Banks and insurance providers raised their customers' satisfaction levels last year, driving the national customer satisfaction index of Singapore (CSISG) to its highest level since its launch in 2007. The annual national index compiled by the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU is based on surveys covering two or three sectors each quarter; it is weighted by 10 economic sectors' contribution to the economy's GDP. Finance accounted for 11.9 per cent of GDP in 2012, a far larger share than health care and infocomms, the only two other sectors whose customers were more satisfied than they were a year ago. All seven other sectors saw a drop in customer satisfaction in 2012. Even so, ISES director Caroline Lim described the results as "very encouraging". "The last couple of years have pitted Singapore businesses in a challenging operating climate of escalating costs and labour crunch," she said. Within the finance and insurance sector, ISES said that gains were due to customers expecting higher quality and perceiving higher quality and value in the products and services they received from the banks. This suggests that "companies can do well when they concentrate efforts in targeting and satisfying the customer segments that fit their business models", said ISES Academic Director [and SMU Assistant Professor of Marketing (Practice)] Marcus Lee.