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Kiwibank, SBS Bank go back-to-back in Roy Morgan annual customer satisfaction awards

Personal Finance
Kiwibank, SBS Bank go back-to-back in Roy Morgan annual customer satisfaction awards

By Gareth Vaughan

Kiwibank and SBS Bank have backed up their wins in Roy Morgan Research's inaugural New Zealand Customer Satisfaction Awards by again winning the major bank of the year and financial institution of the year categories, respectively, for 2012.

Roy Morgan Research's Asia-Pacific regional director, Debnath Guharoy, told interest.co.nz that being New Zealand owned seemed to have a lot to do with the two banks' strong customer satisfaction levels.

"With the global financial crisis people everywhere are tending to look inwards," Guharoy said.."There are people who have travelled, worked with the big global banks, learnt and come back home and they're lifting the game. Everywhere we're becoming more nationalistic. And if we're satisfied with something that is homegrown, and home-owned, then there's an affinity, an instinct, to support it."

"And unless there is something very serious to complain about, we tend not to complain about what we call our own," he added.

"I can't in any way prove with hard numbers that this is the fact, but there are other indicators within the research that we do continuously that would lead me to say that this is what is happening in countries as diverse as New Zealand and Indonesia."

"You're seeing a greater sense of pride, a greater sense of confidence in what is local than what used to be, say 10 years ago," Guharoy said.

The major bank category contestants were ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Kiwibank, National Bank, and Westpac. Average customer satisfaction among the six big banks in New Zealand was 79.5%.

Contenders for the financial institution gong included the big six banks, plus TSB Bank, AA Financial Services, AMI, AMP, AXA, GE Money, the Co-operative Bank, Rabobank, State, Southern Cross Healthcare, and Tower. The range of satisfaction with the financial institutions was 55% to 95% with the insurers at the bottom, and the likes of SBS and TSB at the top.

'Kiwi is good'

Guharoy said the common theme Roy Morgan was seeing, over the two years of its awards, was "kiwi is good".

He described customer satisfaction as the "holy grail of any service business".

"If you have satisfied customers you keep them. If you have unhappy customers the desire (for them) to look elsewhere is instinctively high."

Across the 24 categories in which Roy Morgan handed out awards, Guharoy said the fiercest competition was in the car, banking, and airline industries. In these categories the margins between the contenders tended to be small. In a smaller field like the supermarket sector, where there are few operators, the margins were wider.

Customer Satisfaction Awards Winners – 2012

Financial Institution of the Year - SBS Bank

Major Bank of the Year - Kiwibank

Car Manufacturer of the Year - Suzuki

Quick Service Restaurants of the Year - Subway

Chemist / Pharmacy of the Year - Amcal

Clothing Store of the Year - Hallensteins

Coffee Shop of the Year - Starbucks

Department Store of the Year - Kirkcaldie & Stains

Furniture / Electrical Store of the Year - Dick Smith

Hardware Store of the Year - ITM

Liquor Store of the Year - The Mill Liquorsave

Music / Book Store of the Year - Take Note

Shoe Store of the Year - Overland

Sports Store of the Year - Hunting & Fishing

Supermarket of the Year - Countdown

Handset Provider of the Year - Apple iPhone

Home Phone Provider of the Year - Telecom

Home Internet Service Provider of the Year - Paradise

Mobile Phone Service Provider of the Year - 2degrees

Domestic Airline of the Year - Air New Zealand

Hotel And Resort of the Year - Hilton

International Airline of the Year - Emirates

Electricity of the Year - Energy Online

Gas of the Year - Nova Energy

Roy Morgan collects satisfaction ratings through its annual Single Source survey of about 12,000 New Zealanders. See Roy Morgan's press release on its 2012 awards here. And see our story on the Roy Morgan 2011 awards here.

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1 Comments

Of all the companies given gongs ,the only one that i have had dealings with is Countdown and thats because they are the only show in town.

As far as banks are concerned i have had dealings with ANZ,BNZ ,First Cedit Union and HEARTLAND.

heartland come out first by a country mile.

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