Australians trust smaller banks the most – survey

Smaller brands remained the most trusted banks in Australia, the latest banking brand and trust index survey by research platform Glow has revealed.

Bendigo Bank, Greater Bank, P&N Bank, and Bank of Sydney solidified their positions atop the list, achieving the highest net trust scores in October’s index. Each of the banks has seen an improvement in trust ratings, with Greater Bank posting the biggest jump to 28 from last quarter’s 18.

Bendigo Bank, which continued to be Australia’s most trusted bank, registered a score of 29 (+7). P&N Bank scored 28 (+6) while Bank of Sydney got a trust rating of 27 (+7).

Glow surveyed 1,217 Australians around their sentiment towards 31 bank brands before awarding each a net trust score between -100 and +100.

The report also found that although the country’s major banks dominated other institutions when it came to brand awareness, they still lagged behind their smaller counterparts when it came to customer trust.

The big four banks remained at bottom half of the trust rankings, with Commonwealth Bank registering 14 points up from last quarter’s 11. NAB’s net trust score also climbed from 10 to 13, so did ANZ’s from 9 to 13. Only Westpac posted a drop in customer trust from 8 to 5.

Here’s the complete result of Glow’s net trust score rankings.

Source: Glow’s Australia Banking Brand and Trust Index survey October 2020