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.