By akademiotoelektronik, 27/12/2022
La Banque Postale: what its customers blame it for
La Banque Postale is among the banks with the lowest ratings by its customers, when asked about the quality of the service received. Here are the main criticisms they level at it.
With 10.5 million active individual customers claimed at the end of 2019, La Banque Postale (LBP) is one of the French banking brands best endowed with individual customers. It is also one of the lowest rated by these same customers, when asked about the quality of the services provided to them.
This is in any case what emerges from the 2021 edition of the Banks Quality Awards. Not only does the subsidiary of the La Poste group not win any of the 18 trophies awarded to banks with a network of agencies, but it is generally at the bottom of the pack. The exact opposite, in short, of Crédit Mutuel, which seems to arouse a form of adoration among its customers. What exactly do LBP customers complain about their bank? How can this severity be explained? We have gone into the details of the study on which the Banks Trophies are based (1).
Window counters not welcoming enough
Going to a La Banque Postale counter is not a cakewalk, if its users are to be believed. On almost all the criteria used to assess branch experience, LBP obtains the lowest scores from the panel, which includes 11 network banks. The brands customers are therefore the least satisfied with the welcome provided, waiting time at the counter, opening hours, decor and comfort, the ability of staff to answer questions In terms of satisfaction overall, it ranks second to last, with a score of 7.44 out of 10: only BNP Paribas does less well.
How to explain this dissatisfaction? The fact that access to La Banque Postales physical counters requires, in the vast majority of cases, going to a post office, where bank customers find themselves in competition with mail customers, is doubt for nothing. LBP also pays for its status as a universal bank. Custodian of a mission of banking accessibility entrusted by the State, it is in fact required to open a Livret A free of charge to anyone who requests it. In doing so, it affects a population, estimated at 1.5 million people, excluded from the traditional banking sector, often uncomfortable or poorly equipped with digital tools, and therefore heavy consumers of counters, including to find out the their account balance. What, inevitably, lengthen the queues, and cause annoyance.
Read on the subject: La Banque Postale: the underside of the universal Livret A account
Insufficient advice on life plans
La Banque Postale customers are also quite strict with their advisers. Not so much, moreover, for day-to-day operations as when it comes to talking about projects, and therefore credit and savings. In this area, LBP thus posts average ratings that are generally lower than other network banks, but also, and this is more embarrassing, than certain banks without branches, such as Boursorama Banque, ING or Axa Banque.
Unsatisfactory digital channels
However, its not just agency reception that is lacking. This is also the case for remote channels: the web banking space, the mobile application and the telephone platform are far from generating full support. Although its website is not the hardest rated of the panel - those of HSBC and BNP Paribas do worse -, it is nevertheless very far from reaching the levels of satisfaction of some of its competitors, such as Crédit Agricole, Crédit Agricole Mutuel or Société Générale.
The finding is even more severe for its mobile application: it is the lowest rated of the panel, with a satisfaction score of 7.43 out of 10, far from the average (7.81). In particular, customers are more critical than elsewhere of basic functionalities, such as transfers, contact with an adviser or making appointments in a branch, but also the security of the app and its ability to offer innovative functionalities.
Read about our file on mobile banking applications
Satisfaction, "a priority for La Banque Postale"
Asked to react, La Banque Postale's communication sent us the following statement: "The satisfaction of our 10.5 million active customers is a priority for La Banque Postale. In terms of quality of service, La Banque Postale attaches particular importance to proximity with its 17,000 contact points, including in rural and peri-urban areas. This postal network, unique in its multi-activity model, is undergoing continuous modernization with nearly 100 million euros invested each year. In order to streamline customer relations, La Banque Postale is accelerating the digitization of its services on remote channels, through a major investment program of €1 billion over 5 years. As a citizen bank, La Banque Postale bases its commercial policy on the best value for money for its customers thanks to one of the lowest prices on the market and recognized quality of advice (continuous training of La Banque Postale employees with 300,000 training days in 2019). »
Strong points despite everything
However, there is an LBP paradox. Despite their grievances, and a satisfaction score, all criteria combined, among the lowest in the panel (7.27/10, only HSBC and BNP Paribas do worse), the vast majority of La Banque Postale customers maintain a good image of their banking partner (91%, compared to 92% on average) and affirm their attachment to the brand (79%, compared to 78% on average). They are also among the most loyal. When asked if they intend to change banks in the next two years, 83% say no, 42% of them with certainty. No bank on the panel does better!
Certainly, among his respondents, some know that they will have no choice. La Banque Postale is often a resource for people in financial difficulty: at the end of 2019, the brand welcomed 1.6 million customers recognized as financially fragile, out of a total of 3.4 million identified by the Banque de France. That's one fragile customer out of 2!
La Banque Postale also has assets to promote. Geographical proximity in the first place, a criterion on which it obtains a score of 7.92/10, the best behind Crédit Agricole. Logic: thanks to its presence in post offices, LBP claims 7,740 points of sale, and 17,000 contact points in total. No other bank, of course, can say the same. Another strong point: the price-quality ratio. On this satisfaction criterion, LBP is on an equal footing with Crédit Agricole and Crédit Mutuel. It is, it must be said, ranked 16th (out of 126) in our ranking of the least expensive banks, behind online banks in particular, but ahead of most of its direct competitors.
To be consulted: Which are the cheapest banks in 2021?
(1) The trophies are awarded on the basis of a survey carried out by OpinionWay for Meilleurtaux, from September 30 to October 19, 2020, on a sample of 5,070 banked French people recruited from a representative sample of the population. French aged 18 and over.
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