Bendigo Bank and ING are Australia’s most Trusted Banks while NAB is the biggest improver
Roy Morgan’s latest Risk Monitor data, including Net Trust rankings for banks and financial services, for the 12 months to March 2022 shows Bendigo Bank and ING are the most trusted banks in Australia.
While the two smaller banks have higher Net Trust Scores than any of their rivals, their scores have declined during the period of the pandemic since reaching highs early in 2020.
These and many other new insights, drawn from Risk Monitor survey data into Australia’s Most Trusted and Distrusted Banks & Financial Services, are available in the Financial Services Risk Report 2022.
To learn more, view the latest free Webinar presentation by Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine with key insights from legendary business columnist and economics writer, Robert Gottliebsen AM: Australia’s Most Trusted and Distrusted Banks and Financial Services Revealed.
Amongst the big four banks NAB has emerged as the biggest improver during the last two years. The dramatic improvement for NAB in net terms has been driven not by huge increases in trust, but by significant decreases in distrust. (The Net Trust Score or Net Distrust Score is determined by subtracting a brand’s Distrust Score from its Trust Score. A ‘Net Trust Score’ means trust is higher than distrust, a ‘Net Distrust Score’ means distrust is higher than trust).
In late 2019 NAB was the most distrusted of the big four banks, but since Ross McEwan became the bank’s new CEO in December 2019, the large decrease in distrust has propelled the Victorian bank past its three large competitors.
Despite the improvements made by NAB and the other big four banks during the last two years, all four of the big banks remain marginally in ‘Net Distrust’ territory – along with the industry as a whole.
The long-term trend on trust and distrust in the banking industry over the last four years shows the banking industry as a whole has had positive ‘Net Trust’ only briefly in the second half of 2019.
Banking Industry Trust, Distrust & Net Distrust: March 2019 – March 2022
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). Risk Monitor. 12m average to March 2022. Base: Australians 14+. Latest 12m average, n=21,498. Latest 12m average for industry, n=5,422.
Strong Net Trust Scores for Bendigo Bank and ING built on core values and mutual trust
The consistent high level of customer service provided by both Bendigo Bank and ING underlie their excellent Net Trust Scores. Detailed qualitative responses highlight several key reasons why Australians trust the two banks highly.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine credits their attention to detail and catering to the requests of their customers as key factors which drive the high levels of trust for Bendigo Bank and ING:
“Bendigo Bank scores highly for Trust because they respond to their customers promptly and take their role in the community seriously.
“Customers who trust Bendigo Bank told us they are ‘A smaller, trustworthy bank that offer very good customer service and great help when needing some financial advice’, and ‘They are the only bank in Australia that is genuine and helps their customers succeed’ when outlining why they trust the bank.
“In addition, they also stand out from their rivals noted one happy customer, ‘Banking is clearly corrupt, but Bendigo Bank is seemingly clean and contributes to the community in which it operates’.
“For those with ING there was positive feedback on how they do businesses provided by customers, ‘ING do banking different than others and actually put money back in your pocket,’ and ‘They provide clear information and advise of changes. ING have demonstrated that they trust me, so I trust them.’
Ms. Levine notes the strength this bond creates: “This mutual trust between a bank and its customers is a powerful force that builds customer loyalty for a bank and can also lead customers to ‘advertise’ the benefits of becoming a customer of that bank to their friends, family and work colleagues.
“Importantly, neither Bendigo Bank nor ING record substantial levels of distrust.”
PayPal, AustralianSuper and HESTA have highest Net Trust Scores for Non-Bank Financial Services
Payment services company PayPal has continued to lead as the most trusted (non-bank) financial services brand – holding its lead throughout the last two years of the pandemic as many Australians turned to online retail to spend unexpected windfalls while being prevented from travel.
Close behind with impressive Net Trust Scores are two of Australia’s largest super funds AustralianSuper and HESTA. The gap at the top of the Net Trust Scores between PayPal and the two super funds, AustralianSuper and HESTA, has closed considerably during the last two years.
At the other end of the scale the most distrusted (non-bank) financial services company is again AMP – however there has been steady improvement over the last two years for the long-distrusted brand.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine notes that leadership change at the top of AMP may be responsible for the improvement:
“AMP has consistently been Australia’s most distrusted non-bank financial services brand over the last few years but this status may soon change as new leadership at the 170 year old company has led to a steady improvement in the company’s Net Distrust Score.
“AMP appointed Debra Hazelton GAICD to the board in June 2019 and Ms. Hazelton became chair of the board just over a year later in August 2020. Perhaps the most consequential decision made so far by the AMP board led by Ms. Hazelton is to appoint the accomplished Alexis George as the new AMP Chief Executive Officer after spending nearly four years as ANZ Deputy CEO from 2018-2021.
“There has been a notable improvement to AMP’s Net Distrust Score since Ms. Hazelton’s appointment to the AMP board in mid-2019.”
This Financial Services Risk Report summarises and builds on the June 2022 Australia’s Most Trusted and Distrusted Banks and Financial Services webinar conducted by Roy Morgan CEO, Michele Levine, and social scientist Dr Ross Honeywill, with insights from legendary business columnist and economics writer, Robert Gottliebsen AM.
Trust and Distrust insights are from analysis of surveys with around 20,000 Australians each year via the ongoing Risk Monitor, conducted since 2018 - around 80,000 surveys in total.
Around 1,800 Australians are asked each month which brands they trust and which they distrust, in an open-ended, unprompted and context-free setting. This includes verbatim reasons for each top-of-mind brand they nominate for trust or for distrust, providing valuable feedback in a competitive market. These insights are supplemented with insights from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey of around 60,000 Australians each year.
The report includes the latest rankings and trends, thematic analysis of reasons for trust and distrust, and examples of recent verbatim comments from Australians about reasons for trusting or distrusting the following key brands: Afterpay, American Express, AMP, ANZ, Australian Super, Aware Super, Bank Australia, Bank First, Bank of Queensland, BankSA, Bankwest, Bendigo Bank, Bitcoin, CBA, Citibank, Great Southern Bank (Formerly CUA), Heritage Bank, HESTA, ING, Macquarie, ME Bank, MLC, NAB, PayPal, People's Choice Credit Union, QSuper, St. George Bank, Suncorp, Teachers Mutual Bank, UniSuper & Westpac.
Visit the Roy Morgan Online Store to access the Financial Services Risk Report 2022.
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
