Consumer satisfaction with the big four banks has once again fallen while building societies and credit unions continue to maintain a clear lead, according to Roy Morgan Research's May consumer banking report.
Overall satisfaction with the major institutions fell by 0.3 percentage points to 76.2 per cent, spurred on mainly by ANZ (1.7 points) and a smaller decline of 0.4 points by Westpac.
The drop in satisfaction among ANZ customers was due mainly to a decline of 2.5 points in satisfaction among its home loan customers, bringing its overall customer satisfaction total to 73.8 per cent, the lowest of the big four and its lowest score since August 2009, Roy Morgan revealed.
"The adverse publicity the ANZ received in February by being the first major bank to increase the home loan interest rate to its customers clearly impacted satisfaction levels, which generally take some time to overcome as we have seen on previous occasions with Westpac and Commonwealth Bank (CBA)," the report stated.
National Australia Bank (the leader among the big four) increased its satisfaction level by 0.4 points to 78.1 per cent, while CBA came in close behind NAB to score 77.3 per cent.
CBA reports the highest score among its home loan customers (74.1 per cent), while NAB saw the biggest improvement among its non-home loan customers (up 6.7 points), the report found.
Satisfaction levels held steady at Westpac (dropping 0.4 points), and alternative deposit-taking institutions are still maintaining a clear lead with a score of 85.4 per cent.
The best-performing smaller banks were Victorian Teachers Mutual Bank (94.8 per cent), Teachers Mutual Bank (92.2 per cent), and U Bank (91.8 per cent), according to the results.
According to Roy Morgan, building societies and credit unions may be able to capitalise on the satisfaction level of their customers when the Government enacts policy from 1 July that makes it easier for consumers to switch banks.
