Small business owners:unhappy bank customers

Australia’s big four banks did relatively well, in the global economic crisis, but they still have some ground to make up with their small business customers.

A new survey shows Australia’s small business owners have a distinct preference for the nation’s smaller banks.

The survey, conducted by the widely respected Roy Morgan organisation, revealed that the big four banks could only register a combined 64.8 per cent satisfaction rating among their small business clients.

The public, at large, was happier, giving the big banks a 73.2 per cent approval rating.

Of course, the past 12 months, dominated by the global economic crisis, has been a particularly trying time for the nation’s banks, both big and small.

The Saint George bank, though, managed to chalk up a 72.3 per cent approval rating among its small business customers.

Norman Morris, the industry communications director at Roy Morgan, said Australia’s banks, generally, have failed to keep up with the more complex demands of their small business customers.

That matters.  Mr Morris said the average small business client is worth roughly twice as much to his or her bank than other clients, because they take more bank products, including loans.

But your correspondent, a former banker, well remembers the agony bank managers go through, wondering whether their small business customers will survive, or go under.