Bank's customers get jitters

By PAULA OLIVER

The National Bank sale process is having an unsettling effect on its customers, with 18 per cent saying they are considering jumping ship to another bank.

The annual banking survey by the University of Auckland Business School, released today, has revealed the full extent of negative feeling over the potential sale.

For the first time in six years the National Bank has been deposed from its ranking of second in overall residential customer satisfaction among the country's five major operators - that position has been snared by a high-flying Bank of New Zealand.

Survey writer Andrew Parsons said the result looked like a reaction from people unhappy that their bank might be sold. Traditionally, only a small number of customers who said they might switch actually did so, he said, but in the event of a sale that number might be higher.

"Usually it's someone saying the fees are too high and looking elsewhere. But this is quite a catastrophic change. It's a major change in the philosophy of the bank. If it does happen, then yes, I think it will translate through to a larger number of customers actually switching than would be normal."

Parsons said that if the National Bank was sold he expected its more rational customers would wait and see what happened before they decided to move.

The highly prized bank was put up for sale by its British parent, Lloyds TSB, in June.

Suitors have fallen away as the sale process has progressed and now ANZ is the only public bidder.

ANZ has consistently been at the bottom of customer satisfaction surveys and its latest performance is no different.

It has finished a clear last in residential satisfaction - 52 per cent said they were satisfied or very satisfied - and sits with Westpac at the bottom of the business category.

As many as 27 per cent of ANZ's surveyed customers said they were looking to change banks.

Parsons said ANZ should be worried.

"You've got over a quarter, nearly a third, of your customers saying, 'I'm seriously considering going to your competitor'. And it's growing as well."

Taranaki-based TSB has again topped the residential service poll, with an overwhelming 95 per cent approval rating. ASB rates first among the big five banks in residential and business service.

BNZ is the big, and only, improver of the survey. It galloped past the National Bank to secure a 71 per cent rating among residential customers.

The survey questioned 1175 New Zealanders from a variety of backgrounds and 1150 businesses of different sizes and from varied regions and industries.

The questions were asked just over three weeks ago as speculation over the National Bank's sale and its repercussions intensified.

Overall the survey shows that happiness among bank customers is down on previous years, particularly among businesses.

Kiwibank's support grew among the smaller players and 34 per cent of the people considering switching banks said the state-owned operator was their number one option.

ANZ managing director Greg Camm told the Business Herald he was a bit puzzled by his bank's result.

"It doesn't tie in with the internal surveys we're doing, or the Consumer magazine survey. They show we are up."

Camm said ANZ was working hard to improve its service. It had put on an average of one extra staff member a branch and new branches were opening across the country, including one soon in Whangaparaoa.

In the late 1990s banks in New Zealand severely cut back on staff and branches. That trend is now reversing and many have admitted they took the knife too far.

Camm said the root of ANZ's problem now was that its branches were too busy and did not have sufficient capacity.

The bank had more than one million customers, just short of Westpac. But although Westpac had about 200 branches, ANZ had only 142.

Camm said staff satisfaction was up within the bank and its internal use of mystery shopping surveys showed service was improving.