Westpac leads business banking satisfaction surveys

Two business banking customer surveys were published yesterday, with one showing overall ratings falling and the other showing an increase in satisfaction. But they agreed on one thing: Westpac has the highest rating of the Big Four among business customers.

According to Roy Morgan Research's business satisfaction survey, a rising trend that started in April last year continued into February, when the banks' overall rating rose 20 basis points.

Westpac's satisfaction rating, at 68.9 per cent, has risen 4.7 percentage points over the past six months.

ANZ has a 64.8 per cent rating. It has risen 90 basis points over the past six months. NAB has a rating of 64.3 per cent (up 4.5 percentage points) and Commonwealth Bank has a rating of 64.2 per cent (up 3.3 percentage points).

The bank with the highest business customer satisfaction score in the Roy Morgan survey is Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, with a rating of 86 per cent.

However, according to DBM Consultants, business customer satisfaction ratings peaked in November 2011 and have been on a slight downward trend since then.

On the DBM scale, Westpac's rating is 7.4 (out of 10), followed by Commonwealth Bank (7.3), ANZ (7.0) and NAB (6.9).

DBM said Westpac had lost ground with its micro-business customers, but received a higher rating from small business.