Branch Banking: The Times Are Changing (Slowly)

April 25, 2012 - PRLog -- Boston, MA -- Despite the rapid change in consumer usage of electronic delivery channels like online and mobile banking, branches remain the centerpiece of retail banking delivery, Mercator Advisory Group's 2011 CustomerMonitor Survey Series finds.

Branch Banking: The Times Are Changing (Slowly), the fifth in a series of eight consumer survey reports examining payment and banking topics, probes the importance the role that branches plays in today's multichannel banking environment.

The report is based Mercator's CustomerMonitor Survey Series. The foundation of the series is data obtained during a national sample of 1,003 online consumer survey responses completed between October 9 and October 13, 2011. The survey covered topics including types of branches used and usage frequency, interest in using self-service branch technologies, and usage of in-branch resources.

Findings of the research include:

The most common reasons branch customers visit a branch

Whether or not branch visitors are using ATMs to deposit checks

How usage of their bank's website for some of their banking needs affects consumers' branch visits

The type of branch that is the norm

"A strategic challenge for banks is the low use of their most expensive branch assets like customer service representatives and tellers," states Ken Paterson, VP for Research Operations at Mercator Advisory Group and the author of the report. "The survey data indicate some willingness among younger customers to use new branch-based technologies such as cash-handling terminals and videoconferencing to remote experts. But it will take time for consumers to embrace new branch-based technologies."
 
The report is 32 pages long and contains 17 exhibits.

Members of Mercator Advisory Group's CustomerMonitor Survey Series have access to this report as well as the upcoming research for the year ahead, presentations, analyst access and other membership benefits.

Please visit us online at www.mercatoradvisorygroup.com.

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About Mercator Advisory Group
Mercator Advisory Group is the leading, independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We deliver pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help our clients uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs. Our clients range from the world's largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and associations to leading technology providers and investors. Mercator Advisory Group is also the publisher of the online payments and banking news and information portal PaymentsJournal.com.