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Banking Customers Seek the Personal Touch

January 19, 2004

The personal touch and face-to-face contact are still number one with Scottish banking customers. Despite the growth in alternatives like telephone and on-line banking, a new report from Heriot-Watt University's Social Enterprise Institute (SEI) reveals that branch services are the most important thing for customers.

The survey, involving Scottish customers of HBOS, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale and Lloyds TSB, showed that over 55% of customers make a weekly business visit to their local branch and resistance to branch closures was particularly significant.

Significantly, survey respondents who would consider moving their account to another bank cited branch closures (24%) and poor service from staff (19%) as the main reasons why they would switch their bank account.

Customers at HBOS, which has recently undertaken a programme of branch closures, expressed a particularly high level of dissatisfaction with service provision.

Declan Jones, Director of the SEI said, "This research demonstrates that customers know what they expect from a bank, that they demand a high quality branch service and that they may be willing to switch banks to find it. Where customers are dissatisfied about branch closures and the subsequent impact on services, they also feel an increase in negative attitudes towards the bank

"Our study shows that these negative feelings are strongest amongst customers whose bank, HBOS, has recently implemented a programme of branch closures. Given the strength of such feelings identified in our research, it would appear that this is an issue for strategists to take on board alongside the potential cost-savings offered by new technology".

Heriot-Watt University