Banks improve their customer-friendliness, says watchdog

Dutch banks are paying increasing attention to the quality of their products and services and are putting consumers first, according to two board members from the financial services sector watchdog AFM in Tuesday’s Financieele Dagblad.

Theodoor Kockelkoren and Tim Mortelmans say in particular savings products and mortgages have been simplified. ‘Not all the products meet our criteria but the most important thing is that the market is making a clean sweep’ Kockelkoren said.
Nevertheless, despite the improvements, it will still be years before all banking products are acceptable, Kockelkoren said. Two years ago, he accused banks of selling products which were too expensive and too complicated.
Mortelmans said consumer criticism is also having an effect. ‘A few years ago, institutions only thought about what was important to them,’ he said. ‘They were able to take advantage of customer disinterest, whether deliberately or not. Now they know consumers are more critical of banking.’