NZ Banks

TSB Bank offers five-star banking experience in our review

In today’s fast moving fintec world, good old fashion customer service is still top of the wish list for people when it comes to rating their bank.

Canstar Blue’s latest survey involving 2,412 Kiwis, revealed that it’s the banks that can provide the personal touch and deal with problems and enquiries efficiently, that wins our hearts. And it was a triumph for the New Zealand banking sector with TSB Bank, The Co-operative Bank and Kiwibank taking the top three spots on the podium.

Our preferences when it came to rating our banks were:

• Customer service – 27%
• The way problems and inquiries are dealt with – 27%
• Fees/charges – 15%
• Interest rates – 13%

TSB Bank were the only bank to achieve a maximum rating in all of the criteria evaluated

Loyalty cards

When it comes to customer loyalty, it seems that our banks can rely on us staying put for a considerable amount of time.  Three quarters of us said we have had the same Every Day Account for more than five years, rising to an incredible nine out ten people in the Baby Boomer age bracket.  And what happens if we’re not happy with our bank?  Not much according to our survey with a mere 4% of people reporting to have swapped banks in the previous 12 months (dropping to an even lower 2% amongst Baby Boomers).

In an increasingly ‘cashless’ society, we’re also pretty loyal to our credit and debit cards too, with three out of four people using them more often than cash.  And if we want to check our accounts, transfer money or pay someone, we’re much more likely to be doing that via a laptop or mobile device as 80% of people say that now do most of their banking online.

Our spending and saving habits

The Canstar Blue survey also revealed that despite raging debates around an aging population, superannuation entitlement age and saving for retirement, nearly one quarter of us (22%) feel uncomfortable thinking about our long-term financial future and less than half of us (46%) are saving for retirement.  Gen Yers, although better at sticking to a budget, aren’t so good at saving for the future with less than half (only 47%) actively saving for their retirement.  Thankfully there looks to be a huge reality check when we reach our thirties as the proportion of Gen Xers saving for retirement jumps to 61%.