The inability of most banks and credit unions to keep up to speed with the technological demands of their staff and clients is a sticking point with the front-line troops.
Common gripes from account managers across Canada range from poor internal communication to too much paperwork and confusing software packages. They also note the general lack of a cohesive, streamlined approach to connect the higher echelons of their institutions to the managers in the trenches dealing with individual accounts.
As a result, every single bank on Investment Executive’s 2002 Account Managers’ Report Card posted a lower score than last year. (Credit unions are part of the report for the first time this year.)
On average, bankers gave a mediocre grade of 6.2 when asked to rate the efficiency of technology supplied by their employers. That’s down from an average of 7.0 in last year’s report card, which itself was down from an average of 7.1 in IE’s 2000 survey.
The downward trend in contentment is also quite broad, with only two of the major Canadian banks (Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal), along with credit unions, posting above-average responses. Laurentian Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia met the average, while subpar results came from bankers at TD Canada Trust , CIBC and National Bank of Canada.
The most dramatic change of heart comes from bankers at TD, which topped the Report Card in 2001 and 2000 with an 8.2 for overall efficiency, but slid this year to a below-average, fifth-place rating of just 5.8 points. TD’s bankers also gave it a fifth-place grade of 6.2 for front-office technology, a far cry from last year’s second-place ranking of 8.0, the same as in 2000.
The sharp decline at TD is apparently due to the aftershocks from the merger of TD Bank and Canada Trust. The merger was completed a year ago and bankers were optimistic at that time, telling IE researchers the ongoing blending of technology would probably work out fine for all involved. Now, a year later, TD Canada Trust bankers say their optimism was overrated.
“With Canada Trust, I could do so much. Now I can’t and it’s very frustrating,” says an Ontario banker of the post-merger technology.
The gist of the problem, it appears, is that the merged mega-institution ignored some positive aspects of Canada Trust’s efficient and lean system in favour of a new, bank-orientated technological platform that now seems to be considered second-rate by some bankers. “Lotus Notes sucks,” harps an Ontario staffer.
Jeff Keay, manager of media relations for Toronto-based TD Canada Trust, says the bank’s internal polling of its bankers produced better results. “We’re skeptical about the results because of the sample size and the methodology that was used,” he says. “We’ve had consistently good results when we surveyed our own employees and clients.”
When asked whether TD Canada Trust bankers might have been more forthright when discussing their employer with a third party, Keay says the bank’s internal surveys are all done anonymously.
Some of the lowest technology ratings came from bankers at CIBC, which received a paltry 5.0 for efficiency and a 5.2 for front-office technology, with both down from last year’s lacklustre 5.7 and 6.3 results. “We’re so far behind, it’s ridiculous,” says one CIBC banker in Alberta.
“[I’d give it a] three. It’s getting better though,” adds a colleague in British Columbia.
CIBC acknowledged last year it had been lax in upgrading its technology at the branch level, but planned to address the problem with a costly overhaul to be completed by early 2002. The work is not yet finished. “We’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the past 12 months,” says Rob McLeod, CIBC’s director of corporate communications in Toronto. “We are starting to roll out PCs, hardware, printers, scanners, etc. That will be completed this summer.”
Once individual bankers are supplied, McLeod says, CIBC will complete the overhaul of its front office by upgrading its applications systems to improve the “nuts and bolts” of its overall technology. “That will roll out in fall 2002 and we’re hopeful our staff will reap the benefits.”
Any arguments that the difficulties faced by TD Canada Trust and CIBC are because of their immense size are groundless. Canada’s largest institution, Royal Bank, is ranked highest on the scorecards that measure both overall efficiency and ability of a bank to blend its front-office technology to suit the needs of its staff. Royal garnered a 7.9 rating for overall efficiency, well ahead of the credit unions’ average of 7.0, and it also took an impressive first-place score of 8.5 for its front office vs the credit unions’ 8.1 final score.
The accolades for Royal Bank are not surprising, as it ranked at or near the top scores for both categories in 2001 and 2000. Pooled together, the three years of high scores show the bank’s proactive approach toward placing a priority on internal technological advancement have clearly given it a running start against its competitors, one that’s appreciated by its staff.
“It’s ever-evolving, usually in a positive direction,” says a Royal banker in Nova Scotia.
Both BMO and Scotiabank continue to vie against each other for the right to be considered better than most, but neither are outstanding on the high-tech front. BMO, for instance, received a 6.7 score for overall efficiency and a 6.1 for its front-office technology. “We’re getting new technology this summer; everything will be top-notch,” says one hopeful BMO staffer in Ontario.
Scotiabank’s bankers appear split. “It’s gotten so much better over the last little while,” says a Calgary banker, while a colleague in Ontario responded, “It’s bad, seriously.”
The big technology picture, it appears, takes many years to paint. IE