Do you have your own private banker?

Businesses with a turnover of between $1 and $5 million value personal interaction when dealing with their bank, according to the newly released East & Partners Micro Business Banking Markets Report.

Most of the 200,000 micro businesses surveyed would rather deal with someone who understands their business and industry they operate in rather than get routed through a call centre, according to East & Partners’ general manager for client services, Paul Bartholomew.

“That’s why regional banks have been quite popular over the past two or so years – really stolen the march on the big four,” Bartholomew says.

The report, based on a survey of 2059 enterprises nationwide, revealed a big growth in internet banking, and an increasing appetite for debt and growth in cash management and cash deposit products in the six months leading up to July.

Bartholomew says banks have started to offer more cash-flow finance products to small business to finance day-to day operations.

The most preferred banks are National Australia Bank, with 28% share of the transaction banking market, followed by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia at 20.8%, Westpac, ANZ and St George, followed by BankWest, the biggest of the regional banks with 6.1% market share.