Banking customers less optimistic than financial institutions believe

Banking customers less optimistic than financial institutions believe

Research by BAI and Finacle reveals a growing disconnect between how banks feel about consumer sentiment and actual customer satisfaction.

The companies' biannual Index of Bank Consumer Sentiment found that banks believed customers felt increasingly better about financial institutions, with scores rising from 126 to 137 over a six-month period. The baseline for the scale - where opinions are neutral - is 100.

But while banks felt that customers were feeling increasingly positive about recent developments, banking consumers actually felt more negative about the industry. Bank customer sentiment - which had stood at a neutral 100 six months previously - plummeted 19 points to a score of 81.

But researchers said that the drop in consumer sentiment did not accurately reflect a drop in overall customer loyalty in banking. Debbie Bianucci, BAI's president and CEO, said that many banks had actually shown increased loyalty among their current customers, despite negative feelings toward the industry as a whole. The key, she said, was using business and customer intelligence to analyze what was causing the disconnect between overall satisfaction and individual bank loyalty.

"Understanding why these differences in specific banking experience are occurring and the types of customers that are being positively impacted, can provide valuable insights on what will drive increased trust and confidence in banks," added Bianucci.

"While consumers across geography, gender and generations are discouraged right now with the banking industry as a whole, when asked about their primary bank, there are significant consumer segments that respond positively to what their banks are doing for them," said Ajay Nagarkatte, managing director of BAI Research.

Customer loyalty scores differed greatly depending on the type of financial institution customers belonged to. Online banks and brokerage firms fueled by younger customers now have the strongest customer loyalty of any type of financial institution, increasing 37 points from a previously neutral score of 100. Credit unions also showed increased customer loyalty, rising six points from 123 to 129.

Large banks showed the biggest drop in customer loyalty, according to the survey, dropping 15 points from an already negative 81 to an even lower score of 66. Regional banks dropped 9 points to 92, while community banks, while still showing positive customer loyalty, dropped slightly from 118 to 114.

Bank Investment Consultant magazine reports that the sharp increase in customer loyalty by those who use online banks and brokers is due to the fact that those institutions are able to focus their customer service resources into their one channel - the web. Traditional banks are handicapped, the magazine says, because they need to coordinate their customer service initiatives between multiple channels.

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