Help the customer quickly. That was the main task for Luuk van der Griend and other counter staff of ABN Amro in Diemen, until corona broke out. Whoever wanted to unblock a card, had to sign or had a question about internet banking – customers usually all came at the same time, during their lunch break or after work. And then it was up to the ‘day-to-day banking advisers’ to adequately help the people in line.
But there is no longer a physical row for Van der Griend (27). Due to mobile banking, fewer customers came to the counter, and corona has reinforced this. It is therefore no longer profitable for ABN Amro to keep all branches open. That in Diemen, where Van der Griend started in 2019, closed in March. The branch in Hilversum where he would be relocated was last open on 10 June.
For Van der Griend this did not mean the end of his employment. After a short period in the ABN Amro branch on Leidseplein in Amsterdam, he started working for the ‘financial care coaches’ team in May. These FZCs help vulnerable customers for whom digital banking does not offer a solution, by telephone or by visiting their home. NRC watched Van der Griend in his first FZC month.
Monday 9 May: introduction day
Van der Griend and fourteen colleagues, mostly women, start their new job on a farm with sheep and fruit trees in Ravenswaaij. One of their managers lives there, in the Betuwe. They stand in the front yard and, standing in the bright sun, tell them where they come from. Heerlen passes by, Oss, Enschede, Alkmaar, Zaandam, Rotterdam, Alphen aan den Rijn.
Nobody wears a gray suit, some work clothes with a small logo. They have all been working at ABN Amro for some time, some for 25, 30 or even 40 years. And most have had face-to-face contact with customers over the years. That is now coming to an end. “And that takes getting used to. The last day at the office will also be exciting”, sighs an employee from Almere who has worked behind the counter for nineteen years.
The financial care coaches have to close the gap for vulnerable customers that arises when a bank branch closes. Last year ABN Amro closed 35 branches, this year thirty. As a result, there are now only 47 branches with the green-yellow logo on the facade.
The intention is that none of the employees will become unemployed as a result; one option is to become a FZC. One of the aspiring coaches says during the proposal round that she has already experienced five closures in recent years, and she is not the only one in the group.
The ‘learning points’ that they themselves mention for their new position appear to be quite universal. Working from home for example; that is going to be a challenge for many of them. They all think they will miss the bustle of the office. And they are not used to sitting on their ass, after all you are behind the counter.
Van der Griend, in light green ABN Amro polo, tells the group his lesson: he actually wants to ‘save’ all his customers. And you can’t. You can help them with banking matters, but you cannot solve other problems for them as well. So he sometimes has to hold back. That was already the case behind the counter in Diemen, but in his new position it will become more important. As a FZC, he has a target group that could use a lot of help: the vulnerable, usually older customer who is not proficient with a computer or smartphone, or who are not physically able to use a telephone or keyboard.
ABN Amro does not know exactly how large this group is. But it is certain that these people will suffer greatly from the disappearance of bank branches, including ING and Rabobank. This is apparent, for example, from a customer satisfaction measurement by the Social Consultation Payment System, which includes banks and consumer organizations. While the average customer gave banking services a slightly higher figure in 2021 than in 2016 (7.5 to 7.6), the opposite is true for vulnerable groups. They gave banking and payment services a 7.1 last year, where that was a 7.5 five years earlier. People with little digital skills gave a 6.8.
Also read: Bank branches become redundant even faster due to the video call
It is up to Van der Griend and colleagues to raise that score for their bank again. ABN Amro started six years ago with six coaches, after the summer there should be 150. The basic principle is that the bank will have three coaches in the vicinity of each closed branch, who will thus form a nationwide network for home visits.
The rest of the day in Ravenswaaij is filled with a practical round of questions and tips – how does the agenda work, how do you organize your week, make sure your WiFi hotspot is working before a home visit – and a walk through the village.
