Retail bank customers are a contented lot

Two retail banking customer satisfaction surveys out this week, Roy Morgan's monthly report for October, and the September quarter Nielsen Financial Services Monitor, show an improving trend after a mid-year dip.

Almost all financial institutions in the Roy Morgan survey have recorded increased satisfaction scores over the past few months.

The main financial institution satisfaction level in the Nielsen survey went up two points to 64 per cent. Regional and non-traditional banks were included in the pick-up.

Nielsen reported that St George had the biggest increase among the top five banks' "very satisfied" numbers, with an increase of 3.9 points to 36.5 per cent.

In Nielsen's overall main financial institution satisfaction scores, St George has regained the lead it surrendered to ANZ in the March quarter with a rating of 63.8 per cent compared to ANZ's 61 per cent.

Commonwealth Bank had the highest increase in satisfaction among the big five banks, according to Nielsen, with a 3.7 point increase over the quarter.

Nielsen said Commonwealth did the best job of using improved satisfaction levels to win share, with 3.9 million consumers identifying the bank as their main financial institution compared to 3.7 million a year earlier - a 5.4 per cent increase.

National Australia Bank has little to show, so far, for its recent moves to position itself as a more consumer-friendly bank. It has linked up with Cuscal's rediATM network to double its ATM coverage and it has been the most aggressive cutter of transaction and exception fees.

NAB is bottom of the ranking among the top five banks, in both surveys. Nielsen shows its score falling sharply in the June quarter and flat in the September quarter.

According to Roy Morgan, NAB's score has improved in recent months but it has not closed the gap of around four percentage points to its nearest rival, which opened up towards the end of last year.

Another finding common to both surveys is that ING Direct has taken over from Bendigo and Adelaide Bank as the retail institution with the highest overall rating. ING Direct's new fee-free transaction account, Orange Everyday, must have hit the mark.