Business less satisfied with banks

MELBOURNE: Business satisfaction with the big four banks largely stalled during December despite three of the lenders passing on interest rate cuts to small businesses.
Satisfaction overall with Westpac, Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) fell slightly last December from the previous month, the latest monthly data from DBM Consultants finds.
However, Australia’s biggest business lender, National Australia Bank, bucked the trend, gaining support among all business segments except medium-sized enterprises with an annual turnover of between A$5 million and $50 million.
DBM surveyed businesses of various sizes nationwide throughout December and found satisfaction levels largely unchanged despite the central bank’s interest rate cuts in November and December.
“Worsening or more uncertain economic times put downward pressure on satisfaction. Any relief from rate cuts takes a back seat,” managing director Dhruba Gupta said. – AAP
Businesses may not have felt much relief from banks, two of whom waited until Christmas week to make effective their 25 basis point cut to the small business standard variable rate.
CBA did not announce any rate cut for businesses, leading analysts to predict the big four will continue to squeeze businesses by re-pricing loans with higher margins.
“We think the banks are going to put pressure (on) as businesses try to refinance next year,” CLSA Asia Pacific’s Ed Henning says.
“CBA did not price down some of their business loans.” –