Atlas / Sector
Sector profile
Financial Services marketing benchmarks
Strongest on Conversion Efficiency, with the most room to move in Brand & Positioning. Financial Services sits above the national average across 10 industries.
Building evidence · based on 109 businesses, growing
Sector signature
Bars are this sector. Ticks are the national average.
Sector strength
Conversion Efficiency
+3 against the national line. The dimension this sector leans on.
Biggest gap
Brand & Positioning
-2 against the field. The soft spot holding the sector back.
The spread
12 points
Between the strongest and weakest industry in the sector. A wide gap means the average hides real winners.
The map
Where this sector sits
Every dot is an industry we measure. The 10 industries in Financial Services are lit in red. Choose any two dimensions for the axes.
Acquisition Performance →
Financial Services sits above average on Retention & Loyalty and above average on Acquisition Performance. The spread of red dots shows how tightly the sector clusters.
The spread inside the sector
Every number is a Marketing Score out of 100, rolling six dimensions into one figure. 47 is a business doing the basics. 88 is one that markets like a business twice its size.
The distance between the strongest and weakest performer in Financial Services is wide. A small cluster is genuinely good. A long tail sits well behind. The bar to lead this sector is lower than the reputation suggests. So where would you land?
In national context
Where the sector lands on the map
Every industry we measure, sorted low to high. The marker shows where Financial Services averages out.
In this sector
Every industry in Financial Services, ranked
Sorted by Marketing Score. Open any one for the full profile.
The read
What the numbers say about Financial Services
On the whole, Financial Services is one of the stronger sectors we measure. It leans on conversion efficiency and trails on brand & positioning.
Financial Services ranks 2nd of 11 sectors with a composite, 1.8 points above the national average. Conversion Efficiency is the sector's real strength, +3.2 against the national line. These are businesses built around transactions and they have invested accordingly.
The sector spans 10 industries, one of the largest in the dataset. Retail Banking & Neobanks tops the sector. At the other end, Insurance — Life & Income Protection drags the sector average down. The laggards have often spent heavily on brand awareness while underinvesting in the conversion and retention infrastructure that justifies the spend.
Brand & Positioning sits -1.6 against the national average, which is notable for a sector that spends billions on advertising. The issue is not awareness. It is differentiation. When every bank, insurer and super fund runs the same playbook, the scores converge toward average.
Financial Services spends more on brand advertising than almost any other sector, yet Brand & Positioning sits -1.6 against the national average. High spend with low differentiation produces average scores regardless of budget.
What to watch in Australian financial services
Neobanks and fintechs are setting the Digital Maturity benchmark for the entire sector. Legacy institutions are catching up through app redesigns and digital onboarding, but most still cannot connect marketing spend to customer lifetime value.
Accounting and Financial Advisory is quietly one of the strongest performers. These firms have small marketing teams but high conversion rates because they own the advisory relationship. As AI tools reduce the cost of content production and lead nurture, this vertical has room to climb further.
Patterns
What the Financial Services numbers reveal
Computed from 110 scored businesses across 10 industries. Updated as new audits complete.
By the numbers
13.9-point gap between Enterprise and Small Business
Enterprise businesses average 67.5. Small Business averages 53.6. Scale creates a 13.9-point advantage in this sector, driven by dedicated marketing teams and infrastructure investment.
Who's leading
ASX-listed companies score 2.2 points lower than unlisted
21 ASX-listed businesses average 62.8 vs 65 for 89 unlisted. Being listed does not automatically mean better marketing.
How industries compare
Digital Maturity (68.7) is the sector's edge. Data & Tracking (59.6) is the drag.
A 9.1-point spread between the strongest and weakest dimensions. Digital Maturity is 2.7 points above the national average.
What's shifting
1.8 points above the national average of 63.7
Financial Services ranks 2 of 11 sectors. The gap is closeable. These are not structurally weak businesses. They are businesses that have not prioritised digital marketing.
