Nine out of ten customers remain happy with their bank

THE vast majority of consumers are happy with their bank despite the bad publicity the sector has endured in recent years.

According to a new survey more than 90 per cent of customers have not changed banks during the past two years, with 93 per cent claiming they are happy with the service they receive.

Only 8 per cent of the 1,001 people questioned had switched accounts. Their reasons ranged from finding better rates, to problems with customer service and a lack of local branches.

Only 36 per cent of those who had changed their provider cited the stability of banks during the recession as the reason they switched accounts.

However, half of those who had not changed banks said they thought all current accounts were the same, despite the fact that the interest available on them ranges from 0.01 per cent to 5 per cent.

Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers' Association (BBA), welcomed the BBC's survey.

She said: "What the banking industry has done over the last two to three years is ask all its customers: 'What is it that you want?' It has been acting on the replies."

But the survey also uncovered some areas of discontent, with 80 per cent of those questioned saying they thought banks should only levy charges on people who went overdrawn without permission.

At the same time, just 18 per cent of people thought banks should charge a fee to everyone who had a standard current account, a practice that is widely used across the rest of the world.