Current tough lending conditions have forced businesses to stay with their current banks despite a fall in customer satisfaction, a new survey has found.
The latest East and Partners business banking customers satisfaction monitor found the number of business customers that intended to switch all or some of their business in the next three to six months had more than halved during the past year to 16.5 per cent.
This was despite a fall in customer satisfaction rating from 5.5 to 4.79 out of 10.
"A very different dynamic is occurring in the business banking market at the moment," East and Partners head of market analysis Robert Morgan said.
"The correlation between increased churn intentions and decreased satisfaction is a complete opposite to what we have witnessed before.
"This is clearly being driven, in part, by the current tough lending conditions.
"Business customers are sticking to who they know and, more importantly, where they feel they have an improved chance of securing debt.
"Of course, how banks treat this captive market in the short term will have a huge impact on their long term growth."
Of the big four banks, the Commonwealth Bank, the National Australia Bank and Westpac saw an increase in satisfaction, with ANZ recording a fall.
NAB maintains the top rating bank out of the big four, with a score of 6.56 in September.
The top overall satisfaction rating for the month went to the regional banks, with a satisfaction score of 6.62.
