Kiwis more tolerant of New Zealand-owned banks: Matthews

Saturday, 5 May 2018

Claire Matthews: 'They all have good staff and they all have the odd rogue staff member. From time to time they are going to do things that upset customers.'

New Zealand customers hold Australian banks to a higher standard than their Kiwi competitors, a banking expert says.

Canstar has released its latest customer satisfaction ratings for New Zealand banks.

Local operators TSB, The Co-operative Bank and Kiwibank were the top-rated performers.

It was the fifth time TSB had received the Overall Customer Satisfaction Award.

* Banks told: Front up with evidence

TSB received the Overall Customer Satisfaction Award.

* Warning to NZ's Aussie-owned banks: Prove we can trust you**

It comes as Australia's big banks, which are the parent organisations of ASB, BNZ, Westpac and ANZ, are investigated by the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

Although it has only just begun, that inquiry has heard many revelations of poor conduct, and admissions that commercial interests were placed ahead of customers' needs.

There have been calls for a similar inquiry here.

'As coverage of the Royal Banking Commission picks up steam in New Zealand, it will be interesting to see how much of an impact, if any, it will have on us,' said Canstar Blue general manager Jose George.

'It remains to be seen how much regulators and consumers here will take the 'assume nothing, question everything' approach and it is not yet clear if this will reveal a widening of the NZ/Australian bank divide or whether the ripples will fail to make waves.'

Claire Matthews, a banking expert from Massey University, said the New Zealand banks had a better image in this country than their Australian-owned counterparts.

'People like to like them. There is a lower threshold for TSB, SBS, The Co-operative Bank and Kiwibank, They're New Zealand-owned, they're not big Aussie banks – people rate them higher for that. People are more tolerant of any issue.'

She said customers were more critical of the Australian-owned banks and were more reluctant to be customers of them.

'It doesn't take as much for them to be seen as unsatisfactory.'

But she said no bank was immune to the possibility of poor behaviour.

'They all have good staff and they all have the odd rogue staff member. From time to time they are going to do things that upset customers.'

Her colleague, David Tripe, said the banks were also helped by their focus on personal customers. 'If they couldn't do well they'd be in big trouble.'

The banks do not compete on price as much as they do on their culture.

Murray Bain, chief executive of TSB, said the award was testament to the passion and commitment of its staff.

'I'm proud of our entire team for consistently raising the bar on our products and services.'

George said the banking world was evolving. Almost 90 per cent of people did most of their banking online.

But customer service was still the biggest driver of satisfaction.

'As customer expectation has grown and people have recognised the value of their business, the traditional definition of customer services has had to evolve.

'Banks have to now consistently deliver in a number of disciplines including face-to-face, telephone, chatbots and supplying real-time relevant information in a digital environment. In short, banks today have to be a lot more tuned in to their customer in order to be considered good at customer service.'