Customer satisfaction rises in big four banks; smaller banks decline

Customer satisfaction has improved among the big four banks, new research from Roy Morgan reveals

Customer satisfaction rises in big four banks; smaller banks decline

 

Customer satisfaction in the big four banks has improved over the last year, according to the latest research from Roy Morgan.

The findings found that customer satisfaction in the big four banks has improved over the last year to 79.8%, up by 0.3% in the six months to June from the same period a year ago.

Over this same period, the combined satisfaction of all other banks declined by 0.9% to 84.8% in June 2017.

“A major focus among the big four banks over more than a decade has been to improve their customer satisfaction and be ranked number one among their peers on this metric,” Roy Morgan Research industry communications director, Norman Morris said.

According to Morris, the existing strategy appears to be paying dividends with the big four not only showing improvements in satisfaction but are also “gradually closing the gap on the lead held by the other banks".

In 2005, the overall satisfaction level of the smaller banks was 77.7%, a lead of 11.1% over the big four at 66.6%. In June 2017, smaller or other banks still hold the lead at 84.8% but it is now reduced to only 5.0%, with the big four on 79.8%, according to the report.

In June 2017, the CBA remained the best performer among the big four – with a satisfaction level of 81.0% followed by NAB, ANZ and Westpac with 79.8%, 78.8% and 77.9% respectively.

The NAB, up by 1.8%, showed the biggest improvement over the last twelve months.

Significant decline was seen among the fifteen largest consumer banks. Teachers Mutual Bank, even with the highest satisfaction of 91.5%, was down 2.6% points over the last year while Heritage Bank was down by 2.2% at 89.1%.

Meanwhile, three quarters (72.1%) of Teachers Mutual Bank customers said they are “highly likely” to recommend their bank to friends or colleagues.

Among the big four, only 50.8% of CBA customers are “highly likely” to recommend them, followed by NAB (48.5%), Westpac (48.2%) and ANZ (46.6%).