Independent service quality survey
Detailed methodology
–
personal current accounts
(Updated August 2022)
This section provides more detailed information on the methodology that has been applied
to this survey for personal current accounts (PCAs).
Background
In November 2014, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
board made a reference
for a market investigation into the supply of retail banking services to personal current
account customers and to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United
Kingdom (the market investigation).
In August 2016 the CMA published its report on the mar
ket
investigation, entitled ‘
Retail
Banking market investigation: Final report’
(the Final Report) and in February 2017 the CMA
published ‘
The Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017
’ (the CMA Order).
Under Part 3 of the above Order, an independent survey is required to
be conducted to ask
customers of the largest personal current account providers in Great Britain and in Northern
Ireland if they would recommend their provider to friends and family. The results represent
the views of customers who took part in the survey. See lists of participating providers below.
Sampling
The survey is based on a random probability sample of each brand’s customers.
Ipsos is
supplied with a
breakdown of each providers
’
qualifying customer base by age band, region
and gender so Ipsos can check that samples for each provider are representative of each
provider’s total qualifying customer base.
Data collection and volumes
Data collection is by computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).
The annual survey aims to achieve 1,000 respondents per provider for Great Britain and 500
per provider for Northern Ireland. Quota controls are set to ensure that for
each provider the
achieved sample is representative by age, gender and region.