Businesses Happier With Their Banks

The Age

Thursday October 23, 2008

TOM ARUP

AUSTRALIAN businesses' satisfaction with major financial institutions has increased by almost 10% over the past year, according to a national study.

This is despite the credit crisis and job cuts in the financial sector that have resulted from reduced lending.

Of the 12,000 businesses that global research agency TNS surveyed, 81.3% were happy with the service offered by their primary financial institution.

Satisfaction with a major component of the financial institutions surveyed, the Big Four banks, has grown over the past year by 10.13% to 79.7%.

Geof Johns, a consultant for Brand Finance and writer for Global Banker, said yesterday the banks had made great strides over the past two years in reaching out to their business clients.

"When the home mortgage market began to taper off, they focused more on their business clients," Mr Johns said.

Banks typically turned to their business clients during a financial downturn, and Australian financial institutions had put a lot of effort into improving relations with their business clients, he said.

Commonwealth Bank in particular had focused on improving its services for the business sector and "has made a lot of ground" on its rivals, he said.

However, the TNS report warned that satisfaction levels peaked in March and had been trending downwards since.

The annual survey revealed that of the Big Four banks, ANZ was still the most popular with business clients, with a satisfaction rating of 83.8%.

It was followed by Westpac (81.1%), Commonwealth (78%) and National Australia Bank (76.7%).

Of the other financial institutions included in the survey, Bendigo Bank was the most popular, with a satisfaction rating of 92.5%, followed by Bank of Queensland at 91.1%.

The report defines satisfaction as a business being "very satisfied" or "fairly satisfied" with its main financial institution. -- TOM ARUP

© 2008 The Age

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