E-banking brands fail to win consumer trust

Banks are failing to persuade customers to trust their online brands, according to a new nationwide survey by design and brand identity consultancy Elmwood.

It commissioned BMRB to survey 1,000 consumers nationwide about their attitudes to banking.

Sixty-one per cent of respondents said they would be happy to buy a mortgage from Halifax, yet only ten per cent would consider buying one from IF, Halifax’s online mortgage service.

The survey found that 44 per cent of respondents would be prepared to buy a mortgage from Barclays, yet only 14 per cent would consider buying one from B2, the bank’s direct division, which is being phased out. But 23 per cent would be willing to buy a mortgage from Prudential’s Egg brand, 19 per cent from Centrica’s Goldfish and 13 per cent from the Co-op’s Smile. Less than one in ten, however, would buy one from Marbles.

One explanation for the lack of trust in online banking is that one out of six respondents still have serious concerns about security issues.

Also, many consumers are happy with their current service and are unwilling to switch to online banking. Seventy per cent of the women and 50 per cent of the men surveyed who currently enjoy a satisfactory relationship with their bank have no interest in banking online.

Banking via WAP phones is also failing to interest consumers: 70 per cent of respondents said they would not use a mobile phone to do their banking, even if they already had access to the required technology.

But respondents were willing to buy other products from their bank, including RAC- or AA-type car services, branded home-moving packages (including mortgages, utility supplies, home insurance, security systems and removals), foreign holidays and bank branded mobile phones and computers.