INTESA SANPAOLO, THE ONLY BANK IN ITALY TO EXTEND ITS BRANCH OPENING HOURS

UNTIL 8 P.M. DURING THE WEEK AND OPEN ON SATURDAY MORNINGS.

THE NUMBER OF BRANCHES WITH EXTENDED OPENING HOURS CONTINUES TO GROW

HIGHLY POPULAR WITH CUSTOMERS, THE KEY FIGURES
ARE AS FOLLOWS:

• One in two customers have already taken advantage of the Banca Estesa service launched on 14 January

• Over half of interviewees regard the initiative as ‘excellent’ and 80% say their opinion of the Bank has improved.

• Word of mouth between customers continues to grow and around 30% say that they will visit their branch more often

Turin/Milan, 27 May 2013 – Banca Estesa, the Intesa Sanpaolo initiative that provides for branches to be open until 8 p.m. during the week and on Saturday mornings, was launched on 14 January. This was the first major change to a consolidated service model in Italy that is, however, no longer fully in tune with the current lifestyles of its customers.

Almost 400 branches have adopted longer opening hours, creating a greater degree of integration between traditional banking channels and direct, 24/7 channels. This number will rise to 500 in the near future, with room for additional development.
Intesa Sanpaolo has carried out a survey based on quantitative and qualitative data, in order to collect its customers’ feedback on the project. The most noteworthy findings include the immediate willingness to take advantage of the new opening hours and the extremely high levels of customer satisfaction. The results also show that the overall perception of the brand and of the services provided by the Bank has improved.

The survey was based on 3,500 questionnaires produced by Customized Research and Analysis (CRA) and around 160 qualitative interviews. It sought to establish both precise data (knowledge of the initiative, level of use of the new opening hours, willingness to take advantage of them) and the feelings of customers.

The main results were as follows:
- Around one in two customers have already taken advantage of the new opening hours and almost 95% are aware of the initiative: the majority of those that were not aware of the service think that they will take advantage of it in the future nonetheless.
- Customers that are unable to visit branches during “traditional” opening hours, whether for work or family reasons, are more enthusiastic about the service than pensioners, housewives and students. The new opening hours are more convenient for these customers, who do not need to take time off work to go to the bank.
- One in six Banca Estesa users is not a customer of the branch and says that they would use the service if it was also introduced at their branch.
- Over 50% of interviewees class the initiative as ‘excellent’ (majority of 9 and 10 scores on a scale of 0 to 10)
- Over 30% of interviewees say that thanks to the new opening hours they will visit their branch more frequently (the percentage rises to over 40% among employed customers).
- Around 40% of customers have taken advantage of the new opening hours for advisory services; over 30% of personal customers by appointment with branch managers.
- Another interesting aspect is the diversification of customer behaviour according to the geographical location of the branch. In general, the most popular times for visiting branches are in the evenings and on Saturday mornings, even though in city centres customers prefer lunch hours, and the most popular time for visiting branches in the suburbs is between late afternoon and 7 p.m..
- In a short time Banca Estesa has been able to improve the perception of customers as regards the brand and the services provided by Intesa Sanpaolo (80% of the sample). In addition, those that have already used the service are more likely to recommend Intesa Sanpaolo than those who have not. Banca Estesa therefore increases “positive” word of mouth.

 

 

For more information

Intesa Sanpaolo                                                        
Banca dei Territori Media Office and Local Media Office
Tel +39 0115556652
Tel +39 0287962677
stampa@intesasanpaolo.com