The big four Australian banks are doing all they can to win over mid-sized businesses.
But bank satisfaction ratings among that segment have either dropped or are static, research shows.
The results of a survey of 7244 businesses across Australia by market researcher DBM Consultants in August show significant changes in satisfactionwith the banks among medium sized businesses.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia's satisfaction level, scored out of 10, dropped from 7.4 to 7.2 and Westpac fell from 7.4 to 7.3, giving it the lead among businesses with annual turnover of between A$5 million and A$50 million.
National Australia Bank was unchanged at 7 and and ANZ was steady at 6.7.
DBM said the changes were a reflection of the battleground that the medium-sized businesses sector had become for the major lenders and showed these businesses were now more willing to shop around for their banking services.
The sector is a lending segment that offers the big four the greatest earning potential and has the strongest economic optimism, DBM managing director Dhruba Gupta said.
"With micro businesses being costly to service and large businesses able to force down the banks' margins, the small and medium segments offer significant opportunities," he said.
"Many of these businesses also have the potential to mature into tomorrow's corporates, which is another factor in the apparent intensity in competition in the mid-market segments."
Across businesses of all size, CBA and Westpac remain the leaders in terms of customers satisfaction, both with scores of 7.1, while ANZ sat in third with 6.9, and NAB scored 6.8.
DBM also found that medium-sized businesses were among the most optimistic when it came to expectations for revenue in the next year, and had the strongest intentions to hire more staff in that period, Mr Gupta said.
"There are good levels of confidence about the future among the small and medium business segments," he said.
