Westpac still 'favourite business bank'
- From: AAP
- January 25, 2011
Westpac is the top rated bank by micro, small and medium sized businesses, even after passing on a 35 basis point rise to customers in November / File Source: Bloomberg
WESTPAC remains the nation's favourite business bank, but customer satisfaction across the big four lenders has waned since the November interest rate rise, research shows.
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) edged ahead of Westpac to become the most favoured bank by large businesses with an annual turnover of at least $50 million, DBM Consultants' monthly nationwide survey of businesses found.
But Westpac is the top rated bank by micro, small and medium sized businesses, even after passing on a 35 basis point rise to customers in November.
"November's interest rate changes may have influenced recent results and created downward pressure on the ratings, more so for Westpac, CBA and National Australia Bank than for ANZ (Banking Group)," DBM managing director Dhruba Gupta said.
DBM's rolling monthly survey checked the pulse of 7576 businesses across Australia, 88.7 per cent of which are micro-sized, or have annual turnovers of less than $1 million.
This segment was the most sensitive to the interest rate rise in November, although a decline in overall satisfaction levels were experienced by three of the big four banks.
ANZ Banking Group was an outlier, avoiding a deterioration in its ratings from the previous month, DBM said.
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