When we started to track brand reputation at the beginning of April, we’ve seen a steady overall decline in the number of people who believe consumer sectors have responded well to Coronavirus.

Breakdown Of Banks Likability

Delving deeper into the banking industry, we asked UK consumers which banks they like. The overall decreasing sentiment towards banks may be a result of the current recession and the drop in interest rates banks can offer at this time (Source: Daily Express).

Halifax

By the end of August, Halifax was reportedly the most liked bank (38%). One of the reasons may be because it gave customers £100 to switch bank along with monthly freebies (Source: Daily Record). However, likeability has decreased by 9% since April.

Barclays

We saw likeability towards the bank drop by 11% between April and August. Barclays forecasts an 8% drop in economic growth for the year and expects to put aside £4.5bn to cover bad debts resulting from the pandemic (Source: The Guardian).

Nationwide

In April, the proportion of people reporting they like the building society was 47%, but this slumped to just 29% by the end of August (and by 9% in April alone). In May, Nationwide warned of a £100m loss as a result of the pandemic (Source: Evening Standard).

Lloyds TSB

From April to the end of August, we saw likeability towards the bank drop by 15% to 30%. One of the reasons may be that Lloyds was recently slammed by the competition watchdog for forcing freelancers to open business accounts in order to access government-backed loans (Source: Contractor Weekly).

Tesco Bank

By the end of August, the amount of people reporting they liked Tesco Bank had dropped to 22%. The Competition and Markets Authority has found that fewer than half of Tesco Bank customers are prepared to recommend it to friends or family members due to customer service (Source: Independent). By improving service, Tesco Bank may be able to increase likeability to pre-pandemic levels.

Being competitive with the interest rates offered may help to increase the number of people reporting they like the brand. However, during these uncertain times it is understandable that not every bank and building society will be able to do this and so the ones that can increase rates, even slightly, may end up with a competitive advantage.

Transparency and abiding by regulations is important, as we have seen with Lloyds bank and freelancers. Being transparent and honest with customers, as well as abiding by laws and regulations will result in an increase in the number of people liking a particular bank or building society.

Improving customer satisfaction and service quality may be a strategy worth implementing to improve overall likeability towards a bank or building society. Recession will affect the finance sectors, however the offerings brands operating in this sector can bring to consumers will set them apart from competitors. We have seen NS&I announce they are to cut savings rates and premium bond prizes from November (Source: Hargreaves Lansdown). Therefore, we expect to see more of these cuts from other brands in the financial sector and a further decrease in the number of people reporting they like brands operating in this sector.

We’ll be back with an updated series on each of our featured sectors: Banking, Grocery, Telecoms and Retail, in November.

Until then, if you’d like more information on the data gathered, email us at hello@rare.consulting.

Brand Reputation Series - Issue 5: How Well Is The Banking Sector Performing?