Bank customer satisfaction has deteriorated over the last year, with the ‘big four’ all recording decreases
Bank customer satisfaction has deteriorated over the last year, with the ‘big four’ all recording decreases, according to the TNS Business Finance Monitor.
Research agency TNS has designed the survey to provide a snapshot of the attitudes and behaviour of businesses towards their finances and financial institutions.
It has tracked long-term trends since inception in June 2001, and more recent trends over the past two years.
Considering the steady climb in satisfaction levels enjoyed by the banks has turned over the past six to 12 months, the latest report details both six-month and 12-month rolling averages.
Looking at the trend in the six months to May, 74 percent of business banking customers were satisfied with their relationship with their main financial institution.
However, each of the big four banks has seen decreased satisfaction, with the combined big four down by 5.2 percent to 72.1 percent.
Based on the past six months, Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has seen the biggest decrease among the big four, down by 5.7 percent to 70.5 percent.
ANZ’s customer satisfaction remains the highest (76.7 percent), with Westpac remaining in second position at 72.1 percent.
National Australia Bank (NAB) is trailing slightly at 70.2 percent.
Despite this latest trend, satisfaction levels remain higher than those seen in 2002 to 2006, and TNS is currently investigating the impact of the global financial crisis on Australian businesses.
While the six-month overview shows the most recent developments in banking satisfaction, the yearly data offers a different perspective.
In the 12 months to May, 76.5 percent of business banking customers were satisfied with their relationship with their main financial institution.
Satisfaction levels decreased by 2.9 percent compared with the same period a year earlier.
There has been a decrease of 1.9 percent in business customer satisfaction with the four major banks relative to the same period 12 months ago (74.8 percent).
ANZ’s business customers remain the most satisfied (at 79 percent) of the four major banks.
Westpac’s business banking customer satisfaction has seen the biggest decrease, dropping 3.7 percent to 75.2 percent.
Meanwhile, NAB’s customer satisfaction is the lowest at 72.7 percent, down by 2.5 percent.
CBA’s business banking satisfaction has seen a slight increase compared with a year ago, up 0.6 percent to 73.2 percent.
St George’s business banking customer satisfaction has decreased 5.7 percent over the past 12 months to 77.8 percent, and remains in second position among the five majors.
Bank of Queensland and Bendigo Bank have the highest customer satisfaction levels of any of the banks on a 12-month basis.
In the past year, Bank of Queensland’s customer satisfaction has increased by 0.5 percent to 91.4 percent, while Bendigo Bank’s customer satisfaction levels have decreased by 3.7 percent to 90 percent.
The BFM collects information on an extensive range of topics including: business characteristics, business health, banking profile, banks used, products used, transaction profile and satisfaction levels.
Each year, the BFM surveys the banking behaviour and attitudes of 2,000 agricultural businesses and 10,000 non-agricultural businesses with an annual turnover up to $300 million.