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SURVEY: French say fee-charging ATMs impact customer retention
December 27, 2007
PARIS — A recent survey conducted by Level Four Software reveals that 70 percent of people in France would consider moving their bank accounts if their bank's ATMs were repeatedly faulty (for instance, out of order or out of cash).
That figure contrasts results from the United Kingdom, where the same survey found that only 38 percent of those surveyed would switch banks for similar ATM failures.
Level Four says the research highlights differing levels of ATM commitment, revealing that customers in the U.K. show greater loyalty to banks than customers in France. That written, some banks in France impose fees for withdrawing funds from competitors' ATMs, which customers would be forced to use if their own bank's ATM was not functioning. In the U.K., banks do not pass those types of foreign-transaction fees onto their customers, which could aid in customer loyalty.
The issue of ATM downtime affects banks in terms of their inability to retain existing customers as well as build additional revenue, since ATM outages translate into lost income from withdrawals.
"The research indicates that customers are sensitive when it comes to ATM charging to the extent that they would consider moving bank accounts to avoid fees and to also have access to the services they desire," said Level Four chief executive Ian Kerr. "It seems that customers in the U.K. are less concerned about ATM downtime due to their ability to use most terminals in the U.K. free of charge. In France, network availability is more crucial to customer loyalty. These statistics reinforce the banks' need to focus on the quality of their ATM service provision."
Trends / StatisticsTransaction ProcessingOtherNorth AmericaBanking Executive SummaryBank / Credit UnionClear2pay
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