Banks now face the need to rebuild customer loyalty as a new survey shows over half of regional and rural Australians have lost faith in their bank and many believe change is necessary.

In a recent survey of 1040 rural and regional Australians conducted by OurPatch, a community web portal, over half of respondents claimed to have lost faith in their bank, with almost 40 per cent considering changing to a different bank.

An overwhelming 84 per cent of people surveyed believe that banks should be regulated and held accountable by a government body.

Director of OurPatch, Simon Van Wyk said, "It's a real issue that the majority of rural and regional Australians don't trust banks to operate independently. Either a regulating system needs to be introduced, or banks need to seriously reevaluate their processes."

It's not surprising that 60 per cent of those surveyed believe their bank fees are much too high for the service they receive from their bank.

"Rural and regional Australians have a greater choice in banks today compared to the past, and the survey results show that banks need to take this into account and offer quality service and competitive rates and fees to retain customers," said Mr Van Wyk.

Rural and regional Australians were surveyed about the effects of major issues on their town including job availability, quality of life and cost of resources.