NAB leads big four in consumer bank satisfaction but Westpac leads in business banking

These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Research “Customer Satisfaction – Consumer Banking in Australia” and “Business Satisfaction – Business Banking in Australia” reports. Roy Morgan Research is the only company covering both of these important markets on a comparable basis.

Consumer satisfaction with banks continued to increase in December 2011 to 79.3% which is the highest level in 15 years. The NAB narrowly rated the highest (78%) among the big four for the second time since July 2000, having narrowly overhauled the ANZ (77.9%).


Consumer Banking Satisfaction


Source: Roy Morgan Research Customer Satisfaction Survey, July 04 – Dec 11, average 6 monthly sample n = 25,100.


Over the last year, business customers have been gradually increasing their level of satisfaction with banks, going from 61.4% in November 2010 to 65.5% in December 2011, but they still rate well below the satisfaction levels of their consumer banking customers. Westpac currently leads the big four with 67.6%, followed by ANZ (65.4%), NAB (62.8%) and Commonwealth (61.5%).


Business Banking Satisfaction


Source: Roy Morgan Research Business Survey, June 10 – Dec 11, average 6 monthly sample n = 6,757, **7 months to April 2011.


Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“It appears that the current campaign by the NAB to position themselves as being different from the remainder of the big four is showing some early positive gains but there is still some way to go as all four banks are only separated by 1.6% points which is around the closest they been over the last ten years. The strong showing by the NAB over the last 12 months (+ 6.3% points) was due to a big improvement among their customers who do not hold a mortgage. This group increased their satisfaction level with the bank by 7.7% points compared to 1.5% points for their home loan customers. The NAB now rates the highest of the big four banks for having ‘fair fees and charges’ which is most likely the reason for their big improvement in their non home loan customer satisfaction.

“While there are some encouraging signs of satisfaction improvements by banks among their business customers it is worth noting that there is a long way to go for all banks in order to catch up with their performance in consumer banking. With the potential for profitable growth becoming much less among consumers, there is likely to be increased competition for growth in the business market, with the result that more focus will need to be on understanding the needs of business customers.

“A major area of weakness seen by business customers across all banks is that they do not maintain regular contact with them and do not follow developments in their industry. In future they will need to focus more on the needs and concerns of their customers and show greater interest in what is obviously a more complex market compared to consumer banking.”

Purchase the ‘Business Satisfaction – Business Banking Report in Australia’. The brands in this report include ANZ, Bank of Queensland, Bankwest, Bendigo Bank, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank, National Australia Bank, St George Bank, Suncorp and Westpac.

Purchase the ‘Consumer Satisfaction – Consumer Banking Reports in Australia’. Brands include all major banks, building societies and credit unions.

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