Big banks grow share of wallet

Australia’s big banks are managing more customer wealth today than they were 10 years ago, indicating a strong brand loyalty from Australians that could increase further in the future. 

New research from Roy Morgan shows that over the past decade, most of Australia’s largest banks (including the Big Four) have increased their share of their customers’ dollars, including loans, accounts and credit cards, also known as their “share of wallet”.

Key findings of this research include:

• Each of the Big Four increased their Share Of Wallet, with CBA up 7.4% to 60.4%, ANZ 5.2% to 52.4% NAB 4% to 55.3% and Westpac by 1.3% to 52.5%
• Only three of Australia’s 12 leading banks experienced a reduction in Share Of Wallet since 2007, with Bankwest decreasing -1.2% to 56.5%, Bank of Queensland by -8% to 45.4% and Macquarie by -2.4% to 37.4%.
• BankSA and Bendigo bank experienced the biggest growth in Share Of Wallet, each experiencing an increase of over 12%.
• The banks found to have the largest Share Of Wallet were Bank SA and CBA, each with over 60%.

It’s important to note that these Share Of Wallet stats don’t necessarily reflect the financial activity of all Australian bank customers. According to Roy Morgan, nearly three quarters of the total value of banking products comes from the top quintile (or 20%) of banking customers, with a minimum value in banking products (including loans, accounts and credit cards) of $466,000.

According to Roy Morgan Research industry communications director, Norman Morris, Share Of Wallet is one of the best metrics for tracking brand loyalty in bank customers:

“Results in this survey show that it generally takes time to improve ‘share of wallet’, as evidenced by the fact that the major banks have taken a decade to show significant improvement.

“There is a strong indication that the major improvement in customer satisfaction with banks over this period is likely to have contributed to this positive trend in ‘share of wallet’.”

“There remains considerable opportunity for banks to increase business with their existing customers as they are currently only capturing around half of what is possible.”

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