It was ranked the lowest out of all major banks
Westpac has been the most poorly rated of New Zealand’s big banks, revealing a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 14 – well below the scores of other major banks.
Westpac New Zealand’s chief executive David McLean said he was “not happy with that,” and that although some of the result may be down to brand image, a lot depends on the firsthand experience that customers have with the bank.
ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Kiwibank had NPS of 28, 32, 39 and 42, though Westpac’s investor discussion pack did not reveal which score belonged to which bank. McLean says that although Westpac’s NPS was strong in some areas, others have definite room for improvement.
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“In some sectors we are quite strong. In agri-business we are number two among farmers,” he said.
“In the consumer sector, where we are fifth out of five, the gap is not huge, but obviously we are not happy with that.”
“Part of it is how much do you spend on advertising, and what people think about your brand, which is intangible, but a lot of it is experiences people have with the bank,” he added.
“Do we make it unnecessarily difficult for people to bank with us? Are our processes a bit clunky? Sometimes our systems might be down. That just means we have more work to do on those things to improve it.”
By contrast, advisers in New Zealand rated Westpac highly in NZ Adviser’s annual Advisers on Banks survey, where Westpac took second place and was praised for its commission structures, communication and interest rates.
In his full year results presentation, Westpac Group CEO Peter King says that resetting Westpac’s strategy has been his top priority, and that improving its customer service operations and digital processes was top of the list.
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“Our purpose has been to help Australians and New Zealanders succeed, and helping is what our people and passionate about,” King said.
“We need to fix our issues so we can move forward, and that is my number one priority. We’re addressing our risk management capability, improving culture, accelerating customer remediation and reducing IT complexity.
“We need to transform our processes using digital, removing manual steps and using data to improve how we operate. It’s our customers and people that are at the heart of our business, and having a highly engaged workforce will deliver value, and I will not lose sight of that.”
