CBA moves up the satisfaction rankings

Commonwealth Bank has overtaken ANZ in the Roy Morgan consumer banking customer satisfaction survey, moving into the number two position behind NAB in the April survey.

The order of big bank rankings has been reversed in the past year. ANZ, which had the highest rating among its peers for eight years, is now ranked third. Westpac has dropped from second to fourth.

NAB's rating in April was 77.7 per cent, CBA's was 77.2 per cent, ANZ's was 75.5 per cent and Westpac's was 75 per cent.

Both NAB and CBA have had a very strong senior management focus on customer satisfaction in recent years. Updates on satisfaction scores are regularly included in investor briefings.

ANZ and Westpac have had less focus on the issue. ANZ's level of discussion of customer satisfaction dropped of noticeably after Mike Smith took over as chief executive from John Macfarlane.

Bankers have different views about the practical benefit of high customer satisfaction and net promoter scores. There is debate about whether they help attract new customers, but most agree they help in customer retention.

ANZ may be bearing the brunt of a customer backlash after taking the lead in making out-of-cycle increases to variable home loan rates this year.

Its satisfaction score fell 3.1 percentage points in the three months to April, while NAB's score fell 1.5 percentage points, Westpac's fell 1.3 percentage points and CBA's fell 40 basis points.

Among all financial institutions, Victoria Teachers Mutual Bank has the highest rating, at 96.8 per cent, followed by Teachers Mutual Bank, with 93.7 per cent.