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A new analysis by J.D. Power has found that Rockland Trust and Eastern Bank are the two top large, Massachusetts-based banks operating in New England in terms of customer service.

On a 1,000-point scale, Maine’s Bangor Savings Bank scored 726, followed by Rockland at 685 and Eastern at 682. JPMorgan Chase, which is aggressively expanding its branch footprint in Massachusetts, came in fourth at 667.

With scores of 619, 617 and 597 respectively, M&T Bank, Citizens and Bank of America rounded out the list of large national and regional banks analyzed. J.D. Power’s definition of “New England” excluded Connecticut, which it instead grouped with New York State and New Jersey.

The study is based on responses from 105,355 retail customers of the largest banks in the United States and was conducted from January 2023 through January 2024.

The analysis found that, nation-wide, 13 percent of bank customers are likely to switch institutions in the next 12 months. In addition, 8 percent of retail bank customers told J.D. Power they changed up their primary bank, up from 5 percent in 2018. And 46 percent of bank customers said they are certain they will remain with their current bank next year.

“Retail bank customers interact with their bank every three days, on average, across a combination of digital, phone and in-branch channels, and the tenor of those interactions has a massive influence on customer satisfaction and overall levels of trust,” Jennifer White, senior director of banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power, said in a statement. “Despite widespread efforts to improve the customer experience, many banks are missing the mark on critical customer touch points by treating customers like numbers. To retain deposits and build customer loyalty and trust, banks need to do a better job of focusing on fundamental interactions, proactively solving problems and delivering personalized advice.”

Customers nation-wide reported declining trust in their banks due to unexpected fees, delayed availability of deposited funds, news reports about bad banking practices, errors blamed on customer actions and closed branches and reduced hours. Account fees in particular are appear to be a major factor in pushing customers to switch banks, with 26 percent of those who said they are likely to switch in the next 12 months citing fees as their main motivation, followed by 26 percent who cited poor customer service.

Rockland, Eastern Earn Top Marks for Customer Satisfaction

by James Sanna time to read: 2 min
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