Westpac leads Big Four on business banking satisfaction

The satisfaction level of Westpac's business banking customers in January, as measured by Roy Morgan Research, was 70.5 per cent. This was a decline of 1.3 per cent from December, but still leaves Westpac well clear of its nearest competitor, the CBA - measured as achieving 66.4 per cent customer satisfaction levels.
 
Roy Morgan has put Westpac at the lead in satisfaction among the Big Four since January 2014. Then bank also leads on advocacy of its customers, with 50.3  per cent being very likely to recommend it. This compares strongly to what customers say about the second placed CBA at 41.5 per cent.
 
Roy Morgan said that, overall, the Big Four banks had been showing a downward trend in business customer satisfaction measures since September 2014, when it was 68.6 per cent.  This fell to 65.6 per cent in January 2015.
 
This downward trend in business satisfaction by the Big Four is by no means universal across all banks. The banks outside of the Big Four during this period actually increased their satisfaction level from 69.4 per cent to 70.6 per cent (up 1.2 per cent points).
 
The best performers of the major banks outside of the Big Four were Bendigo (82.3 per cent satisfaction level of its business banking customers) and Suncorp (77.3 per cent).
 
"Over the last four months, the satisfaction levels of the business customers of the Big Four banks has shown a downward trend," said Norman Morris, industry communications director at Roy Morgan Research.
 
This trend is in contrast to their personal customers, whose satisfaction levels have generally continued to improve and are well above that of business customers, Morris suggested.

"It appears from this that banks are focusing on the relative safety of consumer banking rather than the more uncertain and higher risk business market," he said.