A cross-category examination of consumer price awareness in financial and non-financial services

Consumer awareness of prices is a fundamental requirement for sound purchase decisions. However, while in recent years the volume of research on consumer price awareness for manufactured goods has grown significantly, studies of price awareness in services, and in particular in financial services are almost nonexistent. As a result, the overall understanding of the level price awareness for financial services and its potential determinants has been limited. This paper profiles the level price awareness for a series of financial services as well as non-financial services. Systematic differences between financial and non-financial services are empirically examined, and the related drivers are contrasted between the two types of service. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings on the pricing and marketing of financial services.     

The distance marketing of consumer financial services directive

The EU directive on the distance marketing of consumer financial services (the DMD) was adopted in September 2002 bringing financial services in line with other retail sectors. This paper begins with an analysis of the principal substantive provisions of the DMD before considering the obligations it places on member states to ensure its substantive provisions are enforceable in national law and that an adequate system of redress is available to consumers. The paper then summarises the path taken by the DMD through the European legislative machine and analyses how the DMD will facilitate the integration of a European single market in financial services while striking an essential balance between the rights of the consumer and the rights of financial services providers. In the final part, consideration is given to how the DMD will be implemented by member states. In particular, attention is directed to the overall impact the DMD is likely to have on the marketing of financial services in the UK and how HM Treasury and the Financial Services Authority aim to harmonise domestic law with the DMD.     

Optimal introductory pricing for new financial services

Financial services institutions often provide special introductory prices to new customers who sign up for their services such as credit cards, credit monitoring services and online stock trading. Despite their prevalence, the decision to provide introductory prices to new customers entails challenges for decision makers. Providing small incentives may not perceptibly affect the adoption of the service while providing a large incentive leads to the loss of revenue and profits. As a result, the effectiveness of such activities on firm profitability remains largely unexplored. This study seeks to address this gap in the literature by exploring optimal introductory pricing of a financial service. Employing agent-based simulation experiments, we find that offering introductory discounts significantly increases a firm’s net present value (NPV) of profits. Moreover, the findings suggest the amount of discount and the duration of time that a new customer receives the discount are critical factors in determining the NPV of profits. The research and managerial implications are discussed.     

Continuing professional development in a financial services organisation

Organisations covered by the Personal Investment Authority regulations on continuing professional development are provided with an opportunity to create a strategic approach to people development. This paper reviews the findings from research carried out at one organisation, which highlights how this might be achieved.     

A model for implementing service excellence in the financial services industry

This paper presents a model and provides considerations for implementing a service excellence initiative in the highly competitive financial services industry. This model identifies and defines service culture, desired employee service behaviours, operational standards and service outcomes necessary to enhance and sustain service excellence. When managed collectively, these components provide the organisational environment necessary to harness employee service-related activities for the purpose of creating value and enhancing performance. Implementation of this model resulted in a 20 per cent increase in service quality scores across select areas in the sample organisation over a two-year period.     

Factors that affect consumers' cross-buying intention: A model for financial services

Cross-buying behaviour in retail banking is receiving increasing research attention. Most studies on relationship development however revolve around relationship depth and length, while there has been hardly any work on the factors that affect relationship breadth. This research proposes and subsequently tests through structural equation modelling a model of factors that affect customers' intention of cross-buying retail financial services. The study yielded rich research results. Most notably, it demonstrated the centrality of image and trust in the formation of cross-buying intention and also showed that customers' cross-buying intention is formed by a combination of interrelationships among the four variables in the model, which should all act simultaneously.     

Multivariate tests of financial models: A new approach

A variety of financial models are cast as nonlinear parameter restrictions on multivariate regression models, and the framework seems well suited for empirical purposes. Aside from eliminating the errors-in-the-variables problem which has plagued a number of past studies, the suggested methodology increases the precision of estimated risk premiums by as much as 76%. In addition, the approach leads naturally to a likelihood ratio test of the parameter restrictions as a test for a financial model. This testing framework has considerable power over past test statistics. With no additional variable beyond β, the substantive content of the CAPM is rejected for the period 1926–1975 with a significance level less than 0.001.     

Commentary: A proposal for theoretical models of stakeholder perceptions of a new financial reporting system

This commentary explores the article by Fontes et al. published in this issue of Accounting Forum. They argue that the scope of IFRS continues to widen across the world, using a number of social science disciplines to discuss stakeholder perceptions of change. The commentary uses Hegel's Science of Logic to situate their arguments through four key theoretical approaches that are prominent in the accounting literature. Ultimately, this has the potential to position IASB frameworks in such a way as to challenge the economic and neoliberal logic on which modern accounting is based.     

