Small business apathetic on green issues, research finds
(27 June 2007 – Australia) Despite the aspirations expressed by Australian banks to become more environmentally friendly, very few businesses consider green or ethical issues when choosing which banks to engage, new research from East & Partners has found.
East interviewed 500 enterprises turning over between A$1 and 100 million in May on the importance of their banks displaying green or ethical credentials and found a surprisingly low level of engagement with these issues.
Less than 25 percent of businesses said it was "very or quite important" that their banks take a lead on green issues with a whopping 76.8 percent saying it was not important.
There were variances between the states with almost twice as many Victorian businesses (27.1 percent) expressing interest in green issues than their counterparts in Queensland (14.3 percent). Slightly more than 26 percent of NSW businesses expressed an interest in their banks being environmentally friendly.
The research also found that more than three quarters of businesses said they did not consider whether their bank was ethical when choosing which bank to engage. Just 11.6 percent of businesses said they did consider ethical issues with a further 12.6 percent saying they didn’t really know or were unsure whether it was something to be considered.
The research found that middle market businesses (companies turning over between A$20 to 100 million per annum) were more likely to consider green and ethical issues than SMEs (A$5 to 20m turnover); and that Micro Businesses (A$1 to 5m turnover) were significantly more concerned by these issues than SMEs.
However, almost two thirds of middle market businesses did not consider ethical issues when choosing a bank; and 65.2 percent of these businesses said banks being proactive on green issues was not important to them.
A massive 83.4 percent of SMEs said they did not consider ethical issues when deciding which bank to engage compared with 70.4 percent of Micro Businesses.
"There are probably a couple of ways of viewing these results: firstly that it’s disappointing and concerning that business banking customers are not really engaged with environmental or ethical issues when weighing up their banking options in spite of the amount of debate given over to such issues," East & Partners general manager, Client Services Paul Bartholomew said.
The other way of looking at it is that business customers are more concerned with the day to day service they receive from their banks than they are with what might be considered peripheral issues to the relationship," he said.
"If a business banker never returns an SME’s phone calls, the SME is hardly going to stay with the bank on the basis of it saying it will become carbon neutral within the next few years," Mr Bartholomew said.
"I think the message from business in this research is ‘get the basics right in our relationship first and we’ll worry about green issues later’," he said.
The questions on green and ethical issues were included as part of East & Partners’ Business Banking Sentiment Index for May 2007.
For more information, please contact:
Paul Bartholomew
General Manager, Client Services
East & Partners
T: 02-9004 7848
M: 0410 400 156
E: paul.b@eastandpartners.com
Less than 25 percent of businesses said it was "very or quite important" that their banks take a lead on green issues with a whopping 76.8 percent saying it was not important.
There were variances between the states with almost twice as many Victorian businesses (27.1 percent) expressing interest in green issues than their counterparts in Queensland (14.3 percent). Slightly more than 26 percent of NSW businesses expressed an interest in their banks being environmentally friendly.
The research also found that more than three quarters of businesses said they did not consider whether their bank was ethical when choosing which bank to engage. Just 11.6 percent of businesses said they did consider ethical issues with a further 12.6 percent saying they didn’t really know or were unsure whether it was something to be considered.
The research found that middle market businesses (companies turning over between A$20 to 100 million per annum) were more likely to consider green and ethical issues than SMEs (A$5 to 20m turnover); and that Micro Businesses (A$1 to 5m turnover) were significantly more concerned by these issues than SMEs.
However, almost two thirds of middle market businesses did not consider ethical issues when choosing a bank; and 65.2 percent of these businesses said banks being proactive on green issues was not important to them.
A massive 83.4 percent of SMEs said they did not consider ethical issues when deciding which bank to engage compared with 70.4 percent of Micro Businesses.
"There are probably a couple of ways of viewing these results: firstly that it’s disappointing and concerning that business banking customers are not really engaged with environmental or ethical issues when weighing up their banking options in spite of the amount of debate given over to such issues," East & Partners general manager, Client Services Paul Bartholomew said.
The other way of looking at it is that business customers are more concerned with the day to day service they receive from their banks than they are with what might be considered peripheral issues to the relationship," he said.
"If a business banker never returns an SME’s phone calls, the SME is hardly going to stay with the bank on the basis of it saying it will become carbon neutral within the next few years," Mr Bartholomew said.
"I think the message from business in this research is ‘get the basics right in our relationship first and we’ll worry about green issues later’," he said.
The questions on green and ethical issues were included as part of East & Partners’ Business Banking Sentiment Index for May 2007.
For more information, please contact:
Paul Bartholomew
General Manager, Client Services
East & Partners
T: 02-9004 7848
M: 0410 400 156
E: paul.b@eastandpartners.com
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