As financial institutions focus their efforts on improving conduct, they shouldn’t ignore the twin concerns of culture and customer experience – something challenger banks understand only too well.

For incumbent banks looking to stave off the emergence of challenger banks, the three Cs of culture, conduct and customer experience, form the tripod on which to support a sustainable and efficient business.

There are different approaches for improving all three aspects of a bank’s makeup and how the key to development – and ultimately success – could come from focusing on improving the relationships between the “3Cs”, not dealing with them independently. 

Customer experience is now a central part of financial services and one in which challenger banks are excelling. Strengthening the tripod is therefore a vital tool for a modern, progressive business.

• Culture, conduct and customer experience: while incumbent banks have been rectifying the mistakes of past conduct, challenger banks are thriving as they value the importance of culture and customer experience.
• Firms are often treating each of the 3Cs independently. The key to developing the business is focusing on developing the relationships between them.

There is no one size fits all method of creating a stable tripod, but three options are available. 

• Prioritise setting the right culture, and the rest will follow. 
• Integrate software to monitor and manage the 3Cs in one place.
• Tackle isolated hotspots for operational improvement, with no significant investment required.

• It is unsustainable to improve customer experience without also tackling culture – an attempt to work on one C could hamper the efforts of improving another.
• Only by providing a great customer experience will businesses thrive.

• On your reading list: KPMG in the US published an interesting checklist of questions on culture, Approaching the Crossroads of Conduct and Culture, for their financial services clients last year – and it’s well worth a look.
  

• On your board agenda: How can we leverage the relationship between the 3Cs to move us towards our vision for the organisation in 2020 and beyond?
  

• Anticipate tomorrow…: The FS industry is changing, with digital platforms beginning to dominate and non-traditional competitors splintering and reforming industry segments. Think how a focus on the 3Cs – rooted in customer outcomes – can help shape strategies and gain an advantage.
  

• …deliver today: Focus on the customer. Culture change is the best way of addressing all 3Cs together, but the immediate imperative is well served by questioning whether any given decision is in the customer’s best interests.