The research house found that while 97 per cent of Australians over 14 years of age have a transaction or deposit account with a financial institution, approximately 650,000 or 3.5 per cent intend to switch accounts in the near term, amounting to a shift of $16.4 billion in total.
Roy Morgan Research industry communications director Norman Morris said institutions trying to increase client numbers at the expense of existing ones could be to blame.
“Perhaps in the past the banking industry has been guilty of chasing new customers rather than ensuring that their existing customers are retained and grown,” Mr Morris said.
“Special deals or introduction rates are often used to attract new business but it may be at the expense of existing customers who are likely to feel less valued.”
The research found that 26 per cent of switching customers haven’t yet made up their minds about where to move their funds.
Roy Morgan said the next few months will be “crucial” in customers' decision making and institutions have an opportunity to position their services to gain market share.
In terms of dollar share for customers who plan to move, Commonwealth Bank has the highest at 25.6 per cent, with ANZ following at 23.5 per cent.
National Australia Bank shares in 10.6 per cent of the customers who intend to move, followed by Westpac at 9.7 per cent, with credit unions or building societies accounting for 5.1 per cent and the remaining 25.5 per cent at other institutions.
ANZ’s potential loss is $3.9 billion or 5.5 per cent of the bank's customer balances; this is well ahead of the Commonwealth Bank, which stands to lose 3.5 per cent.
“We have seen in this example that $16.4 billion dollars are likely to be switched in deposit and transaction accounts over the next six months; if we included cards, loans, etc the figure would be much greater,” Mr Morris said.
“It will be interesting to note what actions the financial institutions take in order to attract new customers and at the same time retain the existing ones.”
