Forrester continue to ask the obvious yet absolutely right questions, yet the answer here is confusing. 

Although the branch was once thought to be dead in favor of alternative channels, the majority of consumers still prefer the branch for doing most of their banking business. A Forrester survey shows that these consumers are generally older, less wealthy, and don’t trust online banking.

Source: Forrester Research: Who Are The Bank Branch Loyalists?

This survey took a look at what turns out to be a significant consumer group.

…  took a closer look at the 58% of consumers who say they prefer to use the branch for most banking activities

The 58% threw me.  We have over 50% using online banking, yet a segment of online banking users are ‘ branch loyalists’.  Turns out that 17% of branch loyalists bank online, vs 29% of all households. 

So this piece seems to be more of a generalisation than specifically useful.  It goes on to talk about the importance of investment in sales and service activity and no argument there.

Relevance to Bankwatch:

I think this is more indicative of the generational change that we are undergoing, and the awkward tensions that exist during mammoth change.  Everyone seeks convenience, and everyone seeks service.  Older people will lean towards service solutions that they can relate to, i.e. in the branch.  Younger folks will lean towards online, yet be forced into the branch, despite their desire to do most online.  That’s my hypothesis anyhow.

tags: online+banking, consumer+trends