When the financial meltdown brought on a crisis of confidence, it led to a tightening of compliance and disclosure norms. Although adhering to regulations is important, a bank must show far greater intent of openness and transparency in order to win back customers’ trust. They can do this by making voluntary disclosures about their products and associated risks, fee structure, terms of service etc., beyond that which is mandatory.

Customers’ confidence also improves with empowerment – the knowledge of being in control of financial decision making – and when they are assured of easy access to the right people within the bank who can guide them in their best interests. Equally important, a bank must demonstrate through actions that customers are indeed its top consideration in good times, and more so in the bad.

Technology can play a key role in this pursuit by enabling unified education and communication across all channels, providing tools and templates for personal financial management and allowing easy access to support staff via an online helpdesk, call centre or remote advisor. Last but not least, technology can help leverage wisdom across the organisation by institutionalizing it and making it available equally to customer-facing staff on all channels.

What other means, in your opinion, can banks and financial institutions deploy to win customer trust and advocacy?