Small and regional banks outpaced their bigger and national rivals in the 2015 Greenwich Excellence Awards in Middle Market Banking.

Zions Bancorp was the year’s big winner, taking home 14 national and regional awards. Frost Bank made a strong showing with 11 awards, followed by Synovus Financial with 10 awards.  In general, regional banks with relatively “high-touch” models fared best according to business executives interviewed.

“The entire middle market banking industry saw slippage last year in customer satisfaction and loyalty levels,” says Greenwich Associates consultant Don Raftery. “The regulatory changes, cost pressures, and rising expectations from business owners’ experience as consumers (1-Click ordering from Amazon, visibility into service delivery from Uber, etc.) are helping drive those declines.”  

Greenwich Excellence Awards recognize banks that deliver exceptional service quality to middle market companies. Awards are given in 14 national banking and cash management categories, and in 18 regional categories.

Regulations, Compliance and Balance Sheet Pressures
New regulations and compliance requirements are having a significant negative impact on middle market companies’ experience with their banks, and compliance burdens have made customer interactions on issues like new relationships (client onboarding) and loan applications more cumbersome. 

The larger banks are dealing with these complications at a time when balance sheet pressures are prompting many of them to cut costs in their own operations. These costs reductions and a burgeoning recovery in credit demand among middle-market companies are also contributing to the dip in customer satisfaction and loyalty scores. 

Digital Banking Investments to Impact Experience
Greenwich Associates expects the performance of the large regional and national banks to improve in coming months and years. These banks are working hard to create new processes that meet strict compliance requirements while minimizing disruptions and delays for clients.  They are also best poised to make the large investments in technology necessary to meet and beat rapidly rising client expectations in the future. 

In creating the systems needed to achieve this, the larger banks have been hampered by unwieldly legacy technology platforms. However, those banks making huge investments in technology—especially in mobile and other digital banking platforms—will benefit the most.

“These investments are already paying off in retail banking, and middle market banking customers should soon experience the results in the form of an improved customer experience,” says Don Raftery