Branch Banking Now Trails Online Banking
Internet-banking-in-CanadaCanadians are slowly becoming less attached to branches.
In the last year, 80% of bank customers visited a branch while 86% used online banking. Two years ago, the numbers were reversed at 84% and 80% respectively.
This data comes from a new J.D. Power and Associates report released Thursday. The study finds that one in five bank customers have not made a branch visit in the past year, with many preferring to do business with e-banks like ING Direct, PC Financial and Manulife Bank.
J.D. Power also reports that customer satisfaction has dropped by a significant five percentage points at the major banks. That, and the online banking shift, should have major banks slightly concerned.
For financial institutions trying to woo tech-savvy customers, their website is becoming as important as their branches.
JD-powerLubo Li, a Senior Director at J.D. Power and Associates, covers Canada’s financial services sector. His research finds three key factors that clients look for in an online banking site (in this order):
1) Appearance of the website
e.g., aesthetics, a professional look, etc.
2) Ease of navigation
e.g., the intuitiveness of the user interface and number of clicks required to access key functions
3) Range of services
e.g., the breadth of products and services available on the same website
ING-DirectThe top-ranked online banking site in Canada is currently INGDirect.ca, according to J.D. Power. “Nobody is even close to ING,” says Li. ING’s website scored 879 out of 1,000 with respondents. The top-ranking Big 5 bank website was TD Canada Trust, with a score of 820.
"ING is doing a phenomenal job delivering a superior customer experience," Li says, adding that major banks could learn something from Canada’s #1 online bank brand. ING’s site is upbeat, clutter-free and highly intuitive in terms of navigation.
Interestingly, overall customer satisfaction with online banking sites fell this year by eight percentage points. Li partly attributes that to people having “higher expectations” for websites nowadays. So if your homepage looks like a build-it-yourself website template from 1998, it could be hurting you more than you realize
For a glimpse of ING's website click here.
Source:http://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/canadian_mortgage_trends/2012/07/branch-banking-now-trails-online-banking.html
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Where are rates going?
Interest Rates Remain Steady
Last week, the Bank of Canada (BoC) made its fifth scheduled key interest rate announcement of 2012, and as expected, this rate remained at 1.00%, where it has been for almost two years.
At the same time, the BoC released its latest Monetary Policy Report (MPR), which is designed to give Canadians a look at where both the global and Canadian economy may be headed down the line.
This report is far more cautious in nature than the last MPR, which was released in April, and the BoC is forecasting weaker prospects for global economic growth, and is expecting the Canadian economy to pick up the pace in terms of growth in 2013. Currently, the BoC is projecting a 2.1 per cent growth in 2012 (down from April’s forecast of 2.4 percent in 2012 and 2013), 2.3 per cent in 2013, and 2.5 per cent in 2014 (up from 2.2 per cent).
“The economy is expected to reach full capacity in the second half of 2013, thus operating with a small amount of slack for somewhat longer than previously anticipated.” – BoC Monetary Policy Report, July 2012
Unlike April’s report, this one does not come with a warning from the BoC in regards to mortgage rates rising faster than expected.
Bond Yields Down
Five-year Government of Canada (GoC) bonds decreased three points last week, closing at 1.15 per cent on Friday. As five-year GoC bond yields drive fixed mortgage rates, we could be seeing a slight decrease in fixed rates over the next few weeks.
Mortgage Rate Recap
Earlier this month, a number of banks – including both TD and RBC, dropped their 1-year and 2-year fixed rates. Last week, Bank of Montreal and National Bank followed suit, reducing their 1-year and 2-year fixed rates to remain competitive. Desjardins also decreased their 2-year fixed rate, while TD Canada Trust reduced their 3-year fixed rate by 10bps from 3.95% to 3.85%. Note that these rates are at the branch level, not necessarily through a broker.
Source: http://www.ratehub.ca/mortgage-blog/2012/07/monday-mortgage-update-july-23-2012/#more-4172
Last week, the Bank of Canada (BoC) made its fifth scheduled key interest rate announcement of 2012, and as expected, this rate remained at 1.00%, where it has been for almost two years.
At the same time, the BoC released its latest Monetary Policy Report (MPR), which is designed to give Canadians a look at where both the global and Canadian economy may be headed down the line.
This report is far more cautious in nature than the last MPR, which was released in April, and the BoC is forecasting weaker prospects for global economic growth, and is expecting the Canadian economy to pick up the pace in terms of growth in 2013. Currently, the BoC is projecting a 2.1 per cent growth in 2012 (down from April’s forecast of 2.4 percent in 2012 and 2013), 2.3 per cent in 2013, and 2.5 per cent in 2014 (up from 2.2 per cent).
“The economy is expected to reach full capacity in the second half of 2013, thus operating with a small amount of slack for somewhat longer than previously anticipated.” – BoC Monetary Policy Report, July 2012
Unlike April’s report, this one does not come with a warning from the BoC in regards to mortgage rates rising faster than expected.
Bond Yields Down
Five-year Government of Canada (GoC) bonds decreased three points last week, closing at 1.15 per cent on Friday. As five-year GoC bond yields drive fixed mortgage rates, we could be seeing a slight decrease in fixed rates over the next few weeks.
Mortgage Rate Recap
Earlier this month, a number of banks – including both TD and RBC, dropped their 1-year and 2-year fixed rates. Last week, Bank of Montreal and National Bank followed suit, reducing their 1-year and 2-year fixed rates to remain competitive. Desjardins also decreased their 2-year fixed rate, while TD Canada Trust reduced their 3-year fixed rate by 10bps from 3.95% to 3.85%. Note that these rates are at the branch level, not necessarily through a broker.
Source: http://www.ratehub.ca/mortgage-blog/2012/07/monday-mortgage-update-july-23-2012/#more-4172
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)