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Banking is about personal relationships
by Andrew Search
Faculty Member , Andrew Search
Even though Felix Rohatyn was an investment banker from a bygone age , his simple quote underlines the importance of long-term relationships in retail banking . An ideal time , then , to review the latest findings from the 2016 survey undertaken by the UK Banking Standards Board . My first thoughts , as I picked up news of the report through one of my social media apps , was why has this received so little news coverage ? How soon we forget . The Guardian has a banking reform tab on its newspaper web offering … not a mention of the findings . I don ’ t remember hearing anything on the BBC news either . ( Perhaps they are too focused on the Trump effect !)
I started by refreshing my knowledge of the nine characteristics of the BSB framework – a shared purpose for banking employees , supported by honesty , competence , respect , reliability , responsiveness , openness , resilience and personal accountability . Putting aside my recent frustrations with an eagle-eyed bank ( which is struggling to deliver on the competence , responsiveness and accountability front ), I launched into the findings .
In her review of the findings BSB chair Colette Bowe noted :
“ The BSB ’ s Assessment 2 found examples of good practice across the banking sector but also identified some deep-rooted attitudes and behaviour that still need to change .
“ Responsiveness , accountability , personal resilience and openness are all areas requiring progress .
“ Firms need to speak honestly and bravely about what needs to be done , what they are doing , why they are doing it and how they will know that they are succeeding .
“ Everyone in a firm needs to see that executives and board members live up to what they say they are trying to do . Actions speak louder than words . And they all need to be saying the same thing .”
And the fact that this remains the case , some 10 years after the financial meltdown , shows just how long it takes , inter alia , to tackle cultural change . It also reinforces why it is so important that as a society and a profession , we do not drop the baton or allow this issue to fall off the agenda .
I can ’ t be alone in finding it disturbing that of the bankers surveyed , 18 per cent doubted that the senior leaders in their organisation ‘ mean what they say ’ ( Q1 ) and 12 per cent of those surveyed agreed with the statement ‘ in my organisation I see instances where unethical behaviour is rewarded ’ ( Q2 ), although it is encouraging that 89 per cent of bankers surveyed agreed with the statement ‘ my colleagues act in an honest and ethical way ’ ( Q3 ).
In the respect category , whilst ‘ listening to the opinions of others ’ and ‘ putting customers at the centre of business decisions ’ needs some improvement , the scores are generally positive and significant .
From an openness perspective , it is also encouraging to see that ‘ providing customers with information in a way that helps them make the right decision ’ ( Q11 ) and ‘ sharing learning and good practice with each other ’ ( Q13 ) receive very positive feedback ; however , the fact that 27 per cent of those surveyed agreed that ‘ if I raised concerns about the way we work , I would be worried about the consequences for me ’ ( Q14 ) illustrates that there is still work to do on this aspect of cultural change .
Whilst it is clear that individuals surveyed agreed that they have an understanding of the required behaviours , far too few agreed that senior leaders take sufficient responsibility for their actions and far too many agreed that others turn a blind eye to inappropriate behaviour or too frequently ‘ pass responsibility for things going wrong ’ on to others ( Q18 ). Unsurprisingly , 15 per cent also felt uncomfortable in challenging a decision made by their manager ( Q19 ).
That competence in risk assessment is very high should come as no surprise , though a significant 9 per cent disagreed that colleagues have ‘ the skills and knowledge to do their jobs ’ and 10 per cent aligned themselves with the view that they are not ‘ encouraged to learn new skills or improve their existing ones ’ ( Qs 20 & 21 ). Addressing this issue is critical to making headway for the customer ( and given these survey questions are a partial reflection of the respondents ’ own competence , the skills shortages identified may well be understated !).
Given that reliability is the core dimension of perceived customer service quality ( see Retail Banking Academy – RB1 Module 107 ), it is disconcerting that 18 per cent of respondents disagreed with the statement ‘ when people in my organisation say they will do something , I can rely on them getting it done ’ ( Q25 ). I can tell you as a customer that this is my number one issue ( when such matters arise ) with the banks I deal with and is intrinsically linked with the resilience findings ( Q26 ), where a comprehensive 20 per cent of those surveyed think that people in their organisation are not good at dealing with issues before they become major problems .
Responses about the focus on short-term results , pressure to perform and ‘ work ’ s impact on health ’ identify resilience as a topic demanding more senior management attention and cultural change .
“ Firms need to speak honestly and bravely about what needs to be done , what they are doing , why they are doing it and how they will know that they are succeeding .”
Sometimes it ’ s the simple stuff that gets in the way ; for example , nearly 60 per cent of respondents agree that ‘ our internal processes and practices are a barrier to our continuous improvement ’ ( Q31 ) ... So , hallelujah , we can expect this to be a priority then ? Perhaps not , when 11 per cent don ’ t believe the organisation responds effectively to customer feedback and another 23 per cent feel the same way about staff feedback . www . retailbanking-academy . org
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