(14 October 2011 – Australia) The number of business banking clients in regular contact with their primary bank has been steadily declining across all enterprise segments, regardless of bank size since early 2010 when it peaked in the midst of the GFC’s credit concerns.The latest Advocacy Monitor from industry consultants East & Partners shows a
steady and pronounced decrease in the frequency of contact between primary banks
and their business customers with sharp drops of 22.3 percent and 19.2 percent
reported by clients of Westpac and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) respectively.
National Australia Bank (NAB) maintains the highest contact frequency
communication between themselves and their customers with 60.7 percent of NAB
business clients reporting they have had direct interaction with NAB over the
last month. NAB is followed by two of the regional banks, Bank of Queensland
(BoQ) and BankWest (BWA) with direct, personal contact over the last month
reported by 54.2 percent and 50 percent of their business customers
respectively.
As well as the amount of contact between a business customer and their primary
bank, East’s latest research indicates who the prime initiator is, either bank
or client. Of the Big Four domestic banks NAB and Westpac were reported to be
most proactive in initiating customer contact while ANZ and CBA customers more
typically reported having to initiate contact with their bank.
SME’s were the most likely to have to start communication, with 76.3 percent
saying they had been proactive in connecting with their bank rather than the
other way round.
East & Partners’ Head of Client Service, Amy Nixon, commented “Business
customers are still not seen to be advocating the banks willingly but continue
to detract from them. A key driver behind this appears to be banks slowing down
in their proactive communications with customers. The direction of this one way
relationship is driving deterioration in customer satisfaction coupled with
falling loyalty.”
“This contact pattern is a stark contrast to customer experiences reported
mid-GFC, where very high levels of bank-initiated interaction, mostly
credit-driven, with their business customers were being reported across the
board” Ms Nixon further noted.
About East & Partners’ Advocacy Monitor
A bi-monthly Index of business customer advocacy and sentiment toward their
banks, based on interviews conducted Australia-wide with a structured sample of
over 4,600 middle market and SME customers companies turning over A$1 to 100
million per annum.
The Index provides a monitor of a number of important drivers of customer
engagement behaviour with their banks including advocacy, detraction, empathy,
satisfaction, loyalty, channel engagement, advertising recognition, product
demand, product advocacy and mind share.
Note: Business customer Segments
– Mid Corporate – A$20-100 million
– SME – A$5-20 million
– Micro – A$1-5 million
For more information or to interview East & Partners, please contact:
Sian Dowling
Marcomms & Client Services
East & Partners
t: 02 9004 7848
m: 0420 583 553
e: sian.d@eastandpartners.com