The new approach centres on ‘helping people get on top of their money’.
Customers will see the first signs of the new bank from today, including:
* simpler accounts and services
* a new catalogue, presenting its full range of services in one place
* an end to banking jargon, with all customer letters being rewritten
* a shortening of the bank’s brand to Abbey and a new look introduced for literature and branches
* a new advertising campaign on the theme of ‘turning banking on its head’
* plans to change the name of some of Abbey’s other brands to Abbey
* 60,000 extra training days this year for people who deal directly with customers to help deliver the new approach
* 600 extra people who deal directly with customers being recruited for branches and telephone centres
Simpler and fewer accounts and services
From today, Abbey will start to simplify its accounts and services, but says it recognises there is a great deal more to be done both in reducing the number of accounts on offer and removing inconsistencies between them.
It will also now group its savings accounts into three types (Easy Reach, Put Aside and Lock Away), and do the same for mortgages (Easy Start, Sure, and Freedom), making it easier for customers to find the right account for them.
Abbey will replace six different current accounts with just one - The Account. This will be flexible enough to grow with an individual customer throughout their life. Abbey will also continue to offer its Basic Account for people with simpler banking needs, and its Business Account for small businesses.
Advice on investments is also being changed so customers can select one of three levels of service: Self Service, Walk in Service and Comprehensive Advice Service.
The new service levels will be introduced gradually, between now and next spring. Abbey has already reorganised its branch network and, to provide this improved service, is recruiting a further 450 staff in branches and 150 in telephone centres to deal directly with customers.
New catalogue for customers
To reflect the simplified range of new accounts and services, Abbey will be bringing together key account information into a single catalogue, written in an informal style and published regularly. It will do away with the need for many of its different leaflets and pieces of literature, and will also contain interesting features about money and real life issues, from having a new baby to divorce and death.
The first catalogue, called Winter Warmer, will be delivered to seven million Abbey customers over the coming weeks and will be available from branches and telephone centres and can be ordered from www.abbey.com
An end to jargon
Abbey is promising to get rid of complex financial jargon and to talk with customers in a direct and engaging way. It has already begun to rewrite its range of letters, with all of the letters to current account customers now complete and the rewrite of mortgage letters underway.
Each letter is written in a simple style with a friendly tone of voice and is free from financial jargon. By the end of the year, all customer letters will have been rewritten.
Abbey also acknowledges that it should offer a better service for customers who have a complaint. It will be making significant improvements in this area including introducing the new writing style.
New brand and design
The change in approach is being expressed through a new look for the bank, including dropping National from the Abbey National brand, so from today it will be known simply as Abbey. Many of Abbey's main offices will have the new name in place from today.
The new name is accompanied by a very different design. Rather than adopting a separate name and logo in pre-set corporate colours, the Abbey name will serve as the logo and appear either in white, or in one of four colours, which will be used interchangeably and in combination.
It will feature in all new literature, chequebooks and cards. Branch fronts will get an initial makeover in the coming months with a full refurbishment programme rolling out from the second quarter of 2004.
New advertising
A new advertising campaign on the theme of ‘turning banking on its head’ starts today, with the first TV ad breaking during Coronation Street and Channel Four News. This will be followed by an extensive national press advertising campaign.
Fewer brands
During the next few months, Abbey will also simplify and rationalise its brands helping employees and customers to see Abbey as one company. The strapline 'because life's complicated enough' will no longer be used and the umbrella couple logo will go.
* cahoot, Abbey's internet bank, will remain as a separate brand but will be more closely aligned to Abbey. It will have a remit to be innovative and used as a testing ground for new services and accounts. What works well will be brought back for the benefit of all Abbey customers.
* Most brands with Abbey National in the name - such as Abbey National for Intermediaries and Abbey National business - will drop the National from their title.
* During 2004, the Inscape and City Deal brands will be replaced by Abbey, as will Scottish Mutual and Scottish Provident, for new business.
* The James Hay and Cater Allen brands, which have a distinctive presence in their markets, will be retained, although some of their services will, in due course, be offered under the Abbey brand to its customers.
Abbey's people
Abbey's employees are essential to making the new business work. The company is improving how it recruits, trains and retains its employees. It is committed to providing employees who deal directly with customers with an extra 60,000 training days in the second half of the year.
Abbey’s new Customer Board, made up of representatives from Abbey and people from outside the business, is working to ensure the company continually improves its understanding of consumers and that it designs and delivers better services to meet their needs.
Luqman Arnold, Chief Executive of Abbey, said: "Banks have managed to make money scary, confusing and boring. In talking to customers, we have all been guilty of being patronising and overbearing. Worst of all, banks have got in the way of customers and their money.
"We want to turn banking on its head. We’ve got a long way to go before we’ve fully achieved that, but when we do, the new Abbey will be part of the real world, the customer’s world, not the baffling world of banking. We won't use jargon. We want the services we offer to be easier to understand and based on how people actually think about their money. We want to be the first choice for the individual. Not the biggest, just the best.
"To achieve all this, we will be investing in our marketing and customer activities. We have 18 million customers and we want to do things that make them want to stay with us, do more business with us, and recommend us to their family and friends. This will drive business growth, which we would expect to result in stronger financial performance in the future."
Angus Porter, Abbey’s Customer Director, said: "Abbey is much more than a shorter name and new design. We are undertaking a radical transformation in how we think about customers, talk with them and do business with them. We still have a long way to go and we won't change everything overnight but we are sending a clear signal to our customers that we intend to be truly different.
"The heartening thing is that Abbey people are really enthusiastic about these changes. This change is going to work from the inside out. There is a real desire amongst us all to take up this challenge and move forward."
