Banks, You Don’t Impress Me Much

Well, they told us how they really feel.

As part of our soon-to-be-released Bank Innovation Monitor analysis of innovations in banking, we asked consumers to “imagine you are telling a friend about the best new product or service you’ve seen in financial services in the past five years.” This question is designed to elicit the most profound qualitative feedback from consumers.

The results: in many cases, the indifference consumers feel toward their banks was profound. Though a healthy portion of respondents gave props to such banking tools as online banking, depositing checks/checks into ATMs sans envelops and mobile banking advancements, a notable portion also dissed on their institutions. Here’s a sampling from our respondents that showed banking indifference at best and despair at worst:

• “I wouldn’t have a clue or the need, so not the interest.”

           A 69-year-old from Nevada

• “In the last 5 years, I have not come across anything I would describe as the best new financial product or service, unfortunately.”

           A female from North Virginia

• “Nothing new that is worthwhile in the financial services industry has come out. Everything is a fad and all financial institutions are doing is looking for ways to make more money for themselves. Making money for themselves raises prices of EVERYTHING and so these new gimmicks are costing ALL of us money.”

           A man from California

• “I honestly haven’t seen any. I don’t pay a lot of attention to the financial industry.”

           A female from West Virginia

• “I have seen no new products in the financial services in the last five years that I would consider ‘best’ because I have seen no new products in the past five years I would consider ‘good.’”

           A female from Massachusetts

• “I really don’t care much about new products or services. I think too many are being offered to save banking institutions time and money with little to help the consumer. I think technology is moving faster than security.”

           A female from Virginia

• “I don’t really know much about new financial services products. …I don’t pay much attention to them because I am not really interested in them.

           A female from Massachusetts

These results imply that banks still have a long way to go to repair their damaged brands.