Bank customers using an app on a mobile phone or tablet to deal with their bank are more likely (68.7 per cent) to recommend the bank to a friend or colleague compared to those accessing their bank in other ways. This was the conclusion drawn from new data collected by Roy Morgan over the last 12 months. Internet banking using a website is currently the most common method for dealing with banks but is losing some ground, Roy Morgan said. Only 60.3 per cent of customers dealing with a bank through a personal or private banker are likely to be high advocates, with use of financial planners or advisors close behind on 59.1 per cent. The major problem areas, with low levels of advocacy, involve phone banking when a computerised voice is used (52.1 per cent high advocates) and phone banking when speaking to a person (57.6 per cent). National Australia Bank's venture capital arm has invested in the BrickX real estate investment platform that lets people pay small amounts for "slices of property", reports Finextra. NAB has joined a A$9 million Series A financing round for BrickX, which invests in properties through trusts then splits them into units ("bricks") which are sold to retail investors. Investors get a cut of any rental income from the properties and can also sell their bricks on the platform at market rates. BrickX was launched in 2016. Westpac invested in it late last year. Former New Zealand prime minister Sir John Key has been appointed to the ANZ Group board of directors. Key, who was PM from 2008 until a surprise resignation in 2016, has been chairman of the ANZ's New Zealand subsidiary since January, when he replaced John Judge.