A new survey from J.D. Power found that Bangor Savings Bank, Rockland Trust and Eastern Bank scored first, second and third place for customer satisfaction among banks in New England. iStock illustration

The economy might be searching for stability as it rides President Donald Trump’s tariff rollercoaster, but bank consumers are growing increasingly satisfied with their financial institution.

Overall customer satisfaction with primary retail banking partners is 655 (on a 1,000-point scale) in J.D. Power’s latest survey, which is 11 points higher than the company’s 2024 study.

“Retail banks have really upped their games when it comes to giving customers the resources they need to navigate a challenging economic environment,” said Jennifer White, senior director of banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power. “Those efforts include not only delivering on the basics of transactional efficiency and customer engagement but also undertaking more meaningful efforts to empower customers to understand and avoid unnecessary fees, resolve problems quickly and utilize additional personal financial management tools and supportive services.”

Massachusetts bank leaders believe that technological advances have allowed for institutions to better serve their customers. But, they say, a balance needs to be struck between balancing personal touch with innovative solutions.

“What I see in our future is a place where we could fulfill all needs digitally, but still have that human interaction when the customer wants it,” said Cambridge Savings Bank head of consumer and small business Angela Conti. “We’ve made leaps and bounds of progress between where we were pre-pandemic and pre-economic crisis to where we are today.”

While digital improvements are important, Eastern Bank Vice Chair, President and COO Quincy Miller said  recent technological advances have helped banks preserve a “personal touch” to their service while building out strong and convenient digital channels for connecting with customers.

“There’s been a lot driven from digital improvements in banking over the last four to five years post-COVID,” he said. “When there’s moments in [customers’] lives when there’s a financial need, whether that’s a retirement a new baby or what have you, being able to be there from a personal perspective, I think, really separates customer experience and customer satisfaction.”

Simpler Fees – And Less of Them

Another reason for increased satisfaction has to do with fees. Unexpected or unexplained fees can leave consumers with negative sentiments towards their financial institution.

The percentage of customers who say they completely understand their bank’s fee structure has risen 5 percentage points from a year ago according to J.D. Power. Additionally, the percentage of customers who say their bank completely communicated how to avoid being charged fees is up 4 percentage points.

“The industry over the last three years has really made improvements on creating greater fee transparency and, quite frankly, reducing fees. No one is happy when they get a fee for something and they have no idea why it happened,” Miller said. “You can’t build trust unless you have transparency with your customers and making sure that you when they open accounts or they have a particular product or services, they understand any features, benefits or fees that may be associated with how you’re going to transact with that account.”

Consumers also need to see a value in the service that is associated with a fee in order to maintain high levels of satisfaction, Conti said.

“The key to fees, in my opinion, is no surprises, clear disclosure and clear value to the customer for what that fee is intended for,” she said.

South Shore Bank President and CEO Jim Dunphy also highlighted the importance of providing value in the fees that are charged.

“What we try to share with them up front, whether it’s a lending transaction, deposit or any activities that they’re doing with the bank, that they know what it’s going to cost them up front and the value proposition,” he said. “It’s less about avoiding fees, but is the service and cost appropriate, and making sure that we share that up front with our clients.”

Recession Putting Premium on Service

But with the potential for a recession increasing, consumers will now be faced with issues that can only arise during times of economic stress. Additionally stock market volatility can cause some investors to look for more stable options to park their money.

Conti highlighted the tools that Cambridge Savings Bank offers to its customers to get a complete look at their current and potential financial picture regardless of how many institutions they bank at.

“I feel like any uncertainty creates angst and when someone is anxious and unclear, our role is to provide stability and assurance,” Conti said. “We’ve got tools that can help customers to manage through uncertainty. We offer customers the ability to analyze their full financial picture.”

Sam Minton

While Miller doesn’t believe there is a direct link between economic uncertainty and consumer satisfaction in their financial institution, banks do have the ability to increase the level of satisfaction that customers have by being proactive.

“If you’re a wealth management client, and markets have been up, down, all over the place, our wealth team, they’re proactively reaching out to their clients,” he said. “I would say that’s another thing that’s different in delivering great customer experience is not only just being there when your customers call, but also proactively reaching out to clients. We do that in our small business and our commercial banking businesses. Business owners are now dealing with the impacts of tariffs, what’s on, what’s not on, what does that mean to their business?”

Additionally, Dunphy has noted that after an initial dip in business activity, recently deals are beginning to pick up again.

“The first couple months of this year, our business activity was definitely off and I think folks that had projects in the queue have stalled them a little bit and taken a knee just to see what happened,” he said. “But I’d say in the last two and a half to three weeks, more of those projects have started, and I think folks are just saying we need to move forward. We need to get things done, and we’ll deal with it. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how little panic there has been in our client base.”