Banking on customer peace of mind

By Lucy Carruthers

I recently went to log in to my Alliance & Leicester online bank account and was met by a clear, comforting statement: ‘Peace of mind…we’re backed by one of the world’s largest banks.’ I thought it was interesting how in these difficult times, my bank was thinking of its customers’ concerns and sending out such a reassuring message.

It made me wonder what messages other banks were posting on their homepages in response to the current financial situation. Surprisingly, the answer was that very few of them were following suit.

Barclays did have a small, red link in its left hand menu that read ‘Why your money is safe with Barclays’. The homepage of Lloyds TSB was promoting money saving tips while also providing a link to information on ‘Lloyds TSB and HBOS plc – what does it all mean?’ Halifax just had a tiny ‘HBOS/LloydsTSB announcement’ link in the common enquiries section tucked away on the right hand side of the page. None of these felt particularly reassuring, and there was no obvious messaging at all on the homepages of RBS, NatWest, HSBC or Bank of Scotland.

Given all the media hype surrounding the financial crisis, you can be sure that many consumers have been trying to find out more about the safety of their own money, which makes this oversight on the parts of many financial institutions all the more surprising.

I took a look at the Financial Services Authority (FSA) site, thinking that it might be a useful place for consumers to go to get information about what they should be doing with their money right now, if anything. It doesn’t look like the most inviting of sites with its high density of links, but if you are brave enough to click on ‘consumer information’ or the ‘money made clear‘ promotion, you will be taken to a much friendlier site full of financial facts, helpful tips and interactive tools. This is definitely a site worth spending some time on if you have any financial questions.

The BBC, as you would also expect, has dedicated a good deal of time and online real estate to the financial frenzy, not only with up to the minute news coverage of the global crisis, but also with articles directed at consumers and how it might affect them. There’s even a layman’s financial crisis glossary - most useful if you find the world of banking jargon a bit of a mystery.

So, there is information and advice available on the Internet. But it would still be nice to see the banks themselves each taking the time to reassure customers on the homepages of their websites. Alliance & Leicester’s use of the online channel definitely impressed me. Not only did it make use of its homepage to send a clear message, but I also received a personalised email to explain its acquisition by the Santander group and what it meant for me.

In these difficult financial times, it would make sound sense for banks to make the most of the online channel to reassure unsettled consumers.