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PwC encourages alternatives after finding less that 1 in 3 Yorkshire customers trust their bank

PwC research has found that customers in the Yorkshire & Humber region both lack trust in their banks and are also apathetic about getting a return on their savings.

According to the research fewer than one in three customers in Yorkshire now trust their bank, yet switching levels remain low, 60% of Yorkshire respondents did not believe regulatory reforms are enough to prevent another crisis and over a third in the region concerned about not getting a good enough return on their savings.

The report reveals that although 40% of respondents in Yorkshire & Humberside believe regulation of the financial services sector has been strengthened in the wake of the crisis, a greater proportion (60%) do not believe the reforms that have been implemented are sufficient to ensure that history will not repeat itself.

The sense of apathy among customers is highlighted by the survey findings through generally low scores on the vast majority of questions and the combination of low trust scores and inertia.

For example, while just 31% of people in the region trust their retail bank, only 7% have changed their current account provider in the last year.

Gary Shaw, PwC’s Yorkshire & North East financial services leader, said: “Tackling this apathy must be an over-riding priority for all financial services companies.

“Having a customer base that is both unresponsive and potentially volatile is the worst possible state of affairs for existing financial services providers.

“However, with switching levels relatively low and relatively high trust in banks to hold customer data, there is an opportunity for banks to reconnect with their customers. “Those who don’t change now, and those who don’t make the right changes, risk going further down the road where the people they are trying to reach have stopped listening and will only pay attention again when something genuinely different comes along.

“Building societies and other mutual organisations have a strong presence in the region and can offer an attractive alternative to customers provided they can convince their customers that they offer a genuine difference.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .