Banks criticised over attitude towards customer switches

The Financial Regulator says a large number of Irish bank branches do not deal well with customers wanting to switch their accounts to another bank.

The regulator says a secret shopping exercise it conducted around the country found that 40% of branches were not dealing satisfactorily with customers seeking to move to another bank.

The branches failed to provide enough information to the customer or discouraged them from making the move.

The regulator says this isn't good enough and is urging all banks to facilitate the switching process.