How Suncorp is supporting small business owners
As the first major and regional bank to remove all account keeping fees for personal and business transaction deposit customers, small business owners are reaping the benefits.
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Mark Johnstone is a man of many talents. When he’s not busy running his seven Toowoomba-based Subway stores, he’s out in Allora feeding his cattle and managing his property each day, or spending time with his much-loved niece and nephew.
The farmer, businessman, loving uncle, and long-time Suncorp customer has been running his stores in Toowoomba for more than a quarter of a century.
Mark has seen the ups and downs that come with being a business owner in a regional centre. “I opened my first store in 1994, which was the 13th franchise in Australia, and it really grew from there,” Mark shares. “While I love my work, it’s busy and you have to take the good with the bad and quickly learn that running a business can sometimes be complicated.”
With seven separate stores, Mark spends a lot of time on paperwork, paying the bills, and managing his 90 employees. “I visit each of my stores at least three times each week, and spend time with my team, my managers, and area managers, but a big chunk of my time is taken up by banking,” Mark said.
Our customers have told us that account keeping fees are one of their biggest frustration, especially our small business customers, who generally have several bank accounts. So, we’ve removed all account keeping fees on all transaction deposit accounts for all our customers.
Bruce Rush, Suncorp Executive General Manager Deposits & Payments
Which is no surprise when you find out he has more than 20 bank accounts aligned to his seven stores. “Many of our business customers are just like Mark, and have really busy work and home lives, so we like to look for ways to make things a bit easier for them,” said Bruce Rush, Suncorp’s Executive General Manager Deposits & Payments.
“Our customers have told us that account keeping fees are one of their biggest frustrations, especially our small business customers, who like Mark, generally have several bank accounts,” Bruce said.
“So, we’ve removed all account keeping fees on all transaction deposit accounts for all our customers, including business customers, just like Mark.”
Mark said it’s refreshing to see a bank support their customers by tackling a pain point directly and that changes like this can make a big difference to a small business. “It’s always better to see money coming in, than going out, so I’m very happy to not be paying account keeping fees on my different accounts,” Mark said.
“I’ll be saving more than $1,000 a year, which I’ll be putting back into my business to make things better for my customers and my team members – every little bit helps!”
