Smaller banks most satisfying home loan lenders in Australia

Customer satisfaction with banks is up, despite the current negative publicity surrounding the Royal Commission into the Australian financial sector, according to data from Roy Morgan.

In the six months to January 2018 customer satisfaction with banks reached 81.2 per cent, up from 80.8 per cent in December. According to Roy Morgan, this is “well above” the long term average of 73.8 per cent.

Consumer banking satisfaction – 10 largest consumer banks

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia).

Bendigo Bank leading the way for customer satisfaction

Roy Morgan figures clearly show that Bendigo Bank retained the highest satisfaction levels in January for consumer banks at 88.4 per cent. This was despite falling 0.4 percentage points from December 2017 to January 2018.

This was followed by Bank of Queensland (85.8 per cent), ING (85.2 per cent), Bankwest (84.4 per cent), St George (83.3 per cent) and Suncorp Bank (81.9 per cent). All but Bank of Queensland and Suncorp Bank saw an increase in customer satisfaction from December 2017 to January 2018.

Big four banks saw increased consumer satisfaction

ANZ, CommBank and NAB all saw improved satisfaction levels, increasing 0.5 percentage points between December 2017 and January 2018. However Westpac customer satisfaction levels did not change.

Of the big four banks, CommBank is still the highest rated at 80.1 per cent for January 2018. This is followed by NAB (79.1 per cent), ANZ (78.6 per cent) and Westpac (77.9 per cent).

These figures are particularly noteworthy given that recent scandals from the big four banks led to mounting pressure for an inquiry into the financial sector. This has resulted in The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry being established on 14 December 2017.

It appears that this news has yet to make an impact on consumer satisfaction levels. 

Mortgages in Australia are “more satisfying” with smaller banks

Consumers who have a home loan with Bendigo Bank reported the highest satisfaction levels (91.8 per cent) for January 2018, despite this figure falling 0.3 percentage points since December 2017.

ING mortgage holders came in second at 87.6 per cent, a figure that grew 1.5 percentage points since December 2017.

Satisfaction of mortgage and non-mortgage customers – 10 largest consumer banks

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia).

In terms of the big four banks, NAB recorded the highest customer satisfaction levels at 77.7 per cent, narrowly beating ANZ by 0.1 percentage point. Roy Morgan data saw that NAB mortgage customer satisfaction increased by 0.8 percentage points from December 2017, however ANZ mortgage customer satisfaction levels fell 0.4 per cent in the same period.

Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director, Roy Morgan, talked on the surprising results, stating that it was “somewhat surprising to see that satisfaction among bank customers has improved over recent months, at the same time as they face considerable negative publicity surrounding the Financial Services Royal Commission as it gets underway.”

“It appears that this publicity, by its nature, only involves a small percentage of consumers, as shown by the fact that satisfaction with banks is improving and close to an all-time high.

“Despite low interest rates, home loan customers of the big four banks are not only less satisfied than their other customers but are well behind the satisfaction of the home loan customers of the smaller banks.

“This remains a problem in the highly competitive home loan market as well as being a drag on their overall satisfaction and advocacy levels,” said Mr Morris.

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