Only 41.1 per cent of the country’s 1.5 million bank shareholders are customers of the bank, according to new findings released by Roy Morgan Research.

Based off interviews with over 1,500 major bank shareholders, the findings reveal a low level of customer loyalty among bank shareholders.

Among the big four banks, the Commonwealth Bank had the highest level of shareholders as customers (49.1 per cent). Westpac followed with a much poorer result (39.5 per cent), as did ANZ (37.1 per cent) and NAB (34.4 per cent).

“The fact that such a low proportion of major banks’ shareholders are customers of the bank where they hold shares is somewhat surprising” Roy Morgan Industry Communications Director Norman Morris said.

“This indicates that there is a disconnect between investment and banking decisions, with shareholders obviously chasing the best deal for their personal banking and the best investment regardless of where they bank.”

Mr Morris said banks need to be focusing on making shareholders customers, highlighting that over 450,000 CBA shareholders were not customers.

“Given that these shareholders are likely to have a favourable opinion of their bank from an investment perspective, the next step is to convert them into customers. Finding the right inducement and making shareholders aware of it is now the challenge.”

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). February 2014 – January 2015, n=1,505