Chief executive Cameron Clyne's strategy to make National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) the people's bank are paying off with the firm showing the best gains of the banking cartel.

The latest Roy Morgan figures show that NAB has driven Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC, NZX:WBC) into fourth place.

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX:ANZ, NZX:ANZ) has held its no.1 ranking with Commonwealth Bank of Australia catching up fast, although St George remains the customer favourite among the majors.

Westpac CEO Gail Kelly could claim the survey results show her multi brand strategy is effective. St George is being seen as more customer-friendly with the distance between it and Westpac increasing from 2 per cent annually to about 8 per cent to date.

But customer satisfaction, although not directly translating into profits, proves to be helpful. Of the four majors, Westpac is the worst trade performer over the last quarter and second-worst in over the past 12 months.

While Kelly's move to lift interest rates more than the RBA late last year may have defended profit margins, it has killed both client and investor sentiments.

On the other hand, Clyne's peoples' bank technique is gaining approval from customers while yet to convince the investment community.

National Australia Bank's plan of keeping its standard variable rate lower has earned it a bigger share of the mortgage market.

The number of mortgages written in the past four months by Australia's now third-largest bank has climbed at the fastest pace in at least five years.

NAB utilized an ambitious strategy in 2010 to hold its standard variable rate, now 7.24 per cent, significantly below the levels of other big players. Its mortgage book, worth $144.39 billion, is the second smallest of the top four institutions, ahead of ANZ.