Banks showing progress in their overall customer satisfaction scores.

• Position: MARKETING NEWS - Brief article

BANKS, IN GENERAL, RECENTLY SCORED AN UPTICK in overall customer satisfaction, according to two recent surveys.

One reason for the improvement is that large banks--which traditionally trail smaller banks and credit unions in customer satisfaction--showed a "respectable increase" in satisfaction in 2012.

Forty-one percent of customers are satisfied overall with their primary banking institution, a "notable rise" from last year's average of 37 percent, according to the 2012 ath Power Ideal Banking Study, an assessment of the retail customer experience at banks nationwide.

Overall customer satisfaction with banks rose 2.7 percentage points to 77, according to a recent monthly report of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

"The improvement is mostly the result of continued high customer satisfaction with smaller banks ... which have gained market share and therefore impact that industry average more than in 2012," ASCI notes. "Another factor is...