18,000 current account customers in Scots bank exodus

Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale have lost a total of almost 18,000 customers in a mass exodus prompted by the new system.

Latest data compiled by Current Account Switch Service, covering the period from July to the end of September last year, shows that 80 per cent state-owned RBS suffered the biggest loss of current account customers with a net drop of 9,634.

Glasgow-based Clydesdale, meanwhile, was hit with a net loss of 8,191 over the same period.

Over the course of 2014 as a whole, RBS suffered a net loss of over 28,000 current account customers, while Clydesdale suffered marginally less, losing a net total of 22,900.

Lloyds lost 10,000 and the newly relaunched TSB suffered a net loss of 4,150 customers.

Of the major Scottish banks, Bank of Scotland performed best, suffering a net loss of 956 current account customers last year.

Santander, though, has proven to be the biggest winner in the switching revolution that has been enabled by the new system which ensures no disruption to bill and salary payments during a transition.

The Spanish giant gained 43,312 new account holders in a year which saw a total of 1.14 million customers move their accounts.

That was up from 1.06 million switches in the previous 12 months of 2013.

The RBS exodus comes after customers suffered technical problems in 2013 when debit and credit cards were declined in shops on one of the busiest shopping days in December of that year due to a systems problem.

An RBS spokesman said the bank was striving to improve its products and services.

He said: “We are continually looking at ways to improve service for our customers.

“We believe in offering our customers a simple, fair and transparent current account range free from short term teaser rates.

“We know we still have work to do, but we’ve shortened the time it takes to open a current account with us, we’ve simplified our product range and we’re investing £1 billion up to 2017 to improve banking services, such as our mobile apps”.

Also reacting to the figures, a Clydesdale spokesman said the figures were already outdated.

He said they have since offered £150 to people switching to the bank and is already benefitting from a new market campaigning.

A survey accompanying the figures found that more than seven out of 10 (71 per cent) people in the UK said they were aware of the switching service – which is up from 58 per cent in September 2013, when it launched.

Customer confidence in the new service has also increased by six per cent to 62 per cent over the same time period. Since launch, there have been more than 1.75 million switches.