UK banking customers registered the third lowest volume of complaints globally in 2013, according to the Ernst & Young (EY) Global Consumer Banking Survey.
20% of UK customers complained, well under the global average of 34% and the Western European average of 25%.
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Omar Ali, UK banking and capital markets leader for EY, said: "Retail banking in the UK experienced its share of public flogging throughout 2013, with a number of system outages, branch closure announcements and the surfacing of historic issues.
"While the UK compares well against other countries, and retail banking is improving its complaints handling, for any consumer-focused business, 20% of customers complaining is still too high."
Only Japan and Sweden registered a lower volume of complaints that the UK, with 7.7% and 12% respectively.
The highest volumes of complaints were issued in Brazil, India and China, with over 40% of customers logging a complaint.
A majority UK customers were also satisfied with the way their complaints were handled – of those who made a complaint, 70% were satisfied with how it was handled (33% of those were very satisfied) above the global average of 67%.
The survey found that, globally, 40% of customers who were dissatisfied said their likelihood to recommend their bank had reduced considerably.
Ali said: "With the Government encouraging increasing competition in the market, customer retention has never been more important. Customer service is the bread and butter of retail banking and ensuring that complaints are dealt with effectively is essential, or customers will walk.
"Going forward, banks will increasingly need to use their vast amounts of data to prevent problems before they develop, rather than just looking to resolve them when they do. This will increase loyalty, advocacy and lower the costs of complaints handling."
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