Although the financial crisis didn’t have a negative impact on clients’ contentment, banks should nevertheless be prepared to face more demanding and critical clients in future, says the report.

In the area of financial advice almost 49 per cent of the clients questioned sensed a conflict of interest on the part of the bank as it gets paid higher commissions for certain products. Bank prospects are particularly threatened by wealthier and younger clients who are less loyal to their bank, says the report.

Among clients having over half a million euros of investable assets, 47 per cent show a potential willingness to change and among the clients aged 35 or less this proportion rose to 57 per cent.

The criteria that are of the highest importance to wealthy private clients in the choice of their bank are financial stability, success in investments, advisors’ professional competence and low costs for the management of accounts and deposits, the research found.

Less relevant are the range of additional services, such as cultural events, competence in property insurance and an international presence.

In terms of bank size, the polled clients rated them on average 4.7/5 whilst larger banks such as Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank/Dresdner Bank, Sparda Bank and Volksbanken, occupied the middle ground in terms of client satisfaction. Meanwhile Postbank and Sparkassen were at the bottom of the rankings with 3.6 and 3.9 points respectively.

The group surveyed comprises clients of: HSBC Trinkhaus & Burkhardt, Sal Oppenheim, Delbrück Bethmann Maffei, Metzler, MM Warburg, BHF Bank and Berenberg Bank.