Announcing the 2014 Greenwich Excellence Award Winners for Middle Market and Mid-Corporate Business Banking
At a time when it’s harder than ever for banks to stand out for the quality of service delivered to middle-market business clients, Zions Bancorp did exactly that in 2014 and earned 13 Greenwich Excellence Awards in Middle Market Banking. Regions Bank and Comerica also were standout performers with both with 12 Greenwich Excellence Awards each.
“The strong performance of Regions Bank, Zions Bancorp and Comerica is most impressive given the difficulty banks have in providing truly distinctive service in today’s marketplace,” says Greenwich Associates consultant Chris McDonnell.
Greenwich Excellence Awards recognize banks that deliver exceptional service quality to middle market companies. Awards are given in 13 national banking and cash management categories, and in eight geographic categories.
A Buyer’s Market Raises Standards for Service
Pressured by economic weakness and new regulations, banks are targeting the commercial loan business as a source of growth. To position themselves to win business, many banks—including the largest national banks—have pulled out all the stops when it comes to servicing mid-market businesses.
The results are clearly visible in the Greenwich Associates annual Middle Market Commercial Banking Study. Every year, Greenwich Associates asks company owners and executives to rate their banks across a series of product and service categories. Over the past several years, these scores have climbed meaningfully.
The improvement in scores has in turn had a direct impact on the Greenwich Excellence Awards, which are given to banks that receive scores that top those received by rivals by a statistically significant margin. As industry-wide scores rise, it gets harder for the best banks to achieve that level of separation. The result: In 2013 Greenwich Associates granted Middle Market Excellence Awards to 34 banks; in 2014 the number fell to 25 out of more than 750 measured.
Mid-Corporate Banking Awards
The winners of the 2014 Greenwich Excellence Awards in Mid-Corporate Banking are Wells Fargo for Financial Stability, Bank of America and HSBC for International Service, and Bank of America and J.P. Morgan for Investment