UK bank customers value face-to-face interaction

Those with front-line High Street banking jobs will welcome the findings of a recent YouGov poll. According to the survey, commissioned by Big Four firm Deloitte, UK customers place more importance on the level of service they receive than on the interest rate when choosing a bank.

Despite growth in the online and mobile banking sectors, 53% of respondents said they would only place savings in a bank with branches they could visit. Around 65% added that they would only take out a mortgage after speaking with an advisor face-to-face.

UK bank customers place such high priority on service that more than one fifth of respondents moved banks over the past two years due to dissatisfaction with the way they were treated.

Neil Tomlinson, head of retail banking consulting at Deloitte, told Finextra.com that face-to-face interaction was the “keystone to engaging customers”.

“Our research showed that 58% of customers would be more likely to open a current account at a bank with branches open in the evenings and on the weekend. Face-to-face contact is a key requirement, and particularly so for products such as mortgages - where customers are unwilling to compromise on face-to-face contact,” he added.