Banks struggle to keep up with volume of customer queries at their call centres

Call centres in five retail banks managed 10m calls in 2021

The Central Bank says improvements are required for retail banks’ customer support phone lines to cope with the increase in customer calls following the decision by KBC Bank Ireland and Ulster Bank to withdraw from the market.

The disruption caused by the exit of two retail banks from the Irish market has put unprecedented pressure on call centre staff in banks.

A review by the Central Bank assessed call wait times, call abandonment rates and resourcing levels across the retail banks in anticipation of an increase in customer engagement levels following the decision by KBC Bank Ireland and Ulster Bank to withdraw from the market.

“The transition of well over 1m customer current and deposit accounts and millions of direct debits will be an unprecedented event in the history of Irish banking,” said Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) chief executive Brian Hayes.

“It will require the participation and support of multiple stakeholders across the economy, including the banking industry, regulatory authorities, utility companies, Government departments and agencies, and employers working together,” he added.

Part of this strain comes from Ulster Bank urging 1m customers to switch and close their current and deposit accounts with the lender within a six-month deadline before the bank leaves the market in the Republic of Ireland.

High volume of switching queries

These customers are being contacted in batches to avoid creating an unsustainable amount of activity as the current switching code managed by the Central Bank is not designed to deal with this high volume of switching queries.

The Central Bank says improvements are required for retail banks’ customer support phone lines to cope with this new pressure. The regulator reported that the number of customers abandoning calls was high and one phone line had an abandonment rate over 50%.

Thousands of contact centre staff in five retail banks worked on-site during the pandemic and managed over 10m calls in 2021.

“BPFI and its member banks are working intensively together as an industry, as well as with stakeholders, to assess and plan for this unprecedented task of transferring millions of accounts and direct debits of personal and business customers across the economy,” said Mr Hayes.

The current switching system was designed to benefit competition within the banking industry by creating a code that all banks adhere to. In this situation though, the code was not developed to cope with the exit of the third largest bank from the Irish market.

“This enormous task is an absolute priority for the banking sector, its customers and its stakeholders and will remain the number one issue at all levels of our operations this year,” said Mr Hayes.