(11 June 2008 – Australia) While the Federal Government has decided to maintain the Four Pillars Policy, East & Partners has found that business customers see the policy as a hindrance to the level of service and competition they experience in Australia.While last week Treasurer Wayne Swan said that the Four Pillars policy will be maintained, small businesses do not agree with the reasoning behind the decision.
From the Rudd Government’s perspective, the intent of maintaining the policy was to continue stability and competition in the Australian banking market.
East & Partners has found in its latest SME Banking Markets Report for April 2008 that more than two thirds (68.2 percent) of businesses with turnover between $1 million and $20 million believe that rescinding the Four Pillars policy will actually increase competition.
This is a view that has recently been echoed by some of the major Australian banks’ CEOs including NAB and ANZ as well as the Australian Bankers Association, echoing business views of the four pillars policy as a barrier to flexibility and choice in the range and quality of solutions to their banking arrangements and partnerships.
In fact, more than half of all SMEs believe that the policy has actually hindered the service levels and efficiencies of banks.
Results of this analysis across 1493 SME banking customers nationally are available to clients of East’s SME Banking Markets service by contacting Peter Drennan at peter.d@eastandpartners.com