Regional banks strike right note
(15 July 2009 – Australia) Only three regional banks have managed an increase in business perception over the past three months, and one of them is the Westpac owned St George, according to the latest East & Partners’ Business Banking Sentiment Index (BBSI).
In recent times, sentiment by businesses towards their banks has continued to hit record lows, as current market conditions add to general negative sentiment.
Despite this, three regional banks have managed to make gains in how their business customers view them. St George, Bank of Queensland and Suncorp business customers have rated their banks better than they did in the three months to June 2009.
"Even with Big Four ownership in St George’s case, clearly the close relationships that these regional banks tend to foster with their business customers continues to prove a decisive factor in improving business banking sentiment", East & Partners’ financial markets analyst, Peter Drennan said.
The Sentiment Score is an aggregated rating metric comprising four different measures of customer sentiment – Empathy, Satisfaction, Loyalty and Advocacy.
The overall sentiment score for June 2009 was 37.1 (out of 100), a decrease from last month’s score of 37.6 and the lowest score since the BBSI started in mid 2006.
Of the Big Four, no bank saw an increase in sentiment this month, with Westpac taking the biggest hit. NAB maintains the top Big Four sentiment rating, with a score of 53.7 this month.
The best bank in sentiment is Bank of Queensland. Customers of St George are the most satisfied of any bank in June 2009, with a total score of 74.7.
Each month, East & Partners’ research team conducts telephone interviews with a sample of 750 businesses nationally, providing an in depth study of businesses in the A$1 to 5 million, $5 to 20 million and $20 to 100 million turnover segments across Australia.
Despite this, three regional banks have managed to make gains in how their business customers view them. St George, Bank of Queensland and Suncorp business customers have rated their banks better than they did in the three months to June 2009.
"Even with Big Four ownership in St George’s case, clearly the close relationships that these regional banks tend to foster with their business customers continues to prove a decisive factor in improving business banking sentiment", East & Partners’ financial markets analyst, Peter Drennan said.
The Sentiment Score is an aggregated rating metric comprising four different measures of customer sentiment – Empathy, Satisfaction, Loyalty and Advocacy.
The overall sentiment score for June 2009 was 37.1 (out of 100), a decrease from last month’s score of 37.6 and the lowest score since the BBSI started in mid 2006.
Of the Big Four, no bank saw an increase in sentiment this month, with Westpac taking the biggest hit. NAB maintains the top Big Four sentiment rating, with a score of 53.7 this month.
The best bank in sentiment is Bank of Queensland. Customers of St George are the most satisfied of any bank in June 2009, with a total score of 74.7.
Each month, East & Partners’ research team conducts telephone interviews with a sample of 750 businesses nationally, providing an in depth study of businesses in the A$1 to 5 million, $5 to 20 million and $20 to 100 million turnover segments across Australia.
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