Aussie major declared global favourite

An Australian major bank has beaten international rivals to be crowned the favourite 'main bank' of consumers globally.

Commonwealth Bank has taken the crown as the favourite 'main bank' of consumers globally.

According to a report by RFi research and services, CBA outshone global banking giants including HSBC and Wells Fargo to be named the top lender in growing “main bank” relationships with consumers.

National Australia Bank, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Westpac and St George also rated in the top 10 globally, with ANZ 11th.

The report found CBA had a leading 73 per cent rate of converting customers into main bank relationships. Some of the lowest rated Australian banks were ING Direct at 19 per cent and Suncorp at 44 per cent.

A strong commitment to cross-selling has helped CBA to offset low credit growth, RFi managing director Alan Shields told The Australian.

"It's never been more important than now. We've come through the days of double-digit credit growth. That's just not going to happen for the medium term so they need to think about all of this.

"The banks are starting to get smarter with their data analytics so it's only a matter of time before they start getting better and 3.2 unique products per customer - the best in the market - is not going to be the best in a few years."

The report was based on a survey of 24,000 banking customers in 12 markets. The survey asked customers which lender they considered their main bank, with transaction accounts a major determinant.

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