Swiss banking is feeling the pressure. The macroeconomic environment is already challenging; and as margins tighten and digital challengers gain ground, customer expectations are evolving faster than many banks can respond. Neobanks are setting the pace with sleek digital services and low fees – leaving traditional players under pressure to adapt or fall behind. Client preferences and demands have become ever more crucial and Swiss banks find themselves under increasing pressure to improve their Customer Experience. Customer Experience (CX) refers to the overall perception and satisfaction a customer has with a bank's products, services, and interactions across all touchpoints, from initial contact and onboarding to day-to-day banking activities and long-term relationship management.
 

• How satisfied are Swiss banking clients today?
• How do neobanks rate against ’classic’ banks? How ambitious are banks in elevating their CX experience?
• And how could Swiss banks keep pace with rising customer expectations to stay competitive along the entire client life cycle?

The real drivers of client satisfaction in Swiss banking

We carried out a survey of 1,250 retail and private banking customers to learn what client experience they expect:

• Personal recommendations are (still) the number one factor in choosing a bank: 50% of retail clients and 55% of private banking clients identified personal referrals as the most important consideration when selecting their bank.
• A key client requirement is convenient, end-to-end digital account opening and onboarding – yet none of the Swiss banks we analysed currently offer a fully digital onboarding feature set without media or channel breaks.
• Respondents to the survey indicated a high level of satisfaction with day-to-day banking services, but significant unmet needs in investing and extended personal financial management services. Over 50% identified investment options as critical to their customer experience, but only 22% of women and 31% of men currently use investment services in retail banks, probably because of the limited user experience they provide.
  

Clients are in general satisfied with the banking services they use, but they hesitate to recommend their bank to others, as reflected in low net promoter scores (NPS) across the sector. This underscores the challenge that banks face in building long-term emotional connections and retaining customers beyond functional satisfaction. Out of all banks surveyed, only one, a neobank, was given an NPS of more than 50 by their clients, scoring 64. The best ’classic’bank scored 39 and the worst just 11.

CX-Maturity assessment of Swiss banks

To complement the views of banking clients, we conducted 47 in-depth interviews with representatives from 13 banks, comparing what their banks offer today with Deloitte's CX-Maturity model, which evaluates CX capabilities across six dimensions.

Our analysis identified shortcomings across all six dimensions of the maturity model that limit the ability of banks to deliver a consistent outstanding customer experience across all interactions with their customers. In particular:

• The CX-Maturity of Swiss banks is low overall, despite substantial investment.
• Swiss banks have ambitious goals to improve their CX-Maturity.
• Small, digital-driven banks have a greater CX-Maturity.
  

Recommendations
 

In Switzerland’s competitive banking market, customer experience (CX) is a crucial factor. Swiss banks have made progress in building CX capabilities, but they vary widely in what they have achieved so far. Some have structured frameworks, while others rely on individual efforts without a comprehensive strategy, leading to satisfactory but unremarkable customer experiences.

To differentiate and drive growth in client numbers, banks must turn customers into brand advocates through a strategic, top-down, and data-driven approach to CX management. Using innovation and advanced technologies will help anticipate and meet evolving customer needs. Putting customers at the centre of core strategies (‘customer-centricity’) will create seamless, personalised experiences that foster long-term relationships and prompt clients to recommend their bank to others.

To keep pace with rising customer expectations, Swiss banks should focus on the following key areas:

• Make CX a boardroom priority: Establish a top-down customer experience strategy, endorsed by management, and build relevant capabilities.
• Establish a CX Centre of Excellence: Create a dedicated hub to break silos and drive best practices to ensure consistent delivery of CX initiatives across the whole organisation.
• Design for consistency at every touchpoint: Create a design system for providing consistent experiences across touchpoints and streamlined development.
• Map and manage real costumer journeys: Adopt and implement Customer Journey Management to map and manage end-to-end journeys – online and offline, from mobile to branch.
• Quickly turn data into decisions: Develop a technology stack to collect, analyse, and transform data into actionable insights for personalised experiences.

By focusing on these areas, Swiss banks can better meet customer needs, maintain a competitive edge, and drive long-term success.

Want to turn satisfied customers into loyal advocates?
 

Connect with our team for personalised insights and analyses to accelerate your CX ambition. Whether you are defining your CX-Strategy or launching new digital services, we can help you make customer centricity your competitive edge. Let us create standout experiences for your customers together.

Contributors

We are grateful to Anja Kubli for her valuable contribution to this report.