Satisfaction is all very well but banks want advocates

With customer satisfaction levels near all-time highs banks are turning their attention to more challenging measures, such as net promoter scores and the number of customers likely to recommend a bank.

According to the latest Roy Morgan Research consumer banking customer satisfaction report, Bendigo Bank customers are most likely to recommend their bank, followed by ING Direct and Bank of Queensland.

Among Bendigo Bank customers, 65.8 per cent said they would recommend the bank, compared with 62.3 per cent for ING Direct customers, 58.6 per cent for BOQ and 56.6 per cent for Suncorp.

Among the major banks, 51.6 per cent of Commonwealth Bank customers said they would recommend the bank, compared with 48.7 per cent for National Australia Bank, 46.7 per cent for ANZ and 46 per cent for Westpac.

Roy Morgan industry communications director Norman Morris said: "The increasing focus of banks is to create a customer base with a high level of advocacy."

Customer satisfaction levels increased in all segments last year. For the major banks the average satisfaction rating increased by 0.7 per cent over the 12 months to December. Commonwealth Bank led the field with a rating of 81.6 per cent, compared with 80.9 per cent for Westpac, 80.3 per cent for NAB and 79.3 per cent for ANZ.

The average mutual bank rating increased by 3.8 per cent. Foreign bank ratings were up 2.8 per cent.

Victoria Teachers Mutual Bank had a rating of 96.3 per cent - the highest satisfaction rating of all the financial institutions in the survey.