NEW YORK, July 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — The market segment that controls over 90% of all personal financial wealth in the U.S, are taking money out of credit unions to open accounts at banks, according to a new study by TNS.

In a comprehensive, large-scale study of 4,600 affluent consumers, Banking the Affluent Consumer, TNS targeted households with $100,000 or more in investable assets.

Among the findings, TNS found five banks that had achieved material organic growth in their affluent customer base over the past two years. All of these had superior performance in terms of acquiring and retaining affluent customers.

1. Bank of America
2. Chase Bank
3. Capital One Bank
4. TD Bank
5. Key Bank

The study confirmed that Credit unions lost market share among the affluent in the 2009-2010 period.    

Not surprisingly, the study found that CDs, Savings, and Money Market Deposit Accounts were the products most commonly opened by affluent households over the past year.  The Affluent were less likely to have taken out new installment loans during the study period. These households, however, were twice as likely as consumers-at-large to have acquired new IRA, KEOGHs accounts or Mutual Funds in the past year.

"The dynamics of customer retention and share of wallet growth are materially different," said Joe Hagan, Senior Vice President of multi-client programs at TNS. "Despite being relatively unimportant to customer retention, effective management of customer relationships, e.g., showing customers that you know them and their history with you, and rewarding their loyalty, is critically important to growing share of wallet.  Yet affluent customers tend to give their banks low marks in these areas."

About TNS

TNS is the world's largest custom research agency delivering actionable insights and research-based business advice to its clients so they can make more effective business decisions.  TNS offers comprehensive industry knowledge within the Consumer, Technology, Finance, Automotive and Political & Social sectors, supported by a unique product offering that stretches across the entire range of marketing and business issues, specializing in product development & innovation, brand & communication, stakeholder management, retail & shopper, and qualitative research. Delivering best-in-class service across more than 70 countries, TNS is part of Kantar, the world's largest research, insight and consultancy network.

Source: www.tns-us.com