| Direct banks, defined as branchless retail banking businesses, continue to proliferate. Direct banking businesses are being established by banks and nonbanks alike. While most US-based direct banks have developed their strategies around an Internet-based delivery model, this is not the case in the United Kingdom. The UK market, which has offered direct banking for a decade, is very much oriented around the call center, putting the telephone squarely at the center of the delivery model. The Internet, for most UK-based direct banks, is just now emerging as a complementary channel.
The success of direct banking in the UK is impressive. Millions of accounts and billions of deposits now reside with these upstart financial institutions. As a result, an interesting hypothesis arises: if research indicates that the UK's direct banks are successful among consumers, and since those banks are call center oriented, what might be learned about those banks' call center service levels? What combination of interpersonal and technical strategies might these institutions be employing? And most importantly, what lessons could other banks (both direct and full service) take away from the success of the UK's direct banks?
This TowerGroup Research note discusses the trends toward direct banking and identifies key drivers behind that movement. It also details direct banking programs from the UK's leading call center banks and presents lessons from that model that can be applied to banking call centers of all types.
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