Some translation (still) required

One of the most common complaints among the more than 300 bankers surveyed in Investment Executive’s annual Bankers’ Report Card was that statements daze and confuse clients. And more often than not, customers end up taking the statements back to their branches for translation. The consensus among Canadian bankers: account statements need improvement, otherwise precious time is lost.

“I have to sit down with my clients and explain the statements to them,” says a Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce banker in eastern Ontario. CIBC statements ranked third out of eight banks, tied with Toronto-Dominion Bank. Last year it ranked third out of seven. (IE included National Bank of Canada this year.)

CIBC says its customers find their statements have “more information on them than they wanted. All they want to know is, ‘What’s my bottom line?’ Simplicity is always the best,” says an Ontario banker.

A Bank of Nova Scotia employee in Missisauga, Ont., says, “They are very confusing, especially the investment statements. For example, I had a client come in with a statement and let’s just say I’m still trying to figure it out.” Scotiabank ranked last for the previous two years. This year Scotia bankers rated statements 7.0, up from 6.8 in 1999.

Bruce Armstrong, director of retirement services with Scotiabank, says the bank welcomes clients who come in to have their statements explained. “People use the statements as a reason to come in to talk to people. The customer probably does not have a clear idea how the statement relates to financial health. The banker should show them that the statement is a tool,” he says.

Meanwhile, the bank is testing new statements with some of its clients, and customer feedback will go into determining whether the new statements go ahead. The statements are expected to be rolled out to customers by the end of the year, Armstrong says.

Canada Trust and TD are each still using their own statements despite merger plans, when CT’s statements will be phased out in favour of TD’s. CT’s statements jumped one point from 1999 to 7.7 this year, but the approval rating depends on which statements you’re talking about.

“The credit card and line of credit statements get a 1 [out of 10],” says a CT banker in Winnipeg. “We get complaints about them all the time. They are very difficult to understand. They are hard to read. They are cluttered.” Another CT employee in West Vancouver says line of credit statements are “thoroughly lacking.”

TD bankers rated their statements at 7.6, a slight drop from last year. That rating puts them in third place, tied with CIBC. Last year they were tied for second with Laurentian Bank of Canada.

Bank of Montreal came out on top in this category for the third year in a row, at 8.2. Despite a drop of 0.2 points from 1999, a BMO banker in Red Deer, Alta., says, “The new [statements] are really good.” Another BMO banker in Ottawa says, “They redid them a couple of months ago and they are much better.”

John Gagnon, an investment specialist at BMO, says the bank spent up to $100,000 on the design and development of its updated statement. “Most statements have too much information and it is crowded. This one has the information, but it is not crowded.”

BMO is not stopping there. The bank expects to launch a new all-in-one statement to include mutual funds, term deposits and everyday banking, and will replace its present RRSP statement. “We’re bringing together three different systems to come up with a consolidated view,” Gagnon says.

The revamped statement is expected to be launched by the fall.