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Phase: Research Missions: Interview Someone

Interviewing a banker at Bank of America

Additional insights from the interview with Gilberto, Personal Banker - Bank of America

Photo of Nirja Shah
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I had accompanied Qyana my teammate to interview a personal banker at BOFA. There were some additional inputs from the interview. 

Switching Costs: Mr. Gilberto mentioned how he noticed that a lot of elderly people were switching banks as they found banks that helped them invest better or had better interest rates. He observed a lot of people switched to Bank of Santander due to these reasons. He says, older adults are looking at maximising their wealth and getting more money for what they have.  

How could banks improve financial services for 50+ ? Mr. Gilberto points out that technology is decimating bodies in banks. But consumers don't always want to operate a machine. He said, typically there are 4-5 people on the platform (customer representatives or bankers) and about 2 tellers at a time. This leads to longer queues, whereas the representatives at the platform are generally free. He strongly believes that the teller to customer ratio needs to be increased whereas the platform bankers to customer ration needs to be reduced. 

What is a provocation or insight that might inspire others during this challenge?

No. of machines are increasing, considering how many people complain about lines at the banks it is evident that there are still some people who prefer human contact to machines, or there are still some issues that a machine wont be able to solve.

Tell us about your work experience:

I recently interned at a Talent Acquisition Startup during the summer. I'm a full-time student pursuing Master's in Management of Technology.

Specifically, please check all that apply:

  • I'm not currently involved in a credit union, but am curious to learn more!

Inspired by (1)

Interview with a personal banker at Bank of America
Interview with a personal banker at Bank of America

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Photo of Kate Rushton

Hi Nirja!

Thank you for your post. It is interesting that Mr. Gilberto mentions that seniors are switching banks more to benefit from interest rates/investment advice.  I am sure I read that it takes up to 7 days to switch banks in the US. Is there are fee or cost incurred in doing this?

Also, do you think the bank model mentioned in Crystal 's post - https://challenges.openideo.com/challenge/financial-longevity/research/capital-one-cafe -  might help cut the length of lines in banks?

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Photo of Adisa Adeniyi

Good job

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Photo of Nirja Shah

Thank you! 

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