FCA Orders UK Banks to Improve Vulnerable Customer Support After Finding Only 28% of Interactions Rated Good

According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK's largest banks have committed to improving access and support for vulnerable customers after a regulator investigation revealed significant gaps in service. A mystery shopping exercise involving 298 bank interactions found that only 28% of customer experiences were rated good or very good, while 38% were fair, 20% were poor, and 14% were very poor.

The FCA identified that many banks failed to recommend basic bank accounts to eligible customers, particularly those without a permanent address, and instead directed them toward unsuitable online-only applications. Following the FCA's intervention, participating banks—including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Santander, TSB, and others—agreed to make applications more accessible for people without standard identification or fixed addresses and to ensure eligible customers are offered the correct account type from the outset.