Monthly Archives: September 2011

Banks brand their cost-cutting programs

U.S. bank profitability in recent quarters has been driven by significant reductions in provisions for loan losses.  With these provisions now returning to normalized rates, and with revenue growth anemic, many U.S. banks are turning their attention to reducing noninterest expenses.  A number of banks now have branded cost-containment programs in place, including Project New BAC (Bank of America), Project Compass (Wells Fargo) and Keyvolution (KeyBank).

While some may see this as a cynical attempt by banks to put a gloss on an effort that ultimately result in lost jobs, from the banks’ perspectives, branding these programs serves to emphasize their commitment to cost containment with both external (investors and analysts) and internal (executives and other employees) stakeholders.

  • For investors and analysts, this commitment is seen in having a named program in place, with overall saving goals, specified areas where savings can be attained, as well as regular progress reports
  • For bank staff, the branding of such programs builds awareness, coordinates various cost-containment initiatives at the bank, as well as providing a forum for staff to submit cost-containment suggestions

Expect more banks to follow the lead of Bank of America, Wells Fargo and KeyBank.

Spray & Pray: There’s A better Way

Most advisors express frustration with the volume and the frequency of promotional communications from investment product and insurance manufacturers. Research conducted by EMI and real client experience confirms this, with emails being especially high on the list. At a recent roundtable I attended, many advisors said: “we’re done with email”. Why? Because most of the communications they receive are difficult to process and deliver questionable value to their practice. So what’s a manufacturer to do?
Despite frustrations with the volume and quality of communications, advisors readily admit that they do read communications deployed by the brands they trust and value. These brands plan and manage communication streams with valuable content, use easy to process copy standards, and create a consistent narrative that demonstrate respect and thoughtfulness. These brands have earned the attention of the advisor and are therefore opened and read before the others (assuming the others are read, which is unlikely given the ease of deleting or navigating away in digital media).

So what’s a manufacturer to do? Build a systematic relationship marketing program that demonstrates respect and delivers real value. Perhaps we can call that SRM.

Growth of referral programs at banks

Following the financial crisis, U.S. banks have refocused on optimizing relationships with existing customers.  One of the ways that banks have sought to monetize these relationships is to cross-sell additional financial products and services. Another is to leverage the existing customer base to acquire additional customers, through referral programs.

It is notable that there has been recent growth in the incidence of referral programs on bank websites. the following is a list of banks currently featuring referral offers on their websites: