|
SMALL BUSINESS BANKING NOT GOOD ENOUGH
 |
THE FEDERATION of Small Businesses has released the findings of its review of small business banking.
The FSB's report, which surveyed over four thousand small firms, looked at progress made since the Cruickshank Review of 2000 and the recommendations of the Competition Commission Inquiry of 2002, following a referral of the banks to the Commission by the Office of Fair Trading.
The report's findings follow on from the recent announcement of record profits by the major banks and allegations of poor customer service for personal account users.
The three main strands of the report's findings were: The majority of small businesses are satisfied with their bank; but when the service goes wrong it goes badly wrong. Switching accounts, overcharging and poor customer services are the main areas where small businesses are not satisfied. A major cause of this is the lack of understanding of small businesses by bank staff.
The banks are not fulfilling their commitment to the Competition Commission to offer free banking or pay at least 2.5% interest on business current accounts and to publicise these services to their customers.
Small businesses employ fifty eight per cent of the private sector workforce, contributing fifty per cent of UK GDP.
|
