Synovate study: Romanians’ confidence in banks on the drop
Date: 10-03-2010
The global financial crisis has affected the people’s confidence in banks and their opinion about the banking sector, while clients in the Central and East European area and the Middle East show a relatively strong loyalty to financial institutions, a study made by the research company Synovate shows.The study was made in 13 countries, covering 29 international banks and 211 local ones. According to studies, clients choose first to ask the advice of family members on financial aspects rather than ask for advice of banks or other financial institutions. In Poland alone clients prefer to discuss first with banks while in Saudi Arabia bank clients discuss with their friends and colleagues first.Respondents from several countries where the study was made do not have a favorable opinion about banks in general. International banks got the lowest score in Hungary and Greece – only 16% and 17% of respondents had a positive opinion about that. The lowest scores for local banks were recorded in Romania, where only 18% of people have a positive opinion, and Ukraine where 24% of people have positive opinions.
At the opposite pole 81% of respondents in Saudi Arabia expressed their positive opinion about local banks, 58% of respondents in UAE, 55% of Poles and 54% of Russians, while international banks got the best appreciations in UAE and Saudi Arabia (47% and 46% of respondents having a positive opinion).
In general, for most respondents in 8 out of the 13 countries included in the study, the confidence they had in banks dropped compared to the period before the crisis, in the top of this classification being the Ukrainians with 70% and Greeks with 69%. “It is normal that the clients’ confidence in the banking sector should be affected as a result of global recession.Banks no longer are the main source of financial advice for people, while family members become their favourite source of advice. That shows the banks’ need to build closer relations for their clients to be able to expand their portfolio of products and services, said Kurt Thompson, the Synovate CEO for Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
However, although banks should make sustained efforts to regain their clients’ confidence, in most countries clients are not ready to change their bank. That’s is because the effort needed for the change is not justified compared to any benefit they might get, because of the lack of a better alternative or because the respective banks do not consider they are the only ones to blame for the financial crisis, Thomson added.
Asked how they would invest 1 million euro, clients declared they would use it to invest in real estate: mention should be made that 50.2% of respondents in Hungary, 44.1% in Czech Republic and 43.6% in Russia would choose to buy a house or expand the existing one. In UAE , the main choice made by 23% respondents is to open a private business and so did people in Saudi Arabia (20.5%) and Serbia (15.3%).
Expenses concerning the living standard are also among favorites, 13.3% of Greeks and 6.7% of Czechs choosing to spend the money for a dream vacation for them or their family. Savings represent a choice for some people (8.6% of Slovaks and 6.6% of Poles) while financial investments (such as government deposits, mutual funds, shares) are considered marginal in the whole area, most mentions being in Hungary (5.3%), UAE (4.7%), Poland (3.8%) and Saudi Arabia (3.6%).
In general, studies show the respondents’ wish to improve their living standard.The study was made between October and December 2009 on a representative sample of 1,000 clients in the banking sector in each of the 13 countries included in the study: Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech republic, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
