Lloyds credits ‘brand revitalisation’ as it returns to profit

Lloyds Banking Group says it has added more than 100,000 new current account customers across its brand portfolio since the switching service launched in September 2013. 

Lloyds Bank ad
Current account numbers and brand perception up as Lloyds Banking group returns first profit since bail-out.

The group says the introduction of products designed to tempt people to switch such as the Halifax ‘cashback debit card’ and “Everyday Offers” at Lloyds Bank helped it post a net gain of 144,000 current account customers in the four months since the switching service launched.

The current account switching service was launched by The Payments Council in partnership with 17 banking groups and is aimed at making the process of switching quicker, simpler and more reliable. 

Lloyds Banking Group unveiled the boost to its current account customer numbers in its full-year trading update today (13 February).

The company, 32 per cent owned by The Treasury, reported it returned to profit in the 12 months to 31 December for the first time since its 2009 bail-out. Pre-tax profit hit £415m in 2013, up from a loss of £606m in 2012.

The company credited customer service improvements as well as the role the relaunch of Lloyds and TSB played in creating “a strong portfolio of differentiated brands”.

It claims improvements to branches and its telephone and online banking services have led to an 11 per cent improvement in average Net Promoter Score across the group. It has also helped drive down the number of customer complaints, excluding those made about the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance, to 1.0 per 1,000 accounts – the “lowest of any major UK bank”, the company claims.

Lloyds Bank launched in September backed by a £30m marketing campaign following the spin-off of TSB as a separate brand

Elsewhere, the bank says the number of online banking customer numbers increased to over 10.5 million and mobile banking users to more than 4 million.

 

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