Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards 2022: Australia’s most trusted financial services firms

Roy Morgan presented the inaugural Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards for 2022 in mid-October and the five winners from the financial services categories include one of the world’s most well-known tech companies, Australia’s largest industry super fund, two leading insurers from opposite ends of the country and one of Australia’s favourite regional banks.

Online payment platform PayPal has emerged from a crowded field of over 50 non-bank financial services brands to be recognised as the most trusted brand in the sector ahead of several well-known ‘super funds’ that battled it out for the most trusted superannuation brand.

Roy Morgan revealed last week that PayPal is Australia’s most widely used digital payment platform with over 9.8 million Australians (46.1%) using the service in the 12 months to September 2022.

Australia’s largest industry super fund, AustralianSuper, has been recognised as the most trusted Superannuation brand in Australia’s massive $3.3 trillion superannuation industry[1]. AustralianSuper won the category narrowly ahead of the highly trusted rivals HESTA, QSuper, UniSuper and Aware Super.

In the insurance categories there were several standouts led by the most trusted brand in insurance, NRMA Insurance which has now led this category uninterrupted since 2018 and topped the rankings ahead of Queensland-based RACQ and Western Australia’s RAC. The most trusted brand in private health insurance is the Perth-headquartered HBF ahead of HCF and Bupa rounding out the top three.

When it comes to banking there is no other brand more trusted than Bendigo Bank – the most trusted brand in the industry. Bendigo Bank moved into the lead in this category in February 2022 and never relinquished the lead from that point on to edge out ING and Suncorp for first place.

Over 140 brands across the financial categories in the running for these five prestigious awards are listed fully later in this release.

[1] Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) figures for June 2022: https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-superannuation-statistics-for-june-2022

Roy Morgan Trusted Financial Brand winners for 2022:

Most Trusted Brand for Banking: Bendigo Bank

Bendigo Bank returned to the lead as the ‘Most Trusted Brand in Banking’ in February 2022 from ING and never looked back from that point to win the inaugural award in this category ahead of ING and Suncorp – but there were many other well-known banking brands following behind the top three – over 40 in fact.

Other brands to be rated on their trustworthiness in the last year included the big four banks: ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac, as well as over 40 smaller banking rivals including Adelaide Bank, Auswide Bank, Bananacoast Community Credit Union, Bank Australia, Bank First, Bank of Melbourne, Bank of Queensland, Bank of us, BankSA, Bankstown City Unity Bank, BankVic, Bankwest, Beyond Banking, Citibank, Credit Suisse, Defence Bank, G&C Mutual Bank, GMCU (Goulburn Murray Credit Union), Great Southern Bank, Greater Bank, Heritage Bank, HSBC, Hume Bank, IMB, Macquarie, ME Bank, MyState, Newcastle Permanent Building Society, P&N Bank, People’s Choice Credit Union, Police Bank, Qbank, Qudos, Rabobank, Regional Australia Bank, St. George, Teacher’s Mutual Bank, UBank and Up.

Some of the positive comments from Australians about why they trust Bendigo Bank were ‘A smaller, trustworthy bank that offers very good customer service and great help when needing some financial advice’ and ‘Bendigo Bank invests back into local communities and supports community organisations. Customer-oriented and has good core values.”

Bendigo Bank: “We are proud to be awarded the most trusted bank in Australia in Roy Morgan's Trusted Brand Award winners for 2022. 🏆”

Most Trusted Brand for Private Health Insurance: HBF

Western Australia based HBF has won the inaugural ‘Most Trusted Brand in Private Health Insurance’ Award for 2022 ahead of HCF and Bupa.

HBF has the highest trust among over 20 private health insurance brands including ahm, Australian Unity, CBHS, Defence Health, Frank Insurance, GMHBA, GU Health, HBA, Health Partners, HIF, Medibank, Mutual Community, Navy Health, NIB, Peoplecare, Police Health, Queensland Country Health Fund, St. Luke’s Health, Teacher’s Health Fund, Teacher’s Union Health and Westfund Health Insurance.

Some of the positive comments from Australians about why they trust HBF were ‘All profits go to members at HBF. They have a longstanding reputation and are transparent,’ ‘Great loyalty to customers. HBF are always willing to go the extra mile’ and ‘They are helpful if you have a problem. If you are going through hardship they are there to support you with your issue.’

HBF: “We’re incredibly honoured to be named Australia’s most trusted brand in private health insurance for 2022 by independent research company Roy Morgan.

“To be recognised by a national audience is a testament to the HBF Health team’s efforts to be there for our members in the moments that matter.

“We’ve been looking after the health of Australians for more than 80 years – predominantly in WA but increasingly more so in the eastern states. We’re proudly not-for-profit and members are at the heart of everything we do.

“The Roy Morgan Most Trusted Brand Awards for 2022 recognise the outstanding levels of trust built up by 20 brands across a range of industries and services, including retail, charities, superannuation, utilities, government services, media, and telecommunications.”

