Australia’s private banking sector is far
from saturated, with only a quarter of Australians who are eligible for a private banking account, actually using one.

This insight came from CoreData group’s
recent study of customer satisfaction levels among private banking customers in
Australia, cited by The Australian.

Out of 1,700 local clients that were surveyed,
600 are high net worth individuals, which in Australia is defined as a person
with more than $1 million in assets, not including the family home or
retirement funds. The research revealed that only one third of the
participating HNW individuals collaborated with a private banker and another third did so
previously, but no longer did now.

Almost half of the latter group expressed
their opposition to the level of fees they were being charged, one third were
unimpressed with the services provided and over 20 per cent were disappointed
with how their investments had performed.

This dissatisfaction could be a result of private
banks targeting the wrong clientele, creating a gap between the expectations of
the customer and the level understanding of their adviser, as suggested by
managing director of private banking for ANZ in Australia and New Zealand,
Catherine McDowell. McDowell said in the report that some private banker’s individual
skills simply don’t cut what it takes to establish strong client relationships.

Andrew Inwood, CoreData’s managing director,
summarises the group’s findings, stating that there is no leader in the sector
and that the Australian market “remains wide open”, allowing plenty of room for
improvement within the nation’s private banking industry.