Big Four Still Not Impressing Customers

Post by Sharat on October 30, 2009 · Under Australian Economy, Business News, Company News, banking · Comment

A research report suggests as many as one third of Australian bank customers are not satisfied with the level of service they receive from the nations big lenders, whilst building societies and credit unions receive a much higher approval rate.

Only 71.7 per cent of customers said they were satisfied with the service they received from the banking majors including ANZ, Westpac, Commonwealth and National Australia Bank, according to Roy Morgan Research.

ANZ’s customer base enjoyed the most satisfaction amongst the Big Four, whilst NAB customers recorded the least, although the difference was small.

Earlier in the month, a study by market research firm Infochoice suggested Australians could save $6.1 billion a year in bank costs, simply by switching from the Big Four to smaller regional banks who offer cheaper services.

Building societies achieved the highest consumer satisfaction ratings (87.9 per cent) according to the Roy Morgan research. Credit unions received the second highest approval rating with 86 per cent.

International lenders also bested the Big Four in terms of consumer satisfaction, with ING recording 84.2 per cent customer satisfaction ratio.

The research comes as banks risk earning the ire of their customers after the big four all increased fixed rates on home loans in the past week ahead of an expected decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia next week to lift the official cash rate for a second straight month.

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