Retail Banking & Neobanks

The shape tilts toward Digital Maturity (75.6) and away from Data & Tracking (66.2). That tilt tells you where the industry's marketing dollars have gone and where they haven't. The businesses that correct the tilt first will see outsized returns because they're fixing the constraint that's holding everything else back.

Dimension Breakdown

Inside the marketing performance of Australian retail banks

Retail banking at 71.4 composite is one of the highest-performing verticals in Australia. Only Property Marketplaces (87.8), Job Boards (78.1), Investment Banking (75) and a handful of others sit above it. This is an industry that takes marketing seriously because the economics demand it. A single home loan customer is worth tens of thousands over their lifetime.

Digital Maturity at 75.6 reflects billions in cumulative app and platform investment. CBA's CommBank app is often cited as the benchmark for financial services UX in the southern hemisphere. That investment shows up in the numbers: CBA leads at 82 composite, a full 6 points above the industry average and 11 points above Westpac at the other end.

The surprise in the data is Retention and Loyalty at 71.8. High, but not as high as you'd expect for an industry with notoriously sticky customers. Neobanks and Buy Now Pay Later products have eroded some of that stickiness, particularly among under-35s. The Big Four can no longer rely on switching inertia alone.

Compare banking to Insurance (General), which scores 71.4 composite. Both are regulated financial services with similar sales cycles. But banking outperforms insurance by 6 points across the board. The difference is digital investment. Banks have spent a decade building digital products. Insurers are still catching up.

For neobanks and challengers, the opportunity is in the gap between acquisition cost and conversion rate. The Big Four acquire customers through brand saturation. Challengers have to convert more efficiently with less spend. The ones winning, like Up and Macquarie's digital banking arm, do it through product-led growth and referral mechanics, not through out-spending the incumbents on above-the-line.

Ranked 3rd of 70. Top quartile. This industry takes marketing seriously and it shows. The leaders here are making informed capital allocation decisions. The gap between top and mid-table isn't luck. It's investment.

Where you sit in Financial Services

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Cross-cut Retail Banking & Neobanks data by taxonomy, compare dimensions across sectors and see where this industry sits nationally.

Frequently Asked

You're in a strong industry. Are you keeping up?

Retail Banking & Neobanks ranks 3rd nationally. The businesses at the top of this vertical are serious about marketing. If your score is below 71.4, you're losing ground to competitors who've already invested.