Responsibility in service provision

The year 2019 brought a number of innovations, mostly based on technical improvements, to our Bank. Supporting development and innovation is always a forward-looking factor in the life of a corporation; the CIB Group will enjoy the long-term benefits of such efforts.

On the short term, however, the changes will have a significant impact for our customers. Therefore, 2019 was perhaps a particularly important year in terms of customer satisfaction. We have strived for a satisfactory long-term business relationship with our customers and have continuously attempted to improve the quality of that relationship.

Whenever our customers go to the trouble of responding to our requests for information, for us it means that they expect that their opinion will genuinely be taken into consideration.   In 2019, our CIB Standard Program remained one of our most important tools to survey our customers’ opinion. During the year, we distributed an email survey to more than 297,279 customers, requesting their opinion on our products and the quality of our services. 29,617 returned an evaluation of the CIB Group, resulting in an average score of 34.6% (on a scale of -100% to +100%). That result is definitely positive and encouraging.

In addition to the CIB Standard Program, we repeatedly conducted our customer satisfaction surveys in 2019 as well, first distributed 11 years ago. Apart from contacting retail customers, two surveys, a competitor comparison survey and a survey distributed to our own customers, targeted the SME segment.

Our competitor comparison surveys have always provided useful information in order to determine our position on the market and take advantage of opportunities for renewal. The information we gain from the results of own client surveys help us better understand the requirements and habits of our own customers.
The survey results have shown that our client satisfaction and loyalty indicators have improved. Their values have been significantly impacted by factors such as service quality, the corporate image and the quality of our follow-up activities.

In both segments, loyalty improved remarkably compared to the previous year. Similarly, the willingness to recommend has also improved while, according to our customers, CIB comes near to the ideal financial service provider.

Apart from our satisfaction surveys, we pay particular attention to the management of client complaints. For us, we have made it a priority that we should show a fair attitude in trying to find a solution; that attitude is supported during the year by ongoing training and expert assistance within the various CIB Group organisations. While in 2019, there were more complaints than a year before, we believe that our customer-driven approach yields the expected result, i.e. complaining clients have trust in us and request our assistance in order to resolve their problems.

A significant part of digital changes are represented by our branches which have been remodeled and are now based on a new model.  New branches were added in 2019 and, by the end of the year, the new operating model was already functioning smoothly and effectively. Our branches must keep up closely with the innovations, with regard to both our customers and staff.  It is an important priority that familiarity with the new model should be followed up and customer reactions to innovations should be monitored. The results must then be analysed and interpreted before any further changes are implemented and the relevant business decisions must be based on such analysis.

The number of complaints examined at the CIB Group 

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Total	26,569	11,812	11,700	12,390	14,081

Breakdown of complaints by type of service in 2019

Products / services	Number of complaints (2019)
Checking accounts and deposits	3,006
Electronic channels	2,602
Debit cards	1,449
Credit and debit cards	1,014
Mortgage loans	824
Transfers	759
Credit products	703
Leasing	330
Investment products	431
Insurance products	215

Breakdown of complaints by type of complaint in 2019

Breakdown of complaints by type of complaint	Breakdown of complaints by type of complaint / 2019
Conditions and condition applications	30.1 %
Processes	23.9 %
Technical problems	16.6 %
Communication & client information	10.1 %
Terms and conditions	9.7 %
Transactions	4.9 %
Privacy	2.5 %
Settlement	1.0 %
CCIS	0.8 %
Misuse and losses incurred	0.3 %