Mozo poll confirms preference for small institutions

There were no real surprises when the consumer banking comparison site Mozo this week released the results of a poll asking people to nominate their favourite financial institutions. Small banks and mutuals trounced the big guys.

Favoured institutions such as ING Direct, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and St George Bank have been topping the customer satisfaction charts in Roy Morgan and other surveys for years.

What makes the Mozo "People Choice Awards", based on 23,000 responses, interesting is that all the very small institutions get named. Most surveys lump credit unions and very small banks together because the sample size makes the results too volatile to list separately.

So, come on down Victoria Teachers Credit Union (best credit union), Greater Building Society (best building society) and ME Bank (best home loans).

UBank's award for best savings accounts must be a mixed blessing for National Australia Bank, which owns the online brand. Popularity has come at the price of the highest or second highest deposit rate in the market.

The folks at RaboDirect must be happy with second place in the best bank category and fourth place in the best savings account category. Six months ago the then RaboPlus was a weak brand with a poor marketing track record. Its re-branding (perhaps more importantly its re-pricing) has worked very well.

The big banks do not miss out altogether. ANZ and Westpac make the top five in the personal loan category (odd, since it is a segment where the big banks have not chased share for a couple of years). Commonwealth, ANZ and Westpac are in the top five for term deposits.