Westpac fares better in DBM business monitor

Westpac might be making progress in business banking, if the satisfaction ratings produced by DBM Consultants are any guide. On DBM's ratings Westpac now ranks equally with Commonwealth Bank in four market segments for which DBM produces satisfaction rankings.

DBM Consultants, a longstanding producer of bespoke research for banks, has in the last year begun to undertake (and publicise) research into customer satisfaction. DBM, which started this work in the first half of 2009, surveys around 19,000 businesses each year.

One feature of the DBM research is that it covers most business segments, from micro business with turnover of less than $1 million (and representing 89 per cent of all business) and also reaching very large businesses. DBM cuts this data into four categories.

On DBM's data there is a mild rise in customer satisfaction ratings for Westpac in micro, small and large business segments.

Commonwealth Bank's satisfaction ratings with medium business customers eased over the last couple of months but improved among large business customers.

ANZ's rankings among micro customers - a key target of its present advertising campaign - have dropped each month over the last quarter of DBM's survey.

DBM wrote in the overview of its monthly report that "the gap in satisfaction with main banks between larger and smaller businesses continued into June.

"Larger businesses were generally more satisfied with their main bank than were smaller businesses. BFSM results for June found some evidence that large businesses had further increased their satisfaction, while there was a small drop in satisfaction among medium businesses."