Chicago banks big on concierges, guards, closets

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0610130183oct13,0,7996260.story?coll=chi-business-hed

BY BECKY YERAK
Published October 13, 2006, The Chicago Tribune

Compared with their New York City counterparts, bank branches in downtown Chicago are big on concierges and security guards. And Windy City institutions don't mind moving into what amounts to a closet if it means opening a new branch.

Those are among the findings of Tom Brown, head of a New York-based investment firm specializing in financial companies. The Chicago native recently visited his hometown, and after doing mystery shopping at downtown branches posted his thoughts last month on his Web site, Bankstocks.com.

One of the things he learned is that unlike New York banks downtown Chicago branches don't mind spending on concierges. And that's not necessarily a good thing.

"What happens when they're assisting someone else?" Brown wrote. "Then the customer is just standing in one line to get to another."

His suggestion: Ditch the concierge and add another teller.

That said, concierges at Citibank, Bank of America and Washington Mutual all did "great jobs" helping him. He can't say the same thing about Manhattan branch workers.

Brown also found that Chicago bank branches had inconsistent ambience, citing a cramped Bank of America branch at Madison and Clark Streets.

"Mercifully, when we were there at 1:50 p.m. there was only one customer," he said.

Bank of America's other downtown locations, however, had ample space.

Brown asked his wife, who accompanied him, which branches she thought were the best and worst. Market share leader Chase ran the branches at both extremes of the continuum.

"The big players haven't achieved anything like consistency among their locations in Chicago," wrote Brown, who says Chicago is overbranched. "This is because, I suspect, they've rushed pell-mell to open so many branches."

Brown also noted that security seems to be a bigger concern in Chicago than in New York, chalking it up to a rising number of robberies here in recent years.

As for in-store advertising, it's heavy on jargon, he said.

"When I saw a handwritten sign proclaiming a `HELOC special' at a U.S. Bank branch, I knew what they were talking about: a home equity line of credit," Brown said. But his wife didn't have a clue, and the couple has two HELOCs.

Meanwhile, ads at Bank of America and WaMu branches touted essentially one-year CDs at rates starting at 5.75 percent. "How do they make money on those deposits?" Brown wondered.

Nonetheless, traffic at WaMu branches was light, he wrote.

A WaMu spokeswoman countered Wednesday that the company's CD products are profitable and that new customers continue to visit its branches.

Brown also wrote that "customer service" hardware was hit-or-miss.

He said a Citibank branch at Dearborn and Washington Streets featured a computer at which customers could provide feedback, but "the PC was missing a mouse, and half the keys were stuck," he said. "The same branch had no deposit envelopes by its ATMs despite the fact that it was Friday at lunchtime."

On Wednesday afternoon the Chicago Tribune visited the branch and found a system that operated by touch-screen technology.

Brown singled out a Bank of America assistant manager at Washington and Dearborn as the most "engaged" worker he encountered.

He "had plenty of enthusiasm and could answer all my questions," he wrote. "But like every other employee we interacted with, he didn't ask for contact information to follow up."

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byerak@tribune.com

Posted by Mark Rodrigues at 10/20/2006 6:45 PM
Categories: Deposits, Customer Satisfaction, Home Equity Loans, Lending
 

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