Tuesday 17 May: course dealing with dementia
Van der Griend spends the rest of the two introduction weeks mainly sitting. From behind his computer screen, he and his new colleagues follow all kinds of courses, including ‘dealing with aggression’ and an introduction to living wills, in which you decide who can make decisions for you if you can no longer do so yourself. They are partly repetitions of what Van der Griend already learned before he ended up behind the counter.
On this day in the second week of the training, Van der Griend and his group will follow the online course ‘dealing with dementia’. External trainers from the organization The students learn together in dementia-friendly how to recognize dementia – to unrest, for example, and mistakes with time – and how to deal with someone with dementia.
After the standard parts of the course, the FZCs discuss specific banking matters, often drawing on their counter experience. Luuk tells about a lady who kept losing her pass, but did not want to authorize her son. A colleague tells of a customer who had no one in the area to help – eventually the municipality was called in.
The trainers encourage the FZCs to talk about living wills with all their customers, not just people who show signs of dementia. “Prevention is better than cure,” said one instructor.
The financial care coaches admit to the trainers that they often don’t speak to most customers until it is too late. For example, the next of kin of the partner who always arranged the banking affairs. Or children who want to help with finances if the parent is already showing signs of dementia. Only if FZCs actively call people will it be possible to tackle the subject of a living will in time. This happens, for example, when ABN Amro approaches customers near an office that is closing its doors.
Day for home visits
After the two weeks of training, Van der Griend fully participates as FZC, almost always from behind his desk on the second floor of his house in Huizen. Every Wednesday morning he exchanges experiences with colleagues in his region ‘t Gooi/Utrecht during an image meeting. The members of the regional team meet each other physically every six weeks, and all financial care coaches meet approximately once a quarter.
Once every few weeks, a day is set aside for home visits. The idea is that Van der Griend then visits customers who cannot find a solution via (video) calling. FZCs also visit nursing homes and hospices. Van der Griend immediately had such a home visit in his first ‘real’ week as FZC. “That was quite intense. The bank branch has always been a safe environment for the customer and for me. When you make a home visit, you still step into someone else’s domain.”
Van der Griend was very satisfied. “The customer in question called me gratefully at the end of the day. And next week I will call again to make sure that everything we requested has indeed been arranged by the bank.”
Wednesday 25 May: calling a customer
The rest of Van der Griend’s days are filled with bubbles and image bubbles. At the request of the customer, if, for example, he has requested additional help via the ABN Amro seniors line. And on the initiative of ABN Amro itself – around the closure of a branch, for example, if a partner has died or if an older customer has turned on digital banking, but has not logged in for a longer period of time. Van der Griend: “What I learned in the first weeks while calling is that I have to talk slowly on the phone.”
In his first weeks, Van der Griend spoke via video bubbles with a couple of around eighty from the region around the closed office in Hilversum, about, among other things, the living will. He will contact them again this Wednesday, to discuss further. NRC is allowed to listen in from the bank and the customer, on condition of anonymity.
The couple appears to have already planned to draw up a living will, and the conversation initiated by the bank gave the push to actually do so. Van der Griend also went through the insurance companies with the couple and asked whether digital banking is going well. “That is a big difference with my previous position behind the counter. You still had a line to clear there. If you speak to customers now, you have time to ask about other financial matters as well.”
When Van der Griend asks how the couple experienced the previous conversation, the man says that he was very surprised that the bank called. At first they didn’t trust it. The care coaches hear this regularly: 15 percent of the people they call hang up, because they assume that banks never call their customers. Someone who claims to be calling on behalf of the bank must be a scammer. The care coaches therefore invite customers to call the general number of ABN Amro to check whether someone from the bank has indeed contacted them.
So did the couple. “Normally we would have gone to the bank to check it, but that is no longer possible.”
Van der Griend compliments the couple for their suspicion – they should have that again next time. “But next time you call, we trust you right away! And then I can call you Luke, right?”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of June 23, 2022
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