Aussies’ financially stable but not as confident as before

Australians' confidence in their financial stability is yet to return to pre-Global Financial Crisis (GFC) levels, the Roy Morgan Single Source survey reveals.

The survey found that 60.4 per cent of Australians reported that they were "financially stable at the moment", down from 61.2 per cent in 2007.

Data from the survey revealed that consumer confidence in their financial stability was significantly higher for those who were clients of a bank (61.1 per cent) compared with those who reported that they did not deal with banks (50.2 per cent).

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) customers reported the lowest confidence in their financial stability (60 per cent) of the Big Four, with clients of the ANZ (64.4 per cent), Westpac (62.4 per cent) and National Australia Bank (62 per cent) all having above average confidence levels, Roy Morgan industry communications director, Norman Morris said.

"Our analysis of the last ten years regarding how people feel about their financial position has shown that it is very difficult to make any substantial long-term gain," he said.

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"In an increasingly volatile global market this is likely to present a major challenge to governments and financial institutions if they are to improve how the population and customers feel about their financial position.

"Feeling financially stable or secure is a very important metric for banks to measure their customers on because it is likely to lead to more confidence in acting on all aspects of financial decision making, including borrowing, saving, investing and spending.

"Although the upmarket banks customers generally feel more confident about their financial position they are likely to be more sensitive to market movements due to their greater financial involvement.

"On the other hand, the banks with the lower value customer base such as the CBA and Bendigo Bank (59.5 per cent) have the challenge of dealing with less confident customers."