Consumer satisfaction at near record in April

The low interest rate environment continues to reflect well on the banking sector, with overall satisfaction levels among Australia's personal banking customers still high. Although the overall level declined very slightly in April (down by 0.1 percentage point to 82.8 per cent), this represents a minor retreat from the 20-year high point in March, as measured by Roy Morgan Research.

Among the Big Four banks, CBA retained top spot in terms of overall satisfaction (82.2 per cent of customers said they were "satisfied" with their bank). In terms of main financial institution customer rankings, Westpac has top position (83.6 per cent), closely followed by CBA (83.5 per cent), NAB (83.0 per cent) and ANZ (82.0 per cent).

Roy Morgan's analysis suggests that one reason for improved satisfaction among bank customers over the past year (notably the housing loan customers) has been the low housing loan rates.

However, looked at more closely the pattern is not so comforting, as the satisfaction level with banks among the highest value (top quintile) customers was the lowest of all groups (79.3 per cent).  

This should be a concern to banks, as this 20 per cent of the population speaks for 62.7 per cent of the total value of personal financial services in the market, according to Roy Morgan.

Interestingly, the report also tracked the propensity for customers to recommend their bank, and found high-value customers of smaller banks were more likely to recommend them.  But less than half of the Big Four banks' customers in the highest value group were likely to recommend their bank.

The challenge is for those banks to improve the satisfaction and advocacy levels among the segments with the greatest potential.

"With the financial services market being highly skewed to the top end where the top 20 per cent (or quintile) of customers account for 62.7 per cent of the potential, it is crucial to understand the needs of this group," said Norman Morris, industry communications director for Roy Morgan Research.

"Advocacy is becoming an increasingly important measure of success for many banks but this must be considered against the customers' potential value if the results are to be maximised," Morris said.

"The fact that less than half of the high-value customers of the Big Four banks can be regarded as being high advocates for their bank is a major issue which needs to be addressed, as it is well below the levels of the smaller banks.

"Unless this is rectified, it is likely to limit the growth potential of the big banks, while their smaller rivals flourish," he added.