Bank of Queensland study reveals customers' relationships with banks last longer than most marriages Danielle Spencer and Russell Crowe parted ways last year after nine years of marriage. AUSTRALIANS stay with their banks for longer than their partners. Customers spend an average of 16 years hooked up with the same bank yet broken marriages bust up after an average of 8.7 years. A Bank of Queensland study shows a bond with a customer's bank is much stronger than it is with a loved one and is well ahead of the duration of relationships with doctors and lawyers (11 years), accountants and dentists (nine years), vets and a mobile phone company (eight years). Actor Kevin Costner split from his first wife Cindy Silva after 16 years of marriage in 1994, while other couples who failed to last as long as the 16-year average with a bank include Russell Crowe and Danielle Spencer who parted ways last year after nine years of marriage. Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands and his wife Tamara Jaber split in 2010 after being married less than two years. Bank of Queensland chief operating officer Jon Sutton said banking relationships often form with customers from a young age but keeping them has been made harder as the industry continues to become "super competitive." "There is a strong relationship between a customer and their bank particularly when you consider banks are there when you make life-changing decisions such as buying a house and investment properties," he said. Fifty-five per cent of all Australians are aware of the Australian banking reforms however, 93 per cent have stayed with their bank despite those reforms. In 2012 switching transaction accounts was made easier than ever under the new reforms which allowed a new bank to transfer a customer from their previous financial institution making the transition easier than ever. Mortgage exit fees were also banned in 2011 also increasing competition in the home loan market. Australian Banker Association's chief executive Steven Munchenberg said customer satisfaction with banks remained high which has helped the relationship duration between the two last a significant amount of time. "Presumably it's a sign that as people go through their lives they feel comfortable dealing with the same institution," he said. Customer satisfaction is high, four out of five people are satisfied, there's no major impedients to people moving banks if they want to, it's a fairly straightforward thing to move your transaction account or your credit card or your mortgage.