Small businesses less satisfied with banks
By
Andrea Lavigne
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10/02/2010 9:16:00 AM
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Bendigo Bank leads the pack in customer satisfaction when it comes to small businesses however total scores were down for most lenders compared to results from 12 months ago.
Roy Morgan Research conducted face-to-face interviews with more than 3,000 small business owners and found Bendigo Bank was the overall market leader in satisfaction amongst small business owners with 84.5%, although this was down 4.3 percentage points from a year ago.
St.George beat out the Big Four with a score of 72.4% (down 2.1 percentage points), while ANZ topped Westpac, which was followed by CBA and NAB.
Despite edging out its competitors, ANZ's satisfaction rating fell slightly by .7%, while Westpac and CBA experienced a slight rise in results.
In contrast, satisfaction among NAB's small business customers dropped almost 3% compared to the previous year.
NAB recently announced it would be abolishing late fees for business customers in a bid to curry favour.
A recent survey by the Council of Small Business of Australia found that among respondents biggest concerns were high interest rates and the cost of obtaining finance.
FBAA president Peter White recently told AB that "banks have really disgraced themselves in front of small businesses over the last two years".
"Banks should come back on their hands and knees and apologise to small businesses for what they've done to them - not just on interest rates but the general lending practice," he said.
Related stories:
Senate investigates small business credit concerns - The Coalition has initiated a Senate inquiry into the barriers to credit faced by small businesses, reports The Australian.
SMEs optimistic about 2010 prospects - The small business sector, which counts many brokers as members, appears optimistic about its prospects in 2010, according to the results of a national poll.
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