Rate cuts make for happy customers

The banks may not have been happy about having to pass on all (in most cases) of the past two cash rate cuts to their home loan borrowers but their customers have been very happy about it.

Customer satisfaction ratings with the major banks in the latest Roy Morgan Research survey, published yesterday, are currently at their highest level for 15 years.

ANZ and NAB share top billing among the Big Four, with customer satisfaction ratings of 77.6 per cent. Commonwealth Bank has a rating of 76.9 per cent and Westpac 76.3 per cent.

NAB has been the big improver over the past 12 months, with an increase of 4.9 percentage points in its rating.

Commonwealth Bank has picked up 2.5 percentage points over the past year, Westpac 1.9 points and ANZ 0.8 points.

The scores of the Big Four are converging, with only 1.3 percentage points now separating them.

The big banks are closing in on their smaller rivals, but the regionals, foreign-owned banks and mutuals also enjoyed an increase in consumer satisfaction.

ME Bank has the highest bank rating, with a score of 90.2 per cent, followed by Bendigo Bank (88.5 per cent) and ING Direct (87.8 per cent).

Among the mutuals, Newcastle Permanent Building Society has a customer satisfaction rating of 93.8 per cent, Greater Building Society has 91.5 per cent and Heritage Building Society has 89.5 per cent.