As part of a wider campaign, Ben Lake MP conducted a banking survey at the beginning of the year for charitable and community organisations in Ceredigion to gather their experiences of face to face and online banking. Over 120 organisations engaged with the survey to share their experiences and concerns about the service they receive. It is clear from the responses that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the service that banks currently provide. Many respondents noted frustration at the lack of in-person provision, in addition to inconvenient branch opening hours and more generally that the services provided failed to appreciate the needs communities in rural areas of Wales.
Some of the survey's most significant findings were:
- 95% of organisations who paid fees to maintain their account believed that the fees had not improved the service that they received from their bank.
- 42% of organisations did not have access to online banking.
- 69.1% of organisations did not believe that banks had any understanding of their needs as charitable and community organisations.
To read the full report and access all the survey's findings, click HERE.
The survey's main recommendations were to open community banking hubs across Ceredigion to allow individuals, businesses and organisations to complete every action on site as well as change opening hours to include Saturdays to be more accessible to volunteers. The survey results will inform Ben Lake MP’s discussions with the FCA regarding the efficacy of the new Consumer Duty and help identify further actions the regulator should take to ensure that community groups are not forgotten by the banking sector.
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