Updated ·2 min read
Very few people feel like they belong at their banks. So why won't many customers switch financial institutions?
One bank CEO think he knows why.
"I think the biggest reason people don't change banks — and of course, I'm biased on this, but I believe it in my bones — they just don't know what some banks offer," Frost Bank CEO Phil Green told Yahoo Finance Live (video above).
A Frost Bank survey found that only 11% of people felt a sense of financial belonging with their banks, but 44% of respondents say they won’t change banks.
“Most people feel that knowledge is a big inhibitor for them feeling belonging. They just don't know what some banks offer," Green said. "They don't know that it will provide those elements of financial belonging that people have told us about. ”
The survey from Frost Bank, a unit of Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR), found that the four keys to financial belonging were trust, knowledge, access, and a hybrid experience.
Green said it’s important for banks to have a mixture of online and in-person access to provide the best customer service.
“In all of our various channels, whether it be technology or whether it be face to face, whether it's in a local branch, we give you that human access so that when you need something, we can provide it to you," Green said. "That hybrid experience is a combination of personal touch and also great technology, but technology where, if you need to, you can quickly get access to a human."
San Antonio-based Frost Bank's 3,000 survey respondents felt a disconnect between wanting a close relationship with their banks and actually having one.
“We asked people how they felt about their relationship with their bank. You're right, (only) 11% found that they had a sense of financial belonging with the financial institution. But 74% of people said that that's what they wanted. So we saw a really big gap there,” Green said.
Why is it crucial for people to feel connected to their banks? The survey results found that those who had that connection helped them to build their own financial security.
“We found that if you did feel like you had financial belonging with your financial institution, you were 160% more likely to have better financial health,” Green said.
Ella Vincent is the personal finance reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @bookgirlchicago
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