BBVA continues to work on its commitment to quality, satisfaction and customer service. Despite the difficult macroeconomic environment, the Group continues to be committed to a different model of relationship with its customers, one that is customer-centric. The changes in the customer satisfaction levels of the Group in different countries according to the FRS (Inmark Group) is given below. The improvements made are clear.
Among the highlights this year are the implementation in BBVA Bancomer of the First Contact Resolution project. This initiative handles customer claims at the time they are made. Any corresponding payments can also be made immediately without the customer having to wait for the Bank to analyze the claim. It should also be mentioned that customer satisfaction regarding claims management is on the rise.
In an increasingly global world, the multi-channel concept becomes particularly relevant when it comes to designing services for customers. BBVA has continued to develop its global multi-channel project that was launched at the start of 2009.
The introduction of Web 2.0 technologies has been completed in the Internet channel. These offer a better user experience, greater capacity for personalization and functions that are better adapted to day-to-day needs. In 2010, more than 5.8 million customers used this channel.
The Group has made a major commitment to the mobile channel, as it is considered to offer an excellent opportunity for the most disadvantaged segments of the population to access the financial markets. The Cuenta Express service has been presented in Mexico to provide easy banking based entirely on the cell phone. This service allows the customer who does not use banking services to carry out all kinds of financial operations, including payment for services or personal payment in shops exclusively by the use of the cell phone.
In the telephone channel, BBVA has continued with its plans to personalize and improve it as a complement to the rest of the self-service channels. It currently has 3.1 million regular customers who carried out 125 million transactions in 2010.
A revolutionary concept of ATM has been introduced in the ATM channel, called ABIL, which includes the latest technology and userfriendliness. BBVA closed 2010 with a total of nearly 17,000 ATMs.
It is also important to point to the important effort made to improve access to remote channels. This effort will continue throughout 2011 in order to ensure that the main BBVA websites are highly accessible according to the most demanding standards. The objective is to reach a minimum AA rating according to W3C (Worldwide Web Consortium) standards.
Finally, it is important to mention the work carried out on transparency and clear language in customer relations. These are very important aspects in the current environment. A number of initiatives will be launched in 2011 to strengthen these aspects.