Market Pulse: Your Insights Edge in Australian Banking
In the dynamic landscape of Australian banking, staying competitive isn't just about knowing your position – it's about understanding the complete picture of industry dynamics, customer experience, channel performance, and emotional engagement that drives success.
Market Pulse—a syndicated benchmarking study—continues to be the definitive measure of performance and customer behaviour in Australian retail banking.
2025 marks the 10 year anniversary of this comprehensive benchmarking study!
This truly insight-led study stands as one of the industry’s most detailed and efficient benchmarking programs, delivering insights that go far beyond traditional NPS metrics. It offers a comprehensive scan of operations, providing both depth and breadth in brand and industry insights. We delve into the critical moments that shape customer relationships, from everyday transactions to complex problem resolution, giving you both the what and the how of banking excellence.
Market Pulse evaluates customer interactions with Australian banking brands across three primary lenses: Channels, Journeys, and Products—delivering valuable insights at both brand and industry levels. More detail on this study is available by following the link below, or get in touch directly to find out more. Prospectuses also available for other industries.
Your competitive advantage.
Whether you're an executive seeking strategic insight, a channel manager requiring detailed performance metrics, or an industry expert looking to monitor trends, Market Pulse delivers the intelligence you need. We monitor industry trends and pinpoint exactly where brands stand against competitors and, more importantly, how to advance their position.
Transform Your Strategy
Our comprehensive analysis reveals not just industry benchmarks, but clear pathways to improvement. From high-level strategic planning to detailed operational adjustments, Market Pulse provides the insights needed to drive meaningful change.
Quarterly Intelligence That Drives Performance
Our quarterly releases keep you ahead of market shifts with fresh, actionable insights. We track everything from wait times to resolution rates, from channel preferences to customer sentiment. This isn't just data – it's your roadmap to competitive advantage.
Industry Insights: March 2026 Quarter
The industry is entering a phase where digital is no longer reliably delivering the experience it promises. Mobile remains the dominant channel, but performance is softening, with customers increasingly unable to complete tasks without issue. This is creating a growing gap between customer expectations of seamless, mobile-first banking and the reality of inconsistent execution.
As a result, experience is shifting toward service-supported recovery. Assisted channels—particularly call centres, chat and branch—are improving across the market and playing a more critical role in maintaining overall satisfaction. However, this shift is not being driven by preference, but by necessity, as customers turn to human channels when digital journeys break down.
At the same time, resolution has become the defining battleground. Customers are placing less emphasis on features or pricing, and more on whether they can get things done quickly and without friction. Banks that deliver consistent, end-to-end completion are outperforming, while those with fragmented or unreliable journeys are seeing increased detractor pressure.
This is creating a more balanced competitive landscape. Digital-first players are losing some of their structural advantage as digital performance softens, while larger incumbents continue to benefit from scale, ecosystem strength, and embedded relationships. In this environment, consistency of execution—not proposition—is becoming the key differentiator.
Finally, the industry is facing growing operational and cost pressure. As digital journeys fail, demand is shifting into higher-cost service channels, increasing pressure on frontline teams and cost-to-serve. The challenge for banks is now clear: restore digital reliability while sustaining service performance, in order to reduce failure demand and rebalance toward a more efficient, scalable model.