2023-08-29 21:53:00
The panic of the counters on the side of the subscriptions of the one-year State note reveals much more the resentment of the customers with regard to their banks than the real interest for this type of investment. Let’s be good accounts, the state note has a relative interest. Given the extent of inflation, the saver just loses less money by investing in a one-year government bond than by leaving his money in a savings account with a ridiculous return since too long. This resentment is manifesting itself suddenly today, to the delight of a Minister of Finance who will come out of this legislature with at least a feather in his hat. It was to be expected. First, the financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis have left an indelible mark on the memory of very many citizens. On the level of our public debt too, for the rest. Admittedly, since then, banks have been constrained by much stricter regulations in terms of equity capital, in particular. But “everything digital” so much vaunted by banking institutions since then shows its limits on the occasion of this monster issue of one-year State bonds. The controversies have not ended for years on the disappearance of bank branches, on the drastic drop in ATMs, on the high cost of banking operations.
The new one-year State bond offers 2.81% net, it is much more than the savings account
We must now add a quality of service with variable geometry. Is the benefit of investing in digitalization really having to spend half an hour on the phone with an overwhelmed “help desk” to simply raise a limit on the current account to pay for the subscription of the State bond? The feeling sometimes prevails, by making an appointment with your bank, that you are fixing an interview with a cardiologist or an ophthalmologist. Banks are clearly underestimating this deep-seated resentment of the quality of service they provide to their customers. And in doing so, they neglect an essential societal role for the proper functioning of our society, and our economy.
This observation is no doubt shared by the financial institutions themselves. How to understand, in fact, the sending of the press release from the banking federation on Wednesday, entitled “State bond: the banks are doing everything possible to help their customers”. Well no, the banks do not do everything to make life easier for their customers, nor to meet their wishes. If the resounding issuance of the Minister’s State note can at least have one virtue, it would be to wake up the banks regarding their approach to customer service.
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