ANZ moves to satisfy customers

By ELLEN READ and NZPA

ANZ Bank is preparing to take a short-term hit of several million dollars in an effort to improve customer satisfaction and boost its business long-term.

The bank is removing or lowering fees in response to customer complaints.

Although New Zealand does not have Australia's Bastard Bank of the Year award, ANZ would have won it in a close tussle with WestpacTrust over the past few years, say surveys by the Consumers Institute and Auckland University.

ANZ's head of public relations, Steve Fisher, said the bank recognised that its customer satisfaction levels were inadequate and it had done extensive research to address the issue.

From Monday, the bank is revamping its five transaction account packages into three new offerings:

* ANZ Control - a user-pays account where customers pay only for the transactions they make. There are no monthly administration fees regardless of the account balance - a move that saves customers $42 a year in fixed charges.

* ANZ Freedom - provides unlimited access for a flat fee of $19 a month. This includes the use of non-ANZ money Machines.

The account is aimed at customers who dislike the unpredictability of banking costs or who are too busy to think about their monthly banking costs.

* ANZ Thrifty - a basic low-cost account aimed at customers who want to keep their banking costs to a minimum. It offers 10 free electronic transactions each month and has no monthly administration fee, regardless of account balance.

Managed properly, this account offers customers everyday banking with no fees.

(It is a renaming of the Connect 10 account launched in January).

ANZ hotly denies the relaunch is in response to the entry of Kiwibank into the market. It says ANZ Bank began planning the project nine months ago, before the Government decided to proceed with Kiwibank.

But Consumers Institute chief executive David Russell said there was little doubt Kiwibank, with its lower fee structure, lower mortgage rates and local ownership, was making an impact.

"If they are in the business of retail banking they can't afford to sit back and ignore the new competition, and in particular home-grown competition."

ANZ managing director Murray Horn said the new accounts would give many customers the opportunity to substantially reduce their fees.

The quality of the accounts should increase customer satisfaction and encourage people to bring more of their business to the ANZ, he said.

New customers were also expected.

On average, each ANZ customer has 1.3 products with the bank, which aims to increase this to three per customer.

This extra custom is expected to outweigh any reduction in transaction fee income from existing customers so the bank's bottom line is unlikely to be affected in the medium term.

ANZ has just under 1.1 million customers, 650,000 of whom hold transaction accounts (as opposed to credit cards, savings accounts etc).