Which? Banking Award

The Which? Awards celebrate brands that offer outstanding products and services and go above and beyond for customers, including the best banking brand.

Our banking award is an independent endorsement, judged by our rigorous research. 

There are also award categories across a wide range of sectors, from retailers to electric cars, home appliance and travel brands. You can see the winners of the Which? Awards 2026 here.

What are the Which? Awards?

The Which? Awards were launched in 2007 to celebrate and reward the very best businesses in the UK. 

Each year we use our research to select and publicly recognise those companies and individuals that consistently do the best for their customers in categories including banking. 

Like our product testing and investigations, the Which? Awards are completely independent. Brands can't influence our choice of winners. 

What is considered for Which? Banking Brand of the year?

The banking award assesses providers across four core product areas: current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages and credit cards. 

We use existing Which? research data, including our surveys and endorsements, in judging the award. To complete our evaluation, our judging panel analyses relevant external data, including regulatory data, sustainability practices and accessibility standards. 

The following criteria are used:

• Percentage of services tested that are Which? Recommended Providers (WRPs) or top-rated in the sector
• Diversity and breadth of WRPs across different service sectors
• Customer score performance and overall positioning in surveys, including year-on-year improvements
• Customer service and service star ratings, including online, mobile and branch banking, and transparency of charges where relevant
• Value for money star ratings and competitive interest rates for savings and mortgages, where relevant
• Evidence of brand innovation
• Negative factors, including lower-than-average customer scores, notable controversies and relevant negative developments
• Sustainability issues
• Accessibility issues
• Relevant regulatory data eg from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)

How our evidence is generated

For each product area we have an existing annual survey of the general public. Each survey, including current accounts, savings accounts, mortgage lenders and credit cards, is managed by our Consumer Research and Data team. 

Minimum sample sizes for each brand are set for each of the four areas (and detailed in the above pages). We do additional analysis on top of our customer surveys before endorsing Which? Recommended Providers (WRPs).

We also have a current account Eco Provider assessment with Eco Provider endorsements (last published in October 2025) and a banking survey of disabled consumers (last published February 2026). These run every two years and were taken into account for the 2026 awards.

In addition, our lead researchers collect additional data as part of the WRP process (eg rates) and their general research includes regulatory data.

How our evidence is assessed

Researchers consider the evidence across all four banking areas and the judging criteria collectively when determining which shortlisted provider demonstrates the strongest overall performance.

The evidence and decision-making for each area (including banking) is detailed, and scrutinised by Which?'s leadership team before the final awards are decided.

Why First Direct is our banking Which? Award holder

First Direct was selected as the winner in 2026 after being compared with the other shortlisted providers, American Express and Marcus.

First Direct performs consistently across all four core banking categories, securing a five-star customer service rating for current accounts, credit cards and savings accounts.  

It has retained its status as a Which? Recommended Provider for current accounts, backed by consistently strong ratings for its telephone banking service, with staff routinely praised for being helpful and efficient. 

Notably, First Direct has also achieved the highest score in every Which? survey evaluating accessibility for disabled banking customers to date.