There are mistrusted banks... and then there are AMP and Westpac

AMP, Bank of China and Westpac are the nation’s least-trusted banks to do the right thing by ­customers, a survey has shown.

The big four reined supreme on brand awareness with CBA leading at 92 per cent. Picture: AAP

AMP, Bank of China and Westpac are the nation’s least-trusted banks to do the right thing by ­customers, by some margin, with the trio all separately scoring poorly in a new survey.

The inaugural Australian Banking Brand and Trust Index polled 1233 people online in ­December using the consumer platform of research and data house Glow.

The results revealed the stark challenges ahead for large banks as they continue to navigate the scrutiny in the post-Hayne royal commission climate.

AMP was given a net trust score of negative 14, followed by Bank of China at negative 12 and Westpac at negative two. NAB and ANZ each had a net trust score of three and Commonwealth Bank was on six.

At the other end of the spectrum, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank ranked as the most trustworthy with a net trust score of 23, followed jointly by RACQ Bank, ING and Greater Bank at 20.

Glow chief executive Tim ­Clover urged the boards of large banks to take customer trust into account when they considered the pay structures of executives, given the poor scores of many in the survey.

“There is a long way for some of the banks to go,” he said.

“It is certainly a disrupted environment ... it will be interesting to see how they recover and what they do.”

Mr Clover is a former PwC director and lecturer at Deakin University. Glow counts marketing services firm Sensis and broking group Steadfast among its customers and has previously done work for the likes of Woolworths and Schweppes.

AMP was among the biggest casualties of the Hayne royal commission, with a series of scandals leading to the exit of its former chair Catherine Brenner and chief executive Craig Meller.

AMP’s new chief executive Francesco De Ferrari is looking to fix the group’s woes with a multi-year transformation plan to overhaul the company’s culture, stem funds outflows and regain trust in its financial advice and banking divisions.

Westpac, while not as beaten up over the royal commission as AMP, was the subject of explosive legal action in November linked to failing to adhere to financial crime compliance obligations, including monitoring payments used to fund child exploitation.

The legal action launched by Austrac led to the exit of former Westpac chief Brian Hartzer and brought forward the retirement of chairman Lindsay Maxsted.

A Westpac spokesman said while it was difficult to comment without having seen the Glow data, the bank’s internal numbers recorded “a lift in it customer satisfaction and NPS (net promoter score) last month”.

He added: “We continue to improve the digital experience, as well as streamlining our processes to make it quicker and easier for our home loan customers.”

The big four reined supreme on brand awareness with CBA leading at 92 per cent, followed by ANZ at 89 per cent and NAB and Westpac both at 87 per cent

The big four banks all suffered a hit to net trust scores a year ago, just after the Hayne royal commission’s final report was released.

At the time, a Roy Morgan survey had NAB as the most distrusted bank brand following a doubling of distrust levels year-on-year.

That followed NAB’s now departed chairman Ken Henry and CEO Andrew Thorburn being singled out by the royal commission over lack of accountability for a string of compliance failures.

Interestingly, Glow’s survey found NAB-owned UBank pipped its rivals on customer satisfaction scores with 92 per cent of those surveyed saying they were either satisfied or very satisfied. It was followed by ING and Bendigo Bank.

The big four reigned supreme on brand awareness with CBA leading at 92 per cent, followed by ANZ at 89 per cent and NAB and Westpac both at 87 per cent.