Since 1998, the European Financial Management & Marketing
Association (EFMA) has worked with Capgemini, HP, Microsoft and
NOVAMETRIE to study the impact of information and communication
technologies on the banking sector. This year, they took stock of
internet banking for the first time, interviewing 30 senior
executives from European banks and 1,016 European users of on-line
financial services.
For the customers interviewed, the internet is the banking
channel with which they are the most satisfied, followed by branch
banking and the telephone: 57% are very satisfied with the
internet, while the percentage is 35% for branches and 29% for the
telephone.
The most important differences concern ease of access (69% are
very satisfied with the internet, while the figure is 9% for branch
banking). What is more surprising is that the internet obtains
slightly higher scores than the branch in the areas of advice and
the personalisation of the relationship: the quality of the advice
provided (27% very satisfied by the internet compared with 24% at
branch level), the bank's knowledge of the customer's profile and
financial history (29% very satisfied by the internet compared with
24% at branch level).
The "closeness" of the relationship remains a major area for
improvement: 34% are very satisfied with the internet compared with
38% at branch level.
However, on-line users of financial services are dissatisfied
with the quality of the advice provided and the "closeness" of the
relationship with the main contact person. Moreover, at least for
the time being, the potential of e-mail, as either a new banking
communication channel or a means of managing the banking
relationship, appears to be limited: only 3% of the sample
communicate electronically with their bank on a regular basis.
Copies of EFMA's 16-page report can be downloaded after free
registration.
