On Thursday 5 May, Smart Money People revealed the winners of the British Bank Awards 2022, at a glamorous awards ceremony in the heart of London, hosted by comedian Lucy Porter.
It was the first in-person awards event for the Smart Money People team since March 2020, when the British Bank Awards were held just days before the country entered into lockdown.
This year saw Monzo enjoy success in two of the biggest categories for the first time. Firstly, it scooped the highly coveted ‘Best British Bank’ award, sponsored by Folio, then the Monzo team took home the ‘Best Business Account’ gong. Monzo also secured the honour of ‘Best Banking App’, making the coral-coloured challenger bank the top winner for 2022 in the awards.
Starling Bank maintained its hold on the award for ‘Best Current Account’ for a fifth consecutive year, and also scooped the award for ‘Best Children’s Account’ for the first time for its Kite account which it launched in 2020.
The Fintech Times sponsored the category for ‘Innovation of the Year’, awarded to money management app HyperJar, which launched in the UK in October 2020. Since launch, the app has introduced a range of innovative new features to the market and most recently HyperJar announced it was the first consumer account to offer routed spending, as well as ‘Only’ and ‘Block’ spending features within the app.
The feedback
Commenting on the results on the evening, CEO of Smart Money People Jacqueline Dewey said: “With the awards 100 per cent voted for by consumers, the British Bank Awards truly reflect the best of the UK banking industry, and the commitment and engagement these organisations have from their customers. Both the finalists and the winners of the awards this year should be proud of their achievements.”
Now in their eighth year, the awards saw more than 80,000 votes cast across 29 categories over 13 weeks to determine the winners. Voting in the awards was as competitive as ever, with some categories having up to 10 finalists in the run up to the winner’s announcement.
The awards are determined by customers voting for their favourite product provider via a rating out of five and then a review on the Smart Money People website. Smart Money People also asks the customer to give a rating for customer service, NPS (net promoter score), value for money and whether they felt fairly treated.
The British Bank Awards are run by Smart Money People, which offers a dedicated website for reviews on financial service products, and uses the data collected from these reviews to provide customer insight to companies across the industry, showing them what they’re doing well and benchmarking against their peers. Smart Money People also runs the annual Consumer Credit Awards and Insurance Choice Awards.
The 2022 British Bank Awards winners
Best British Bank – Monzo
Innovation of the Year – HyperJar
Best Banking App – Monzo
Best Newcomer – Tembo
Customer Service Champion – Novuna Personal Finance
Treating Customers Fairly Champion – RateSetter
Personal Finance Journalist of the Year – Katie Binns
Online Financial Influencer of the Year – Lara Joanna Jarvis
Best Building Society – Suffolk Building Society
Best Alternative Finance Provider – CapitalRise
Best Business Banking Provider – Monzo
Best Business Finance Provider – Allica Bank
Best Credit Card Provider – Bip.
Best Current Account Provider – Starling Bank
Best Investments Provider – Triodos Bank
Best Specialist Mortgage Provider – Newbury Building Society
Best Mortgage Broker – Tembo
Best Online Trading Platform – Freetrade
Best Personal Finance App – Chip
Best Personal Loan Provider – JN Bank UK
Best Savings Provider – Melton Building Society
Best Ethical Financial Provider – Triodos Bank
Best Children’s Financial Provider – Starling Bank
Best Crypto Exchange – Ziglu
Marketing and PR Partner of the Year – Teamspirit
The Pioneer Award – 11:FS
RegTech Partner of the Year – encompass
Technology Partner of the year – CSI
Consultancy of the Year – Capco