, 20,400 in total. Results published only where at least 100 customers gave an eligible score.
| Provider | Overall service quality | Online and mobile banking services | SME overdraft and loan services | Relationship/account management | Service in branches and business centres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monzo Business | 1st, 85% – Held 1st, 85% to 85% | 1st, 90% – Held 1st, 90% to 90% | Not ranked | 4th, 73% ↓ Down 1 place, 3rd to 4th, down 1 point to 73% | Not ranked |
| Starling Business | 2nd, 83% ↑ Up 1 place, 3rd to 2nd, up 2 points to 83% | 2nd, 87% – Held 2nd, up 1 point to 87% | Not ranked | 3rd, 74% ↑ Up 1 place, 4th to 3rd, up 1 point to 74% | Not ranked |
| Mettle by NatWest | 3rd, 82% ↓ Down 1 place, 2nd to 3rd, down 1 point to 82% | 3rd, 84% – Held 3rd, 84% to 84% | Not ranked | 2nd, 77% – Held 2nd, up 2 points to 77% | Not ranked |
| handelsbanken | 4th, 78% – Held 4th, up 3 points to 78% | Joint 15th, 59% ↑ Up 1 place, 16th to Joint 15th, up 2 points to 59% | 1st, 73% – Held 1st, up 4 points to 73% | 1st, 86% – Held 1st, up 1 point to 86% | 1st, 75% – Held 1st, up 3 points to 75% |
| Tide Business Account | Joint 5th, 69% – Held Joint 5th, down 1 point to 69% | Joint 4th, 74% – Held Joint 4th, 74% to 74% | Not ranked | 6th, 64% – Held 6th, up 2 points to 64% | Not ranked |
| Zempler Bank Business | Joint 5th, 69% ↑ Up 1 place, 6th to Joint 5th, up 2 points to 69% | Joint 4th, 74% ↑ Up 2 places, 6th to Joint 4th, up 1 point to 74% | 2nd, 66% ↑ Now ranked 2nd; not ranked in the previous wave | 5th, 69% – Held 5th, 69% to 69% | Not ranked |
| metro-bank | 7th, 63% – Held 7th, up 1 point to 63% | 14th, 61% ↓ Down 1 place, Joint 13th to 14th, down 1 point to 61% | 3rd, 65% ↓ Down 1 place, 2nd to 3rd, 65% to 65% | Joint 9th, 60% ↓ Down 3 places, Joint 6th to Joint 9th, down 2 points to 60% | 2nd, 65% – Held 2nd, 65% to 65% |
| Virgin Money Business | 8th, 62% ↑ Up 1 place, Joint 9th to 8th, up 3 points to 62% | 12th, 65% – Held 12th, 65% to 65% | Not ranked | Joint 9th, 60% ↑ Up 1 place, Joint 10th to Joint 9th, up 4 points to 60% | 3rd, 64% – Held 3rd, up 8 points to 64% |
| NatWest Business | 9th, 61% ↓ Down 2 places, Joint 7th to 9th, down 1 point to 61% | Joint 6th, 73% ↓ Down 2 places, Joint 4th to Joint 6th, down 1 point to 73% | Joint 8th, 56% ↓ Down 3 places, Joint 5th to Joint 8th, up 1 point to 56% | Joint 9th, 60% ↑ Up 3 places, 12th to Joint 9th, up 5 points to 60% | Joint 4th, 53% ↑ Up 1 place, Joint 5th to Joint 4th, up 2 points to 53% |
| HSBC Business | Joint 10th, 60% ↑ Up 1 place, Joint 11th to Joint 10th, up 5 points to 60% | Joint 9th, 69% ↑ Up 1 place, Joint 10th to Joint 9th, up 2 points to 69% | 4th, 62% ↑ Up 1 place, Joint 5th to 4th, up 7 points to 62% | 7th, 63% ↑ Up 2 places, 9th to 7th, up 5 points to 63% | 12th, 46% ↓ Down 1 place, 11th to 12th, up 3 points to 46% |
| Lloyds Business | Joint 10th, 60% ↓ Down 1 place, Joint 9th to Joint 10th, up 1 point to 60% | Joint 6th, 73% ↑ Up 1 place, 7th to Joint 6th, up 1 point to 73% | Joint 5th, 60% ↓ Down 2 places, 3rd to Joint 5th, up 3 points to 60% | 14th, 57% ↓ Down 4 places, Joint 10th to 14th, up 1 point to 57% | Joint 4th, 53% ↑ Up 1 place, Joint 5th to Joint 4th, up 2 points to 53% |
| rbs | 12th, 57% ↓ Down 1 place, Joint 11th to 12th, up 2 points to 57% | 8th, 70% – Held 8th, 70% to 70% | Joint 8th, 56% ↓ Down 4 places, 4th to Joint 8th, 56% to 56% | Joint 12th, 59% ↓ Down 4 places, 8th to Joint 12th, down 1 point to 59% | Joint 4th, 53% ↑ Up 5 places, 9th to Joint 4th, up 4 points to 53% |
