BSA: Customer preference swings further in favour of building societies and other mutuals
In just three months, consumer views of the service they receive from banks and building societies have swung markedly in favour of building societies and other mutual lenders and deposit takers.
GfK NOP researched seven core service factors across around 2,000 UK consumers in early May and again in late July[2]. The results show a widening gap which has opened up in a very short time, with consumer views almost certainly being affected by recent bank press coverage.
Building societies and other mutuals now outscore plc banks across all of these customer service factors by a greater margin than in May. The measure is a 'net agreement score' which is the difference in the net positive responses between banks and mutuals. There has been a particularly notable increase in the positive margin across factors such as, feeling that money is safe with a provider, up almost nine percentage points, providers being open and honest, up by eight percentage points and consumers feeling valued, up by seven percentage points.
A new question about ethical standards was also added to the July survey. It showed that 62 per cent of customers agreed that mutuals had high ethical standards, with ten per cent taking the opposite view. Banks faired less well, with 50 per cent of customers agreeing and 20 per cent disagreeing that their provider had high ethical standards.
Commenting on the results, Hilary McVitty, BSA Head of External Affairs, said: "We were not surprised to see that consumers' views had changed in these three months, but we were rather taken aback by the degree of movement. Strong feelings are clearly being expressed here by consumers. These views are being backed up by action by more than a few, as evidenced by the sustained increase in mortgage lending and a healthy inflow of retail deposits in July announced today. Whilst mutuals are currently benefiting, their attention is not just on the present, but the future and continuing to deliver the products that UK consumers want with the service and behaviours that they expect."
Ends
Contact:
Hilary McVitty / Victoria Bamber
Tel: 020 7520 5926 / 5927
Email: hilary.mcvitty@bsa.org.uk/victoria.bamber@bsa.org.uk
Notes to Editors
1. The results of the May and July research can be viewed here – http://www.bsa.org.uk/publications/industrypublications/customer_service12.htm
2. GfK NOP Omnibus, UK adults, face-to-face. Fieldwork conducted 19 – 24 July 2012: 1,972 UK adults and 26 April – 1 May 2012: 2,005 UK adults. Net agreement scores are the proportion agreeing less the proportion disagreeing with each statement. The chart presents the difference in net agreement among customers of mutuals over the net agreement among bank customers.
3. The Building Societies Association (BSA) represents mutual lenders and deposit takers in the UK including all 47 UK building societies. Mutual lenders and deposit takers have more than 32 million customers, total assets of over £375 billion and, together with their subsidiaries, hold residential mortgages of nearly £240 billion, 19% of the total outstanding in the UK. They hold more than £250 billion of retail deposits, accounting for 22% of all such deposits in the UK. Mutual deposit takers account for 34% of cash ISA balances. They employ approximately 50,000 full and part-time staff and operate through approximately 2,000 branches.
4. Photographs of Hilary McVitty are available form the BSA Press Office – http://www.bsa.org.uk/mediacentre/contacts/spokespeople
5. Follow the BSA on Twitter @BSABuildingSocs
Katie Wise
Policy and External Affairs Officer
Building Societies Association
6th Floor, York House
23 Kingsway
London
WC2B 6UJ
Tel: 020 7520 5904
Email: katie.wise@bsa.org.uk
Web: www.bsa.org.uk
Twitter: @BSABuildingSocs
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