From today, consumers and businesses will have access to more information than ever before about the service offered by current account providers, helping them compare different offerings more easily.

Banks, building societies and regulators have worked together to develop comprehensive information about the quality of service offered and individual financial providers will display the details on their websites and in branches.

The material will feature existing customers’ willingness to recommend a provider to friends and family or to other SMEs, based on factors such as their overall service quality and their online, mobile, lending and branch services.

Additional information on the help available to customers, the ability to undertake actions through different channels, operational and security incidents and complaints data will also be published by providers.

Banks and building societies are also committing to publish information in a common format highlighting the key support they offer personal and business current account customers, including those who may be experiencing characteristics of potential vulnerability. This information will be made available from November.

Eric Leenders, Managing Director of Personal Finance at UK Finance, said:

“Giving consumers more information about the service personal current account providers offer will help encourage customers to shop around and find the best account to suit their needs. It will also assist in continuing to drive up service standards across the board.

“As part of the finance industry’s commitment to help customers in vulnerable circumstances, providers have also pledged to go further by promoting specific information on the services available to them.”

Stephen Pegge, Managing Director of Commercial Finance at UK Finance, said:

“Having the right financial partners and finance providers is critical to the success of a business. The new information published today includes ratings for SMEs of service through business centres and relationship management, helping businesses choose the right facilities and promoting higher standards across the market.”

The publication of service quality survey results is one of the remedies from the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) retail banking market investigation. Separately, following a recommendation from the CMA, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is requiring firms to publish objective measures of service performance. UK Finance has worked with both the CMA and FCA in delivering these requirements.

The new data will also be made available to aggregators and comparison websites through a new application programme interface (API) designed and delivered as part of the Open Banking initiative.