The satisfaction level of Westpac business customers increased slightly to 67.9% in January 2013 (up from 67.7% in December 2012), while satisfaction with the other three majors declined, according to a Roy Morgan Business survey.

The result increases Westpac’s lead over its nearest big four competitor, CBA (63.5%). Westpac has been the market leader of the major banks for business customer satisfaction since August, 2011, when it took the top position away from the ANZ. As of January, ANZ has slipped to last place among the four majors, with 60.0% satisfaction.

While Westpac performs strongly in most product areas, it’s well ahead of the other majors in how its customers rate it for satisfaction with “relationship manager/business banker”. This continues to be a major problem for ANZ and NAB, which both score below average. ANZ also has a problem with low satisfaction with loans, while NAB customers are primarily dissatisfied with deposits and cards.

Norman Morris, industry communications director at Roy Morgan Research, says the major banks are continuing to struggle with achieving the business satisfaction results that they’re seeing from their personal customers. “Despite four official reductions in the cash rate over the last twelve months, business customers of all banks are less satisfied than they were a year ago. By contrast, over the twelve months to December 2012, the personal customers of most banks improve their satisfaction ratings.”

Morris says this widening of the gap in satisfaction between business and personal customers is likely to be linked to banks focusing more on the relative safety of the consumer market in uncertain economic times. “Business customers also require more regular contact and understanding from their bank and this is an area where they are rated low on. There are some early signs ….that more businesses now consider that the next twelve months would be a good time to invest in growing their business. It will be interesting to see if this translates into increased borrowings and, as a result, an improvement in how banks satisfy their business customers.”

John Whitten can be contacted on 0749722081 or 0410433919. You can also email him at jwhitten@ihl.net.au or look him up on the net www.ihl.net.au. John Whitten is a credit representative (CRN 399796) of BLASSA Pty Ltd (Australian Credit Licence No 391237).