That’s down 3.3 percentage points from the 81.2% it was in January 2018 – before the royal commission.

The research, which is based on a survey of over 25,000 Australians in the six months to February 2019, reported that customer satisfaction fell for all but two of Australia’s 10 largest (in terms of customer numbers) consumer banks.

ING (up 2.7% points) and Bendigo Bank (up 0.9% points) experienced improvements in their satisfaction scores, while Bankwest (down 6.0% points), NAB (down 5.1% points) and Westpac (down 5.1% points) experienced steep drops.

Of the ten largest banks, Bendigo Bank and ING have the highest satisfaction scores, at 89.3% and 87.9% respectively.

At the other end of the satisfaction scale are the big four banks, Westpac (72.8%), ANZ (73.8%), NAB (74.0%) and the Commonwealth Bank (77.2%).

The big four also suffered the biggest drop in their Net Promoter Score (NPS) – a score which reflects how likely a customer would be to recommend a brand to a friend or colleague.

The NPS of the big four fell 4.4 points from 2.8 in January 2018 to -1.6 in February 2019 – one of the lowest levels ever recorded since 2014.

But this is slightly up from the -2.8 this score was in November 2018.

Comparatively, the overall NPS for banks outside of the big four only fell 0.2 points from 23.4 to 23.2 over the same period.

Roy Morgan’s report said it’s not surprising the big four banks experienced the biggest drop in their NPS score, given they copped most of the negative publicity during the royal commission.

Of the ten largest consumer banks, ING and Bendigo Bank also have the two highest NPS scores, with ING well out in front at 51.8 and Bendigo in second at 34.0.

ING’s high NPS score may have had something to do with its ‘refer a friend’ bonus promotions it ran in the past, which offered bonuses to existing customers of up to $100 for every new customer they referred.

Roy Morgan’s Industry Communications Director Norman Morris said there are many factors which drive levels of customer advocacy and satisfaction in banks.

“These include detailed coverage of areas such as; ‘customer experience’, ‘reliability and security’, ‘interest rates, fees and charges’, ‘product offering’ and ‘internet banking’,” Mr Morris said.

For feedback or queries, email dominic.beattie@savings.com.au