Banking Review

Did ANZ open a new branch and forget to staff it?

Australian banks are running out of excuses for not serving customers via Twitter, following the establishment of verified Twitter accounts for the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac.

The verified accounts go a long way towards ensuring customers communicating with a bank via Twitter can have confidence it is actually a bank representative they are dealing with.

Twitter may not yet be a mainstream social media platform, but the growth in its use by Australians continues to astound.

Experian Hitwise says around 20 per cent of all Australian Internet users visited Twitter.com in October 2009, and this month Telstra revealed use of Twitter on mobile devices by its five million 3G customers jumped by 450 per cent in the last 12 months.

In the US, which accounts for nearly a third of all Twitter traffic, banking giants including Bank of America, Citi, Wachovia and Wells Fargo routinely deliver information and answer common customer questions  on Twitter, with the platforms manned by dedicated staff during bank office hours. Looking more globally, Christophe Langlois from Visible Banking is monitoring more than 1,000 financial institution related Twitter accounts in 60 countries.

Despite the Commonwealth Bank, UBank (owned by NAB), and Westpac embracing Twitter, some banks remain unconvinced. NAB (@nab), Suncorp (@SuncorpBank),  and ING Direct (@INGDIRECT_AU) have all established Twitter accounts, acquired followers, and then remained quiet.  Last year ANZ established a dedicated Twitter account called @ANZ_Responds to communicate with customers. The account sat dormant for many months before being shut down earlier this year.

A spokesperson for ANZ says the account was set up as a trial. “However, we found that most of our customers were happier to discuss their banking needs with us directly, at a branch, on the phone, or online.

“So far we haven’t received any feedback that has altered that – so we have no plans to open a new Twitter account.”

The former chief of ANZ’s Australian operations Brian Hartzer embraced Twitter in the last few months of his time in Australia, publicly endorsing it as a communication tool. It seems with Hartzer’s departure to the UK so too went any broader bank commitment to the platform.

Meanwhile ANZ has attracted more than 2,000 followers to its @ANZmoneymanager account, but hasn’t tweeted from the account since April.

This is akin to inviting 2,000 potential customers to a seminar on an ANZ service, only to have nothing to say to them when they arrive. Or opening a new branch and neglecting to staff it.

What do you think? Should banks step up their communication efforts on Twitter? What’s holding your institution back from using Twitter as a customer service tool?

Which banks are on Twitter?

Banking Review Media is following a number of banks and bankers on Twitter via Twitter lists on its @bankingreview account:

http://twitter.com/#/list/bankingreview/fis

http://twitter.com/#/list/bankingreview/ozbankers

Please let us know if you’d like to be added.

Australian banks on Twitter

ANZ (inactive)
@ANZmoneymanager
2,000+ followers

Aussie Home Loans (active)
@aussie
2000+ followers

Bank of Qld (active)
@BOQ
250 + followers

Commonwealth Bank (active, verified)
@NetBank
367 followers

ING Direct (yet to tweet)
@INGDIRECT_AU
140+ followers

Mecu (last tweet May 5)
@mecu_limited
60+ followers

NAB (yet to tweet)
@nab
750+ followers

RaboDirect (active)
@RaboDirectau
600+ followers

Resi Home Loans (active)
@resihomeloans
170+ followers

Savings & Loans Credit Union
@savingsloans
370+ followers

St George (active)
@stgeorgecareers
700+ followers

Suncorp Bank (yet to tweet)
@SuncorpBank
90+ followers

UBank (active)
@UBank
2500+ followers

Westpac (active, verified)
@westpac
1500+ followers