This seminar is devoted to the question of improving the quality of financial services and the topic is a timely one. For in the United States, as in Europe and around the world, the quality of service has become a key element in the competitive marketplace, and improving quality a central tenet of the marketing plans of many banks. Indeed, quality improvements in some ways have been so dramatic in recent years that many banks are finding that they have to keep running just to stand still relative to the competition. I hasten to add that our own research for banks in the U.S. and abroad strongly supports this new emphasis on service quality.
In the current situation of intensified competition with other financial institutions it is in my view necessary to gear the bank's marketing approach to the needs of the customers - and focus on their many different needs. Success is reserved to those who are able to market themselves as service undertakings with a wide range of financial services and internal marketing and training that Impart to all the employees a customer oriented focus. In this process, information on the needs and wishes of the customers, and hence market analyses, is a necessary tool.
We now see the development of home banking as an inevitable trend: the technology involved has proven reliable, with new applications being developed at a rapid pace. Furthermore, a market for these new services clearly exists already, and in our opinion cannot help but expand in the future. Now is the time to lay the groundwork for future growth and future decisions, if we are to succeed in implementing what is truly a "technology of the future". There is no time to lose, since, in our opinion, "keeping up with the times comes down to an ability to live ahead of our times, i.e. to plan for tomorrow.
The exercise of summing up the content of these three days of work - in which 23 papers were presented, and a great number of contributions were made in the debates - requires a review of the topics discussed, and the injection into them of some personal views, with the positive and negative results that a subjective approach of this kind usually brings about.
Two evolutions make the development and use of the concept duality in the production and distribution of financial services particularly necessary. The first is that the extension of and innovations in the financial Sector are already encountering certain limitations: in our developed countries, the major part of households and all firms use a bank; apart from this, innovations in financial products and services have already begun to slow down. Many innovations are being made in the modalities of service distribution, but less with regard to the nature itself of the products and services offered. One is thus forced, in order to promote these services, to return to a detailed study of their particular characteristics and to an observation of customer expectations with regard to these characteristics. However, these approaches involve taking into account what is commonly known as the "Quality" of a product or service. "Quality" often becomes the only possible factor for differentiation.
The purpose of this paper is to make some remarks and comments on the relationship between: - the Corporate Image, a concept which is more and more important on a market where the financial terms, the interests paid, the criteria used for giving loans, etc. do not differ much anymore and; - The perceptions and expectations of service quality, the expectations of the customers, what they come asking for and what they consider as "fitness for use". In doing so, we will need to introduce another concept - narrowly related with the Corporate Image or - to say it better - that should be narrowly related with it: the Corporate Culture.
There are three simultaneous revolutions currently underway: technology, sociology and ethics, all of which are in a constant state of inter-reaction with the others. All three call into question the three dimensions of existence: know- ledge, action and emotion. And all three have triggered off a change in circumstances that has affected corporate planning, behaviour and results. The quest for higher profits encompasses innovation, efficiency and quality. The theme of this seminar, "Assessing and improving the quality of financial services, ties in directly with the major concerns of our times. Far from being a passing fad, it is part and parcel of present-day society, and is directly inspired by Japan's achievements.
There are three simultaneous revolutions currently underway: technology, sociology and ethics, all of which are in a constant state of inter-reaction with the others. All three call into question the three dimensions of existence: knowledge, action and emotion. And all three have triggered off a change in circumstances that has affected corporate planning, behaviour and results. The quest for higher profits encompasses innovation, efficiency and quality. The theme of this seminar, "Assessing and improving the quality of financial services, ties in directly with the major concerns of our times. Far from being a passing fad, it is part and parcel of present-day society, and is directly inspired by Japan's achievements.
The present article will not attempt to present an exhaustive analysis on the problem, but rather to describe the situation of electronic payment in Belgium, where three networks are developing in parallel, and the strategy adopted by the Mister Cash banking network and the part played by CIG, the systems and services organisation which manages the Mister Cash network.
Companies and banks are confronted with the same problem of an uncertain economic environment. This presents both with a challenge. Banks first learned from past experience and imposed new guidelines for their assets and liabilities management. Most banks abandoned blind quantitative growth as it was no longer possible to be all things to all men, to quote Bank of America's slogan of the 1970s. This is even more important at the present time, which is characterised by despecialisation and greater intellectual resources both on the part of companies and the most imaginative financial intermediaries. Is it not true that many major companies' financial directors are former bankers? There is only one solution : develop closer links with the customer. Listen to him more, understand him better and look for the best possible solution to his problem. This is the only guarantee of satisfactory profitability. Our business is changing and changing fast.
The present article will not attempt to present an exhaustive analysis on the problem, but rather to describe the situation of electronic payment in Belgium, where three networks are developing in parallel, and the strategy adopted by the Mister Cash banking network and the part played by CIG, the systems and services organisation which manages the Mister Cash network.
This paper is a case description of the approximately ten years old development and introduction period of the Swedish savings banks card. It gives the background, describes the planning and results and also tells about some of the specific ways in which market research has taken part. The project started with the specifications for a new system for automated cash withdrawals. The decided system was marketed in three steps. First the cash dispensers were marketed to the different savings banks. After installation followed the marketing of the card to bank customers via a test market campaign and a nation wide campaign. The project was a success. Today more than one million users make some 50 million withdrawals per year. Careful research projects throughout the process contributed to the market strategy by giving data on knowledge, attitudes and behaviour.