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Banks 'turn-off' for young people
High street banks are a "turn-off" for young people, with less than a fifth saying they have recommended their provider in the last year, a report has found.
Fewer than one in five under-30s recommended their bank in the last year, new figures have shown
High street banks are a "turn-off" for young people, with less than a fifth saying they have recommended their provider in the last year, a report has found.
Just 17% of the 20- to 29-year-olds surveyed said they had praised their bank to someone else in the last 12 months, the Young Money report for financial services consultancy MRM found.
Opening hours were one of the main areas of frustration, with one in five people saying they had tried to visit a branch only to find it was closed.
The study comes as banks are trying to re-build their customer reputations following a recent spate of incidents which have rocked the sector such as Barclays' Libor-fixing scandal and NatWest's IT chaos.
Comparison websites and building societies have recently reported surges in activity from people looking to switch their accounts.
MRM director Michael Taggart said the findings suggested high street banks are a "turn-off for twentysomethings".
He said: "Today's twentysomethings are tomorrow's big earners and if banks fail to win their loyalty and trust today, they are storing up big problems in years to come."
The Office of Fair Trading launched a review into the personal current account market earlier this month amid concerns over a lack of transparency and competition.
The watchdog wants banks to make switching easier and increase their transparency over fees and charges. It said it will consider going to the Competition Commission if it finds the sector has not done enough to pull its socks up.
The report based its findings on responses from more than 2,000 people.
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