NZ-owned banks rated top in customer satisfaction
We stick with our banks for a long time, but that’s not always because we’re getting outstanding service. Consumer NZ’s latest satisfaction survey shows three out of four consumers have been with the same bank for the better part of a decade.
But there are good reasons to think about switching – not least that you could save yourself money.
A major finding of this year’s survey is that local banks continue to do a more superior job of keeping their customers happy than their big Aussie rivals.
Local players Kiwibank, The Cooperative Bank and TSB all rated above average: 87 per cent of TSB customers, 77 per cent of The Co-op’s and 71 per cent of Kiwibank’s were very satisfied with the service they were getting.
The Aussie-owned contenders – ANZ, ASB, Bank of New Zealand and Westpac – couldn’t match these ratings.
The lowest-ranked of the big four were ANZ and Westpac. Just 52 per cent of their customers were very satisfied.
Westpac warrants special mention as the only bank to consistently rate below average on all the performance measures in our survey – everything from branch service to value for money.
Why do customers of local banks rate them so highly? For starters, their customers value on banking with a New Zealand-owned company.
For the majority of TSB and Kiwibank customers, it was picked as the number one benefit of doing business with their bank.
Customers also reckon there are tangible benefits, most notably lower fees. We found local bank customers were less likely to be paying monthly account fees. As a result, they were more likely to think they were getting a fair deal with their bank’s fees.
On average, 24 per cent of those who banked with a local player reported paying fees. But among Aussie banks, the proportion of fee-paying customers was almost double: 47 per cent.
Those lumbered with fees are forking out an average of $25 a month. Undoubtedly it’s one of the reasons fees remain a cause of disaffection with the banking industry, regardless of who you bank with. They’re also a cause for complaint. One in eight consumers reported a problem with their bank in the past 12 months.
Of those, 47 per cent named poor customer service as the cause.
Incorrect fees and charges were next (31 per cent) followed by mistakes in processing (21 per cent).
Disappointingly, when it came to the putting-it-right part, just one in five of those who’d had a problem thought their bank dealt with it very well.
If you’ve been on the receiving end of this type of shoddy service, it’s all the more reason to think about whether you want to be with your bank for another decade.
❚ Sue Chetwin is the chief executive of Consumer NZ. For details about the bank satisfaction survey as well as thousands of independent test results and research on a range of products and services, go to consumer.org.nz.