ANZ remains in bottom place among the big four banks for customer satisfaction among business clients, 10 months after provoking outrage by shifting the timing of its monthly interest rate decision.

The monthly DBM Consultants’ Business Financial Services Monitor (BFSM) shows the bank has improved its standing among business clients in the three months to September but continues to languish behind the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank (NAB).

“What we have noticed in the past is that if you are not tracking particularly well it takes you longer to recover, but if you are at the top of the pack you recover more quickly,” DBM managing director Dhruba Gupta said.

“It seems that people tend to forgive you more if they already have a high regard for you.”

ANZ began its slide from third to fourth place on the BFSM, which tracks satisfaction among the big four banks, in December 2011 after it announced it would make its interest rate decision on the second Friday of every month.

The move split ANZ from other lenders which typically made their rate decisions in the days following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s board meeting, held on the first Tuesday of each month – except January when no meeting is held.

“The slide (in customer satisfaction) more or less coincided with that announcement,” Mr Gupta said.

Mr Gupta said the recovery in satisfaction for ANZ had occurred most quickly among its larger clients (those with an annual turnover of more than $50 million) among whom it was now ranked in equal third place with NAB.

However, the bank continued to trail behind its competitors among medium, small and micro-size businesses.

The September BFSM showed Westpac remained in first place across all sectors, while the Commonwealth Bank was ranked first among large- and medium-size businesses.

The BFSM is based on a monthly survey of almost 20,000 business decision-makers.