Hunter based Greater Building Society has recorded its highest ever customer satisfaction rating with 96 percent of customers now satisfied, up two percent on the past two surveys.

Revealing the main findings of the results of its independently conducted annual customer survey today, Greater chief executive, John Arnold, said the results contained good news for the Greater but bad news for banks.

Only one percent of the 1200 respondents expressed any dissatisfaction at all with the Greater, with the remaining three percent remaining neutral.

When asked for the reasons why they joined the Greater, “unhappiness with bank service” was again top (42%), followed by “lower transaction fees” (32%), “lower account fees” (31%), and “convenient nearby branches” (30%).

Mr Arnold said that the survey is used by Greater management to measure more than just customer satisfaction. It provides information on customer's future intentions, the reasons why they choose the Greater, and a comparison of the Greater against banks. This information is used to measure and refine the Greater's marketing strategies and product development.

He paid tribute to the staff of the Greater for the tremendous result.

“Without the staff's genuine desire to look after the needs of our customers, these extremely high satisfaction levels would not be possible,” Mr Arnold said.

He said that the results showed that the Greater was still on the right track with its long time focus on customer service, expanding its branch network and keeping fees low. These were three of the four main reasons why customers said they were satisfied with the Greater.

“Friendly, courteous staff and better customer service”, “lower fees and charges” and “treated as valued” were the top three reasons why customers said the Greater was better than a bank.

Branches are still the preferred access method for almost all transactions. Only ATMs were more favoured for cash withdrawals and the Internet more favoured for bill payments.

Satisfaction with the Greater's call centre, Internet banking, and funds transfer services was up on last year's survey. Satisfaction with operating hours, ATM access, phone banking and the number of branches remained steady.

This was the sixth annual survey that the Greater has conducted. It was undertaken by the Financial Research Company.

Mr Arnold thanked those customers who took the time to respond to the survey.

The Greater is a Top 500* Australian private company with total assets worth more than $3.7 billion. It is one of the fastest growing building societies in Australia with 64 branches in NSW and South-east Queensland.

*BRW Top 500 List, 2006.