A long-term relationship

The phrase “improving the customer experience” has long been part of companies’ strategic planning. It is an objective that brings together three factors: companies’ pricing and effort, on the one hand, and customers’ emotions, on the other. The first two are closely linked to the provider’s efficiency, and the latter to its competitiveness and capacity for innovation. All these premises, which have always been part of communication between customers and their banks, are essential to underpin the long-term relationship that characterises the banking system in Spain.

A few days ago, the Bank of Spain published the latest Survey of Household Finances, which it conducts every three years and which reflects the most significant changes recorded in the income, assets, debt and expenditure of Spanish households. The comparison period, between 2014 and 2017, saw sustained growth in the Spanish economy and very favourable financial conditions that reduced households’ financial burden, enabled an orderly adjustment of the debt accumulated during the crisis and boosted private consumption. The recovery in house prices translated into an improvement in households’ net worth, given that real assets account for more than 80% of their total assets.

According to the Bank of Spain survey:

• Banks work to improve the management of household savings: bank accounts account for 34% of households’ financial assets, one of the highest percentages in Europe, and this has continued to rise in recent years.
• They provide an agile and secure payment system, with easy and widespread access to financial services: 93.8% of households have some type of bank account.
• They finance the main wealth decision: households that own their home account for 75.9%, one of the highest percentages in Europe.
• They make aspirations and entrepreneurship possible: 22.6% have personal loans, used—by order of importance—for the purchase of durable goods, home improvements, debt repayment and business financing.
• Prudent and transparent financing: households devote 15.8% of gross income to servicing their debts, while those devoting more than 40% has fallen to 5.2% of all households.

From an international perspective, Spanish banks contribute a distinctive business model, based on mutual trust and a long-term relationship with their customers. They are among the most efficient in Europe and offer their customers a wider range of products and services, many of them free of charge, at a price far lower than that of their European competitors and through various platforms.

Banks are involved in all major economic decisions made by households: buying a home, purchasing durable consumer goods, managing retirement savings, obtaining the credit needed to set up a business or keep it running, and using an efficient payment system integrated into citizens’ daily lives. These are essential ingredients for strengthening a stable relationship with their customers, one that adapts to the evolution of the social and financial reality.

José Luis Martínez Campuzano, spokesperson for the Spanish Banking Association

Download the article