Business Bank of the Year
BUSINESS BANK OF THE YEAR A three-time winner’s attention to detail means customers save both time and money
For the third consecutive year, Suncorp Bank has won this award, a feat that acting chief executive Bruce Rush attributes to the strong focus on relationships.
“We’re on the ground with our customers,” he says. “For example, when a customer operating a wholesale business with no retail capability during Covid-19 needed to switch its business model, along with EFTPOS and banking to facilitate that, the relationship manager ensured we got that terminal into the customer’s hands to enable them to move very quickly.
“We have a large presence in the agribusiness industry. Clearly the drought we’ve seen over the past few years has been a challenge for that industry, but our relationship managers look at how they can help them. We have good relationships with our customers and we’re well embedded in those regional communities, which sets us apart.”
Suncorp is a regular award winner with some sharp products, especially in business banking, according to Alex Dunnin, executive director of research and compliance at Rainmaker Information. He says business services is where Suncorp is strongest. “It has the lowest priced business loans with rates from 2.99% and lots of loan products with a presence in most parts of Australia.”
One of the three changes the business bank has implemented recently has been reducing the small business lending rates across the board to ensure Suncorp is in the top quartile in the market.
It also axed transaction fees on business deposit accounts and introduced an advanced waveand-save merchant terminal fee structure to help business customers reduce transaction fees on their EFTPOS terminals.
Rush says it’s important to be clear to customers about what value Suncorp offers them.
“One of the key insights we have seen over a long time is that customers want convenience and we make sure we are saving customers’ time, making sure banking can be done as quickly and easily as possible. There’s not one thing we have to do – we have to do a lot of stuff and pay attention to the detail.
“We’ve had a sustained program of work to make things easier and simpler for clients, which means we’ve been able to offer, consistently over time, new services to clients and this gives us impetus to keep investing.”
BankSA and Bank of Queensland were runners-up for the Business Bank of the Year. BankSA stands out for having the lowest-cost business credit cards, with rates from 9.99%. At the time of writing its Amplify Business Visa credit card had no fee for the first year ($89 thereafter) and up to 55 interest-free days on purchases.
For larger and more complex businesses, BankSA’s Visa Business credit card allows up to nine additional cards, and credit limits can be assigned to each individual card.
Bank of Queensland offers a large range of loan products with fixed rates starting at 3.99% for its Business Term Loan. This loan is appropriate if you’re looking to buy a new business or grow your business. The bank is also participating in the federal government’s SME Guarantee Scheme.