New research conducted by Web analysis company, Global Reviews, reveals that the Big Four rate well behind rivals such as ING Direct, AMP, HSBC and Easy Street in providing new account facilities online. ING Direct's facilities scored top, with 78 per cent, of an ease of use rating supplied by Global Reviews. The National Australia Bank came in lowest with 38 per cent, behind rivals the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and Westpac.
Global Reviews director, Adir Shiffman, said the research findings correlated closely with data on the number of sign-ups that these financial institutions receive online.
ING Direct, the top performers in the group, said Schiffman, received tens of thousands of sing-ups online each month.
"For them to be doing that is quite incredible given that they're a relatively small player in the Australian space" said Shiffman.
"We found that one of the major reasons that they managed to achieve that is that they just make it so easy for prospective members to come on to the site, find the relevant information and sign up online."
In contrast, Shiffman said the information about accounts and signing up online through Westpac's facilities was "a much more difficult process".
Shiffman believes that although the Big Four will have a larger number of sign-ups online due to their existing size, relatively, the increase in market share that the smaller institutions are achieving is significant.
When 3 of the big 4 banks exited my suburb within the space of a year (including mine), I changed to a building society (Heritage) and was pleasantly surprised at how much more sophisticated their internet electronic banking is.
For example, email confirmation of BPAY transactions, BPAY and credit payments showing full receipt number and payer-id in internet transaction query, none of which the CBA had...