Exploring potential improvements to retail banks' CRM systems : a means to increase customer trust and loyalty

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines the importance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems in the Maltese retail banking industry. It explores the degrees of importance given to such systems by the different retail banks interviewed. This study also investigates various concepts such as customer acquisition, loyalty, retention, trust, data mining, data warehousing and data protection. Having proper CRM systems in place is very important to remain competitive in today’s dynamic market, and this study confirms it. Research: In order to find out the retail bank managers’ perspective on the subject, a qualitative research method was used as part of the primary research. Four bank managers were interviewed using a mixed approach of structured and semi-structured questions. The research was also used to compare the different approaches to CRM used by the different banks. Secondary research was used in order to help design the appropriate questions to be asked during the interviews. It was also used to explore different concepts relating to CRM. From the results of the interviews, it was also clear that most of the answers move in line with the existing literature about the subject and there were no major contrasting views. Conclusions: The author came to the conclusion that retail banks have a clear understanding of what CRM is and how it helps them in various aspects of their business, e.g. customer trust, loyalty, retention and profitability. CRM systems however need to be continuously updated due to the fast changes in technology, in order for the banks to stay ahead and offer the best services to their customers. This study provides some potential improvements for these systems.