ANZ and St George Bank have emerged as the clear industry leaders in terms of business consumer’s satisfaction, a new report from the TNS Business Finance Monitor (BFM) has shown.
Of the big four banks, ANZ recorded a satisfaction level of 73.8% amongst business banking customers, with Westpac trailing slightly at 71.1%.
Coming in behind was CBA and finally NAB, with figures of 68.2% and 66.7% respectively.
However, outside of the big four St. George is sitting comfortable atop the list with a business banking satisfaction level of 74.6%.
The BFM report showed that 72.5% of all business banking customers were satisfied with the relationship with their main financial institution – a decline of 5% from this time last year.
The statistics reveal that business consumer satisfaction for financial institutions plummeted during the Global Financial Crisis, with NAB recording the greatest fall.
This revelation is hardly surprising, given the immense criticism copped by the major banks for the unprecedented profit margins enjoyed during the peak of global economic turmoil.
However recent trends have shown a renewed faith in financial institutions, with consumer satisfaction once again on the rise.
The last 6 months have seen a slight improvement of 0.9% satisfaction across all financial institutions, with an increase of 1.6% amongst the big four.
“These positive movements, although slight at present, provide hopeful signs for the rest of the year and will be monitored closely over the coming months” the report stated.
“When looking at the more recent satisfaction trends, there are continuing signs of an easing of the 2009 downturn.”
