Survey: Too Much On Products, Too Little On Clients

Financial institutions are spending too much effort developing products and not enough on servicing clients, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and research firm Economist Intelligence Unit. Only 11% of respondents have a customer service head “in charge of the customer experience,” says Jeremy Scott, chairman of PwC’s global financial services group. “There is perhaps something to be learned from some of the successful retailers who have grown their profits by putting the customer at the heart of their operations.” Nearly half of those polled (48%) said technology problems were an obstacle to better customer service, with 67% saying their companies expected to improve their current IT systems within the next 12 months. The survey also revealed that 38% agreed their firms are more product-centric, while 33% said they did not have “good information on customer satisfaction and expectations.”