| Barclays Business | Joint 13th, 56% ↑ Up 3 places, Joint 16th to Joint 13th, up 4 points to 56% | Joint 9th, 69% – Held Joint 9th, up 1 point to 69% | 7th, 59% ↑ Up 2 places, 9th to 7th, up 6 points to 59% | Joint 12th, 59% ↑ Up 4 places, 16th to Joint 12th, up 9 points to 59% | Joint 10th, 47% ↑ Up 2 places, 12th to Joint 10th, up 5 points to 47% |
| Co-operative Bank Business | Joint 13th, 56% ↑ Up 1 place, Joint 14th to Joint 13th, up 2 points to 56% | 17th, 49% – Held 17th, up 2 points to 49% | Not ranked | 8th, 61% ↑ Up 5 places, 13th to 8th, up 7 points to 61% | Joint 4th, 53% – Held Joint 4th, down 2 points to 53% |
| tsb | Joint 13th, 56% ↓ Down 2 places, Joint 11th to Joint 13th, up 1 point to 56% | 13th, 62% – Held 13th, 62% to 62% | Not ranked | 15th, 55% ↓ Down 1 place, 14th to 15th, up 2 points to 55% | 8th, 52% – Held 8th, up 2 points to 52% |
| bank-of-scotland | 16th, 53% – Held 16th, up 1 point to 53% | 11th, 67% ↓ Down 1 place, Joint 10th to 11th, 67% to 67% | Joint 5th, 60% – Held Joint 5th, up 5 points to 60% | 16th, 52% ↓ Down 1 place, 15th to 16th, up 1 point to 52% | 9th, 50% ↓ Down 4 places, Joint 5th to 9th, down 1 point to 50% |
| Santander Business | 17th, 48% ↓ Down 3 places, Joint 14th to 17th, down 6 points to 48% | Joint 15th, 59% ↓ Down 2 places, Joint 13th to Joint 15th, down 3 points to 59% | 10th, 54% ↓ Down 2 places, 8th to 10th, 54% to 54% | 17th, 45% – Held 17th, down 3 points to 45% | Joint 10th, 47% – Held Joint 10th, down 1 point to 47% |
Why we keep the history
Each publication replaces the last, and the previous wave disappears. Providers quote their position when it flatters them and stay quiet when it does not — and because nobody keeps the record, nobody can check.
Holding every wave makes the more useful question askable. Not who is best today, which the survey answers, but who is getting better, which it does not.
How this feeds our scoring
Service quality carries the largest single weighting in our ranking at 22%, and this survey is the evidence behind it. Six providers we track are not surveyed at all — Allica, OakNorth, Revolut, ANNA, Wise and Airwallex — and we say so on each of their pages rather than quietly scoring them as though the same evidence existed. Full method on our methodology page.
Reuse
The survey results belong to the CMA and the participating banks. Cite them for the figures. Our compilation, the CSV and the movement analysis are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with attribution and a link to this page.
Common questions
What is the CMA business banking service survey?
UK banks must publish independent service quality results every six months under the CMA’s Retail Banking Order. The survey is carried out by BVA BDRC (now part of Ipsos) across roughly 1,200 business customers per provider, and banks are required to display the results in branches and online. It is the only independent measure of UK business banking service.
Why do some providers show “outside top five”?
All 17 surveyed providers are ranked in each category. A provider shows as not ranked only where it does not offer that service, or where fewer than 100 of its customers gave an eligible score.
Which providers are not surveyed at all?
Allica, OakNorth, Revolut, ANNA, Wise and Airwallex sit below the size threshold or are not banks. There is no independent service data for them, which is why our service score for those providers rests on public review platforms and should carry less weight.
How often does this update?
Every six months, in February and August. We add each new wave here and keep the previous ones, so the movement stays visible after the survey itself has moved on.
Can I reuse this data?
The survey results belong to the CMA and the participating banks; cite them for the figures. Our compilation, CSV and the movement analysis are free to reuse with attribution and a link.