Most Trusted Brand for Superannuation: AustralianSuper

AustralianSuper is Australia’s largest industry super fund and has been recognised as the winner of the inaugural ‘Most Trusted Brand’ in Australia’s massive $3.3 trillion superannuation industry[2]. AustralianSuper won the category narrowly ahead of the highly trusted rivals HESTA, QSuper, UniSuper and Aware Super.

AustralianSuper beat over 25 other superannuation funds to win the coveted award with other funds measured in the awards including AMP, Asgard Super, Australian Ethical, Aware/First State Super, BT Financial Group, Catholic Superannuation, CBUS, Colonial First State, Cromwell, ESS Super, HostPlus, IOOF, JP Morgan, Mercer, MLC, Perpetual, QSuper, Rest Super, Sunsuper and VicSuper.

Some of the positive comments from people about why they trust AustralianSuper were ‘They manage my superannuation in a professional manner and respond quickly to my requests’, I have been with AustralianSuper for many years and they provide great products and returns’ and ‘They have provided good returns and are moving to ethical investments.’

[2] Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) figures for June 2022: https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-superannuation-statistics-for-june-2022

Most Trusted Brand for Non-Bank Financial Services: PayPal

Australia’s most widely used digital payment service, PayPal, has led the Non-Bank Financial Services category with the highest Net Trust since the survey began over four years ago and has been the only non-superannuation fund to figure in the top five most trusted brands in this category this year – at the summit in first place.

In total, there were over 50 brands to feature in the category this year including credit and debit cards such as American Express, Diners Club, Mastercard and Visa, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, financial planning services such as the Barefoot Investor, loan specialists including Athena Home Loans, Aussie Home Loans, Latitude Financial, MoneyMe, Nimble, RAMS and Wallet Wizard, buy-now-pay-later services such as Afterpay and Zip and other non-bank financial services such as Australian Stock Exchange, Computershare, Mortgage Choice, Raiz and Western Union as well as over 25 super funds.

Some of the positive comments from people about why Australians trust PayPal were ‘They’re secure – I know any place that takes payments through PayPal can be trusted’ and ‘PayPal have never failed me. They guarantee me my money back if there’s any dispute with the seller. It’s a free service to buyers’.

Most Trusted Brand for Insurance: NRMA Insurance

NRMA Insurance has dominated trust in the insurance industry since Roy Morgan began measuring trust and distrust in 2018 and came in ahead of Queensland’s RACQ and Western Australia’s RAC to win the inaugural award in this category which features well over 40 brands all up.

Other brands to be rated on their trustworthiness in the last year included life insurers AXA, Comminsure, NobleOak, TAL and Zurich, general insurers such as AAMI, Allianz, APIA, Budget Direct, CGU Insurance, GIO Insurance, QBE Insurance, RAA, RACT, RACV, Real Insurance, SGIC Insurance, SGIO, Shannons Insurance and Youi as well as over 20 private health insurance brands listed above.

Some of the positive comments from Australians about why they trust NRMA Insurance were ‘I’ve been with NRMA Insurance for over 40 years. I’ve tried others but always come back to NRMA. They have efficient online staff and good clear information’ and ‘NRMA Insurance have always been good when we required help with insurance claims. We were flooded recently and it was settled within a couple of weeks.’

IAG: NRMA Insurance: “We are very proud that our NRMA Insurance brand has been named Australia’s most trusted brand in insurance in the Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards 2022, with the award being accepted by NRMA Insurance Executive General Manager Matthew Bennett.

“NRMA Insurance has been helping Australians for more than 95 years. Over the past few years Australia has experienced more severe weather events than we’ve seen in a decade and our people have worked tirelessly to support our customers through these tough times.

“This award is a testament to our people who have built trust with our customers by being there when they need us most. Thank you to our incredible team as well as our customers who choose to protect what they care about with NRMA Insurance.”

For comments or more information about Roy Morgan’s Annual Trusted Brand Award data please contact:

Roy Morgan Enquiries
Office: +61 (3) 9224 5309
askroymorgan@roymorgan.com

Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards

The inaugural Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards bring together outstanding companies and brands across a range of industries to celebrate and recognise the unmatched levels of trust these organisations hold when compared to their competitors in their respective categories.

The Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards have been awarded for the first time this year to 20 leading brands for the 12 months to June 2022 and all 20 winners have displayed market-leading levels of trust, and exceedingly low, or negligible, levels of distrust to outstrip their rivals on the key metric of ‘Net Trust’.

Need to know what is driving your trust and distrust?

The related Roy Morgan Risk Monitor is an ongoing survey based on over 1,800 interviews each month to measure levels of trust and distrust in more than 900 brands across 26 industry sectors.

Respondents are asked which brands and companies they trust, and why, and which brand and companies they distrust, and why. The survey is specially designed to be open-ended and context-free, i.e. unprompted.

Roy Morgan Risk Monitor data is made available in a variety of formats, from snapshot overviews to detailed tracking of individual brands and their competitors. To gain a greater understanding of Roy Morgan’s Risk research, or to explore the results for specific industries and brands, contact Roy Morgan.

For the latest rankings of key brands view the June 2022 edition of the Roy Morgan Risk Report.