NAB rated 'most distrusted bank'
NAB is the major victim of Commissioner Hayne's final report, with a dramatic increase in distrust among customers, as evidenced by the rapid erosion of its net trust score, tracked by Roy Morgan.The market research firm has been measuring bank trust and distrust since 2017 and in January, ahead of the release of the Hayne report, conducted a survey, followed by another in February during the week the report was made public.The research showed that all of Australia's Big Four banks suffered an increase in distrust and a corresponding erosion of their respective net trust scores, with NAB becoming the most distrusted bank brand in Australia, registering a year-on-year doubling of distrust among customers.The survey in January had revealed CBA as the bank brand with the lowest level of trust and the highest level of distrust. "However, in the wake of the Hayne report, NAB skyrocketed into the position as Australia's least trusted and most distrusted bank brand," Roy Morgan stated.The two-stage process involved asking bank customers which banks they trusted most and which they mistrusted, and subtracting the latter from the former to arrive at a net trust score, expressed as a percentage.In January 36.9 per cent of Australians distrusted NAB, but in the immediate wake of the report's release the number of Australians distrusting NAB soared to 53.7 per cent, a result that Michele Levine, Roy Morgan's chief executive officer described as: "The highest level of distrust we have ever seen for a bank brand in Australia."Simultaneously, NAB's level of trust dropped from 18.5 per cent to 11.5 per cent equating to an NTS of minus 42.2 per cent, with the other three major brands "in the minus twenties". "This low level of trust sets a new benchmark for Australia's banks. The real question is what happens next," Levine said.She would not elaborate on how any other regional or mutual banks fared, other than to observe that "Bendigo Bank has maintained its stable position as the most trusted bank, with no significant changes in trust or distrust". She also said that while AMP Bank remains in the negative, it "hasn't been negatively affected by [Hayne's] final report".