By Rick Rothacker
Jan 28 (Reuters) – Bank of America Corp must focus
on improving customer service as it moves past its crisis-era
problems, CEO Brian Moynihan said in a letter sent to employees,
signaling one of his strategies for boosting revenue at the
bank.
The letter, mailed to the homes of nearly 270,000 employees
worldwide and seen by Reuters, says employees need to make it
easier for customers to do business with the company, which has
fared poorly in U.S. customer satisfaction surveys.
Bank of America posted the lowest score among four large U.S.
banks in a report last month by the American Customer
Satisfaction Index, and was the only large bank whose score had
not matched or eclipsed pre-crisis levels. [ID: nL1E8NA6L7]
Giving an example of how to improve customer service,
Moynihan says in the letter that customer call centers should
provide the same “problem-solving approach” to helping customers
as the bank’s Merrill Lynch financial advisers and U.S. Trust
private bankers, which work with wealthier clients. The letter
also highlights efforts to provide more clear communications
with customers and initiatives to put investment specialists and
mortgage loan officers in branches.
Bank of America’s image has taken a beating in the past few
years, including a backlash in 2011 over an aborted plan to
charge a $5 monthly debit card fee. Many of its mortgage
troubles stem from its 2008 acquisition of subprime lender
Countrywide Financial.
Last year, Bank of America put its advertising account up
for review as part of an effort to show it was a “new day” at
the bank, according to a document sent to the agencies. The bank
selected a team at WPP Plc to craft a new marketing push
for the bank, which is likely to debut later this year.
These steps are crucial for Moynihan, who in his fourth year
as CEO is coming under increasing pressure to show investors and
analysts that the bank can boost profits amid new regulations
and low interest rates. He has spent most of his time as CEO
focusing on cleaning up the mistakes of his predecessors,
including billions of dollars of losses from mortgages.
Bank of America this month reported a 63 percent decline in
fourth-quarter profits after taking more than $5 billion in
mortgage-related charges. But the bank is beginning to put its
mortgage woes behind it, shifting the focus to growing revenues.
[ID: nL1E9CH2SC]The letter doesn’t identify any new initiatives or ways of
measuring customer service, but puts renewed emphasis on
Moynihan’s long-running goal of focusing the company on
consumer, business and institutional customers.
A companywide event on Thursday will kick off the new
customer service push, according to the letter, which did not
have further details about the event. Employees will also have
meetings with top company executives in coming months. A Bank of
America spokesman declined to comment on the letter.
