Younger customers' outlooks when selecting and changing a financial services provider : the case of Maltese students

Abstract

In order for banks to supplement their market share, it is crucial for them to entice new customers such as students who are expected to join the workforce at a subsequent stage. The main aim of this paper is to survey the banks' tactics in this regard, the response of students to such schemes, and the aspects which such customers consider when selecting a particular service provider or when switching to another one. We conduct interviews with bank representatives and distribute questionnaires to first year university students in order to gauge whether particular factors are more important than others in the selection of a financial services provider. We find that there are various aspects which banks may leverage upon to entice potential customers to switch away from competing service providers, especially due to the fact that switchers tend to respond differently to given characteristics in their decision making process.