Where they are
NSW dominates with 68 of 110 businesses
62% of scored businesses in this sector are headquartered in NSW, averaging 64. VIC (34), QLD (5), WA (3) follow.
Where the gaps are
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) leads the sector at 87.8
22.3 points above the sector average. Scores 16.4 points above its own industry (Retail Banking & Neobanks). Enterprise scale, based in NSW.
Frequently asked
Common questions about Financial Services
How does the financial services sector compare to other Australian sectors for marketing?+
Financial Services scores 66 out of 100, ranking 2 of 11 Australian sectors. This is 2 points above the national average of 64.
The sector's strongest dimension is Conversion Efficiency. Its weakest is Brand & Positioning.
Based on 110 scored Australian businesses across 10 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
Which financial services companies have the strongest marketing in Australia?+
The top 5 performers across all financial services industries:
1. Commonwealth Bank (CBA) in Retail Banking & Neobanks
2. Afterpay (Block) in Buy Now Pay Later & Consumer Fintech
3. Aussie Home Loans in Mortgage Broking & Lending
4. Deloitte Australia in Accounting & Financial Advisory
5. AustralianSuper in Superannuation & Wealth Management
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) leads, 22 points above the sector average.
Based on 110 scored Australian businesses across 10 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
Do larger companies have better marketing than smaller ones in financial services?+
Yes. Enterprise-scale businesses average 68, while Small Business averages 54. That is a 14-point gap.
However, Afterpay (Block), Aussie Home Loans, AustralianSuper all outperform the Enterprise average despite being smaller. The correlation is clear but not absolute.
Based on 110 scored Australian businesses across 10 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
Do ASX-listed financial services companies have better marketing?+
21 ASX-listed businesses average 63, compared to 65 for 89 unlisted. Unlisted companies are competitive, likely through more agile digital strategies.
ASX status verified against ASX300 listing. NR Marketing Intelligence.
What is the biggest marketing weakness in Australian financial services businesses?+
Brand & Positioning is the weakest dimension, 2 points below the national average of 64.
This is the single biggest lever for improvement.
6-dimension scoring model: Digital Maturity, Acquisition Performance, Conversion Efficiency, Retention and Loyalty, Brand and Positioning, Data and Tracking.
How reliable are the marketing scores for financial services businesses?+
Scores are built from a 6-dimension model using up to 150+ data points per business: GA4 analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, site technology, Core Web Vitals and public data.
110 businesses are scored in this sector, benchmarked against 70+ nationally. Each score carries an evidence depth rating so you can see how much data sits behind it.
Evidence depth: Very High (4+ sources), High (3), Medium (2), Baseline (public signals).
Which financial services industries perform best at marketing?+
1. Retail Banking & Neobanks (71.445)
2. Superannuation & Wealth Management (67.105556)
3. Buy Now Pay Later & Consumer Fintech (66.881111)
4. Commercial Finance & Equipment Lending (65.96)
5. Accounting & Financial Advisory (65.865)
6. Health Insurance (65.54)
7. Insurance — General (Home, Car, Business) (65.175)
8. Mortgage Broking & Lending (63.555)
9. CFD & Derivatives Broker (63.49)
10. Insurance — Life & Income Protection (59.685)
The 12-point spread shows meaningful variation between industries in this sector.
Based on 110 scored Australian businesses across 10 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
How can financial services businesses improve their marketing score?+
Three high-impact moves:
1. Strengthen brand & positioning., this is the sector's weakest dimension and the fastest path to a higher score. Even basic improvements move the needle 5 to 10 points.
2. Close the gap on conversion efficiency. The sector already scores 66 here. Businesses below that benchmark are leaving easy points on the table.
3. Study the leaders. Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and Afterpay (Block) show what good looks like in this sector.
Based on 110 scored businesses across 10 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence.
Stop reading the average
The Atlas shows the sector. We read your business.
The map tells you what Financial Services does on average. Get Our Take tells you what you do, where you leak and what to fix first.