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CBA has retained a narrow lead among customers of the big four banks in September, according to Roy Morgan Research.
Australia's biggest mortgage lender achieved a 81.1 per cent satisfaction rating, followed by Westpac (81.0 per cent), but with 82.4 per cent satisfaction for MFI customers (main financial institution) the CBA continued to trail Westpac (83.8 per cent) and ANZ (82.6 per cent).
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The latest rankings found that the overall satisfaction level of the personal customers of banks reached an 18-year record high of 82.4 per cent in September, up from 82.3 per cent in August.
However, not all customers shared this view, in particular, customers with incomes of $90,000 or more and business customers scored much lower.
The big fours' customers on incomes of $90,000 or more had a satisfaction level of 74.3 per cent while for business customers, satisfaction was only 68.6 per cent.
"The major banks have made significant progress over the last 14 years in improving customer satisfaction," Roy Morgan Research industry communications director Norman Morris said.
"In 2000 the overall customer satisfaction level of bank customers was below 60 per cent and this has now risen to over 80 per cent because of a concerted effort by all the banks to improve their customer focus following the sharp downward trend in the late 1990s," Mr Morris said.
"The issue now facing the banks is how to raise the satisfaction and advocacy levels of the customers who offer the greatest business potential," he said.
"We have seen here that the customers with the lowest satisfaction levels are the personal customers on higher incomes ($90,000-plus) and business customers."
While the big four banks have been competing strongly for the number one overall satisfaction rating, they are all well behind in the satisfaction rating of their higher income and business customers where the greatest potential lies, Mr Morris said.
"The challenge for the banks is to create a clear satisfaction and advocacy leadership positioning among the higher-value customers or they will face increased competition from specialised banks and other financial institutions that will focus solely on these lucrative segments," he said.
[Related: CBA turnaround times back on track]
