Named: Britain's most and least loved banks It was the eighth time that First Direct has won the title for customer satisfaction - 94pc of its customers said they would recommend the HSBC-owned bank to a friend. Mark Mullen, First Direct chief executive, said the bank hopes to welcome more new customers when the industry changes in order to take the hassle out of account switching, which comes into force this September. Norwich and Peterborough Building Society achieved the distinction of being awarded Which? "recommended provider" status for the first time, coming in fifth place with a score of 71pc. Ewan Edwards, N&P's head of current accounts, said the mutual is "delighted" and added: "We saw a sharp increase in the number of new customers switching to us following the scandals surrounding the big banks in summer last year." Which? said big players Barclays, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, RBS and Santander should try harder as all achieved below-average scores of less than 62pc. The survey of 1,631 people carried out in May comes ahead of new rules which mean that as of September, people switching current accounts will see incoming payments automatically redirected to the new account. The time it takes to fully change accounts will be cut from around 18 days to seven working days. Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said: "It's clear once again that the biggest banks have a lot of work to do to improve their customer service. For people unhappy with their current account provider, switching should get easier and quicker from this autumn, and we hope that more customers will put pressure on the poor performers by voting with their feet. The Government's proposed reforms must lead to more competition on the high street and a big change in banking so that banks put customers first, not sales. Bank of Ireland said the Which? research is at odds with a recent study by independent research company Ipsos Mori of 4,000 people, of which 350 are Bank of Ireland customers, which found that 90% of customers are satisfied or very satisfied with the bank. Bank of Ireland said in a statement: "We will continue to strive to improve on this figure." Overall scores for current account customer satisfaction First Direct Smile Intelligent Finance (IF) The One Account Cooperative bank Danske Bank Norwich & Peterborough Building Society Nationwide Building Society Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Clydesdale Bank Yorkshire Bank Bank of Scotland Cahoot Ulster Bank Halifax Bank of Ireland Natwest Got a question about personal finance? Put it to our panel of experts by emailing money@telegraph.co.uk