Alex Dalland
If you bank with one of the big four, chances are you are probably more satisfied with them now than ever before – but you could be doing a lot better elsewhere.
A survey across bank customers conducted by polling giant Roy Morgan found that customer satisfaction levels among the big four banks was nearly eighty per cent, an enormous increase from fifteen years ago, in 2001, when customer satisfaction was just 55 per cent. But when Australia’s other banks are taken into consideration, it seems they have some way to go.
While Commonwealth bank topped the big four with an 81.4 per cent level of customer satisfaction – ANZ, NAB and Westpac trailing respectively, the level of customer satisfaction for all other banks came in at 85.4 per cent, four per cent higher than the Commonwealth bank and nearly eight per cent higher than Westpac.
So which banks are customers switching to? When the top ten banks are factored into the same survey, ING Direct comes in at number one for customer satisfaction – with 94 per cent of mortgage customers and 88 per cent of non-mortgage customers ‘very or fairly satisfied’, followed by Bendigo Bank, Bankwest and Suncorp. Only St George, Bank of Queensland and the other “big four” banks rate below Commonwealth.
“Although we have seen that the clear majority of bank customers are satisfied, there are some issues that need to be addressed among the less than 5 per cent that are classified as dissatisfied,” Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director for Roy Morgan says.
“Our research among this group indicates that their main sources of dissatisfaction are fees and charges, poor service, branch issues, lack of empathy, interest rates, insufficient staff, sales culture and profit focus. Addressing these areas would also be likely to lift satisfaction among those customers that are currently sitting in the middle or neutral on their satisfaction rating.”
