(12 August 2010 – Australia) An increasingly stark contrast is emerging in how businesses from different turnover segments view their business banking relationship, according to East & Partners’ latest Business Banking Sentiment Index (BBSI).Mid-corporate businesses with an annual turnover of A$20-100 million, feel relatively high levels of empathy towards their banks. However, those with an annual turnover of A$1-5 million view their business banking relationship as more antagonistic.
Those questioned in the BBSI rated their business banks on a scale of 10 to 100, where 10 is an antagonistic relationship and 100 is an empathetic relationship.
The latest report reveals that while Mid-corporates view their business banking relationship with increasing empathy, rising from 60.4 in June 2006 to a high of 78.2, Micro businesses rate this relationship as more antagonistic than ever, with an average rating of just 10.8.
“We have been keeping a watchful eye on factors other than customer satisfaction that are clearly having an effect on customer engagement with their banks,” said East & Partners’ head of market analysis Robert Morgan.
“For example, the levels of loyalty and empathy that business customers feel towards their banks are becoming increasingly important. Most significantly, these factors will determine just how sustainable bank relationships are going to be in the future,” said Mr Morgan.
East & Partners’ Business Banking Sentiment Index is an aggregated rating metric comprising four different measures of customer sentiment – Empathy, Satisfaction, Loyalty and Advocacy.
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$1-5 million, A$5-20 million and A$20-100 million turnover segments across Australia.