农业银行中小企业金融业务发展问题研究

中小企业在国民经济和社会发展中具有显著的地位,但由于自身特点,面临着严重的融资难问题,中小企业贷款难的原因有企业和银行两方面的,对此,本文提出了农业银行解决中小企业金融业务发展问题的对策。     

Cognitive catalysts for distrust in financial services markets: An integrative review

The growing recognition for the role of trust in financial services transactions has become more evident since the global financial crisis. A dominant perspective arising from this recognition has been regarding the responsibility of financial services providers for the depletion of consumer trust in the financial services sector. However, the loss of trust that may result in many financial transactions can also be attributed to consumers’ own lack of discipline and poor knowledge of financial matters. In this article four cognitive phenomena that inhibit consumers’ information processing abilities and contribute to the depletion of trust in financial services transactions will be discussed. The responsibilities of marketers, regulators and educators in equipping consumers with the means to overcome these cognitive limitations in order to improve their financial decision quality are discussed.     

发展农业银行个人金融业务的对策研究

目前 ,个人业务已经成为我国银行业竞争的主要目标。文章对农业银行发展个人业务提出了比较系统的规划。     

上海加快发展航运金融服务的问题与对策

航运金融服务作为建设国际航运中心和国际金融中心的纽带,其发展具有极其重要的意义。上海的航运服务和金融服务占据国内优势地位,但与国际知名的航运金融中心相比,仍有较大差距。该文对上海发展航运金融服务方面存在的突出问题进行了分析,作了一些探索研究,提出了可行对策与建议。     

Mobile banking: A powerful new marketing and CRM tool for financial services companies all over Europe

In the last decade mobile handsets have become ubiquitous. There are three times as many mobile phone users as online PCs and they are becoming very sophisticated and demanding users. Increasingly they will expect real-time information and access 24 hours a day, seven days a week, wherever they are in the world — and they want very high levels of service. This paper looks at how and why financial organisations across Europe are beginning to take advantage of mobile services and in particular mobile banking as a powerful new marketing tool to build long-lasting and mutually rewarding relationships with new and existing customers. Examples show how European financial organisations are using mobile banking to improve their customer service and relationships, to reinforce their brand by literally placing it in their customer's pocket and to reduce their costs.     

论农业银行金融新产品开发

文章探讨农业银行金融新产品开发工作的基本思路。     

发展农业银行个人消费信贷业务的战略思考

个人消费信贷业务以其风险分散 ,不良资产占比低、市场前景广阔、符合国家宏观调控方向等突出优点 ,受到国内各大商业银行的青睐。本文通过对国内个人消费信贷业务的发展前景及农业银行消费信贷业务现状的分析 ,提出四点建议。     

Global financial services and a global single currency

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the evolution of financial institutions in the context of increasingly volatile foreign exchange markets. The paper discusses the importance of the formation of a single currency in the US in the 19th century and the formation of the Euro in the 20th century for reducing volatility in foreign exchange markets that have assisted financial institutions’ international business expansion. The paper also considers some of the key assumptions of an optimal currency theorem such as labour mobility and argues that in the 21st century, more comprehensive financial market integration and a single global currency could emerge, provided that capital mobility and hence foreign capital flows continue meeting labour in the host countries for production rather than the other way round.     

A Markov decision model for consumer term-loan collections

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - We examine how to efficiently schedule collection actions for consumer term-loan accounts over time using a Markov decision model. A consumer loan...     

A response to commentaries on a theoretical model of stakeholder perceptions of a new financial reporting system

This is a response to questions raised by Kuruppu and Lehman (2016) and Thomson (2016) on Fontes, Rodrigues and Craig’s (2016) model of Stakeholder Perceptions of a New Financial Reporting System. We clarify some matters that arise from the commentators’ concerns about the intended contribution of the model, and its conceptual foundations. We also respond to concerns raised about the need to adopt a holistic and contextualized approach; provide further insights to the complex and dynamic nature of stakeholder perceptions and their formation; and elaborate on methodological assumptions underpinning the model. We argue that interpretative-based research offers an appropriate and challenging way to further improve and extend the model. We encourage researchers to adopt critical and interpretive-based methods to foster a reflective debate that will lead to improvements in the Stakeholder Perceptions model.