How you feel about the banking industry and how bankers think you feel about their industry are obviously two different things, but in the last six months the perception gap has widened.
This is according to a relatively new index created by BAI and Finacle that surveys bankers and consumers to help the industry understand consumers’ trust in the U.S. banking system.
According to surveys conducted last August, the first index showed bankers were a bit overly optimistic about consumer attitudes. Actual consumer sentiment was scored at 100, while bankers’ estimate of how consumers felt about the industry was scored at 126. The index’s latest edition, based on surveys in February 2010 and released this week, shows bankers believe consumers are feeling better about their industry, with their estimate of consumer sentiment rising to 136.
Yet the opposite is true. The index score for how consumers feel about the industry dropped by 19 points, widening the perception gap 50 percent since August.
Bank Trust Waning
Meanwhile 21 percent of consumers in the latest index survey said didn’t feel good about trusting their primary bank to look out for their financial interests, up from 17 percent in August.
But the news from BAI and Finacle wasn’t all bad. Although consumers feel discouraged about the industry as a whole, some are pleased about their own banks, particularly if they do business with Internet banks, which tend to offer higher checking and savings account rates.
“We found that the people most likely to use financial services providers that are exclusively online or Internet-based had the most positive views about their bank experience,” BAI Research managing director Ajay Nagarkatte said in a media statement releasing the new index results.
The researchers say innovations targeted at customer experience, such as improvements in mobile banking, will be a key to winning back customer confidence.
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