More and more bank customers are left without a personal advisor

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After the takeover of Credit Suisse, many branches are about to die in Super-UBS. According to Blick research, there are currently 75 locations in Switzerland with at least one branch each of CS and UBS.

And this is after the branch networks of banks have been drastically cut in the last decade. In Raiffeisen it fell by a quarter, in UBS by about a third, and in CS the number actually halved. With the closure of branches, personal customer relationships that banks value so much in their external communications are lost.

However, internally, calculations are difficult. Not every customer has the right to a personal bank advisor. However, upon request, UBS, CS, Raiffeisen or Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) do not want to say from which account balance this is due. In short: Financial institutions don’t want to put a price tag on their customers.

Personal contact becomes less important

Banks are evasive in their answers: At UBS, customers can decide for themselves “how much advice they want and how they want to contact the bank”. ZKB stands by its customers “in person”. And at Raiffeisen, everyone has the right to personal advice. However, seeking a personal advisor directly is becoming increasingly rare in the industry.

This has ramifications for many clients: “We used to have a personal advisor in the area, but today someone from a team in Bern is taking care of us,” says a woman from Brig VS, a mortgage holder with Credit Suisse. I want to remain anonymous.

Focus on customers with six-digit amounts

The classic bank teller offering personal advice in the back room is increasingly obsolete. Many customers today use e-banking for payments and are also increasingly relying on banks’ digital offerings. “Young people in particular place much less value on personal consultations,” says a Raiffeisen client advisor at Blick. That’s why Raiffeisen is investing in expanding its digital customer reach.

However, personal advice is still very popular with clients when it comes to old age benefits or real estate purchases.

Banks make a particularly big difference when it comes to asset management. Small savers are left out with many offers. For example, UBS offers “tailor-made wealth management”, including personal advice for investments of CHF 250,000 or more. At CS, offers start from CHF 100,000 to 250,000 depending on the product.

Source :Blick