(8 August 2012 – Australia) New Zealand has a continuing appeal for Australia’s largest companies with over two-thirds saying they are planning to invest or increase their investments directly in the New Zealand markets during the next 6 months, research from banking consultancy firm East & Partners has revealed.Almost 70 percent of Australia’s “Top 500” businesses (turning over in excess of
A$530 million) interviewed as part of East’s bi-monthly Business Banking Index
research program, said that they were definitely or likely to invest or increase
investment in the New Zealand Markets in the coming six months and 60 percent of
Corporate’s (turning over A$20- $540 million) shared their sentiment.
The majority of this planned investment is coming out of New South Wales and
Queensland companies and is spread across most industry sectors. Victoria and
Western Australia based business are proportionately the least active
Trans-Tasman investors.
Australian Businesses increasing their investments in the NZ market
| % of Respondents | |||
| Business Segment |
Definite Investment Plans |
Likely Investment Plans |
No Investment Plans |
| Micro | 14.8 | 18.0 | 67.2 |
| SME | 20.8 | 33.7 | 45.5 |
| Corporate | 28.3 | 32.3 | 39.4 |
| Institutional | 29.3 | 40.0 | 30.7 |
| Total | 23.1 | 30.9 | 46.0 |
Source: East & Partners Business Banking Index – July 2012
Further highlights of this analysis report include:
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Drivers of banking advocacy
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Customer recognition of business bank brands
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Individual bank index scores for loyalty,
sentiment, negative advocacy, satisfaction -
Customer contact frequencies, experiences and
channels - Brand advertising recall
Paul Dowling, East & Partners’ Principal Analyst commented, “Much of this
planned increase in business investment appears driven by the relative strength
of the Australian dollar, with many large companies noting their forward views
of the AUD/NZ exchange rate as the final “trigger” in their pushing the go
button on increased near term investment.”
“These plans clearly reinforce that New Zealand remains a critical market for
large Australian businesses, with planned investments being a mix of scaling up
existing operational businesses, new business acquisitions, increased export
efforts out of New Zealand and significant capex spending”, Mr Dowling added.
About East & Partners’ Business Banking Index
A bi-monthly Index of business customer behaviour toward their banks, based on
interviews conducted Australia-wide with a structured sample of over 6,150
companies across four segments annually.
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.
Index Methodology: For this round of the Business Banking Index, direct
interviews have been conducted with 1,014 businesses based on a structured
sample frame of the target population nationally, comprising:
› Institutional – 225 (A$530+ million turnover enterprises)
› Corporate – 251 (A$20-530 million turnover enterprises)
› SME – 288 (A$5-20 million turnover enterprises)
› Micro – 250 (A$1-5 million turnover enterprises)
For more information or to interview East & Partners, please contact:
Sian Dowling
Marcomms & Client Services
East & Partners
t: +61-2-9004 7848
m: + 61-420 583 553
e: sian.d@eastandpartners.com