The banking and insurance industries are facing significant transformations. Fed up with “banking hours” and accustomed to the high levels of customer service seen from brands in other sectors, customers are demanding simplicity, transparency and consistent service from their banking and insurance firms.
Indeed, customer satisfaction with retail banks has fallen for four consecutive years, with 37 percent of customers who switched banks in 2010 citing poor customer service as the primary reason. And switching is easier for customers than ever before, as new players have introduced alternatives that have greater transparency and simplicity.
To stay competitive in this changing landscape, retail services firms must rebuild their customer relationships and improve their customer-centricity, explain Monitor’s Silke Otremba, Aubry Pierre and Dominique Vincent in this report. By taking steps such as transforming brand promises into specific actions, demystifying and simplifying products and services, handling customer complaints as opportunities to win lasting loyalty, building solutions that really meet customer needs and measuring customer satisfaction, banks and insurance firms can rebuild their customer loyalty and enhance their profitability. Transforming banks and insurance companies into customer-centric organisations requires CEO leadership to drive change to structures, capabilities and cultures.
SILKE OTREMBA is a London-based Associate Partner in Monitor’s Leadership and Organisation Strategy Practice. She has 13 years of experience in large-scale business transformation, customer loyalty and service promise innovation with banks in the U.S., UK and Europe. Silke is a Canada Science Scholar. She earned her MBA at London Business School and studied Chemistry at McGill University. She can be reached via e-mail at Silke_Otremba AT Monitor DOT com.
AUBRY PIERRE is a Senior Partner of Monitor and leader of the firm’s European Leadership and Organisation Strategy Practice. In his 20 years of experience in strategy, Aubry has served leading European, American and Asian financial institutions, focusing in particular on growth and customer-centricity. Before joining Monitor, Aubry was a founding partner of the Mitchell Madison Group in New York and head of the Financial Services practice for the French & Benelux regions. Aubry holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in Applied Economics from the University of Louvain. He can be reached via e-mail at Aubry_Pierre AT Monitor DOT com.
DOMINIQUE VINCENT is a Paris-based Associate Partner at Monitor. He has more than 10 years of consulting experience in corporate, marketing and organisation strategy with banks and insurance companies in Europe and North America. Dominique received his MBA from the Darden Graduate School at the University of Virginia and his Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the European Business School. He can be reached via e-mail at Dominique_Vincent AT Monitor DOT com.