(8 September 2009 – Australia) In yet another set of bank awards, AFR and Infochoice have awarded their top banking awards for 2009, with St George taking out the top gong.AFR Smart Investor had financial comparison site Infochoice compare product offerings across 100’s of institutions to come up with the awards.
Interestingly, while none of the Big Four banks won an award in the major categories from AFR Smart Investor, each of the bank award winners in the major categories was a subsidiary of one of Australia’s big four.
Bank of the Year went to Westpac owned St George Bank and BankSA (which is part of St George). Infochoice said that the bank maintained the most consistency across the entire range of banking products.
Savings Institution of the Year was won by the now CBA owned BankWest, with the bank commended for its offering of an extensive suite of competitive deposit products. A combination of low or no fees, wide account accessibility and market competitive interest rates are some of the key features to note, Infochoice said.
Online Lender of the Year was awarded to one direct, the direct business line of ANZ. Infochoice said that one direct has a range of highly competitive online products characterised by below average interest rates and low fees.
Mecu won the award for credit union of the year, while Newcastle Permanent Building Society managed to pick up two awards; Home Lender of the Year & Building Society of the Year.