New Zealanders Shopping Around? September 14, 2010
Interesting article via BusinessWeek, explaining that although New Zealanders will hopefully soon see the benefits of changing financial service providers, most of us have until now stuck with the one bank:
“Some 87 per cent of Kiwis have two or more products with their bank - one of the highest penetration rates in the region.
Some 60 per cent have maintained their relationship with their main bank for more than 10 years - but only 36 per cent would recommend their main bank to a friend or colleague, results showed.”
The situation may be changing though, with a growing number of New Zealanders getting their financial services fix from more than one provider
“The survey indicated 47 per cent of customers have more than one product outside of their main bank, and 55 per cent outside of their main insurer.”
Even though we’re reasonably loyal, we’re not always feeling appreciated by our bank. Why don’t we search around for better deals? Unsurprisingly, the explanation appears to be simply apathy and inertia - the perception that switching banks or products will be difficult, expensive and time consuming.
Here at Fundit we like to think we’re helping to solve that problem, by making it easy to compare mortgage offerings from six different mortgage lenders. Indeed Chris de Wit, banking partner at Deloitte, agrees that technology will help to break down the perceived barriers to switching banks:
“As technology changes and customers move more towards faceless contact with their main bank, the customer apathy demonstrated through this survey could result in increased customer churn.”
It’s only by shopping around that you’ll get the best deal, which in turn drives banks towards greater competition. At the moment they’re sitting pretty, knowing you’re not going anywhere.
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