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General Survey on Consumers' Financial Awareness, Attitudes and Behaviour (Executive Summary)
Tracking Data Since 1998
Introduction
In this 2006 survey, a few questions were replicated from two previous surveys, with slight editing. The following pages present a brief retrospective of nine indicators, which can be carefully tracked since 1998, plus a summary table showing the results at the end of this section.
The two previous surveys12 were aimed at the same target group but had peculiarities to keep in mind when interpreting the comparisons:
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Each of the three surveys were conducted at different times of the year: spring (1998), summer (2001) and autumn (2006);
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The sampling frame for the 2006 survey gave special attention to people living in northern parts of Canada (over-representation of remote areas in the initial geographic stratification), and its weighting procedure was, therefore, different than for the two previous surveys.
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Questionnaires were considerably different in terms of overall climate, sequence, type of questions, scales and focus (topics);
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Many of the few 'repeated' questions were edited for the 2006 survey, so the differences in results should be interpreted with caution, bearing in mind their particular wording.
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The 1998 and 2006 surveys included Canadians aged 18 years and over, while the 2001 survey included Canadians 16 years and over.
For all the above reasons, the differences should be considered as indicative only, and should be interpreted with great caution. Any conclusion from this retrospective analysis should be validated by other surveys or figures.
Tracking main differences
Three main findings emerged from the table, which summarizes the comparative analysis of the three surveys, on similar questions. The three 'significant' differences, indicating a possible trend are shaded.
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It doesn't seem that the low level of problems or difficulties in dealing with financial institutions for personal, everyday banking activities has significantly changed over the past decade, although there is an indication that the trend in this respect was downward.
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Problems related to the opening of a new bank account or cashing a federal cheque remained stable, at a very low level.
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The percentage of consumers who reported experiencing a 'serious' problem with a financial institution they deal with on a regular basis tended to decrease.
These observations suggest that the increasing complexity in the financial sector, in terms of products and services, terms, etc., and technological changes, such as the growing use of on-line banking, did not translate into more difficulties or problems. In fact there are indications that everyday banking today is easier, and with fewer problems, than a decade ago.
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Problems related to the opening of a new bank account or cashing a federal cheque remained stable, at a very low level.
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Two large differences, probably inter-correlated and unlikely to have been caused by differences in survey methodology, may indicate one of the biggest trends over the past decade:
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The percentage of consumers dealing with only one financial institution has consistently increased: a minority in 1998 (39%), now a majority (60%).
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The number of consumers doing their banking on-line today is 4 times higher than those observed in 1998, while telephone banking tended to decrease slightly since 2001.
This suggests either that fewer consumers are doing their banking in-person or that consumers are doing in-person banking less frequently, which means that most consumers are not in a good position to get information or be educated through point of services, on-premises communication activities. Consumer education initiatives should rather adapt their strategy or distribution method to the new transactional and relational banking channels.
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The percentage of consumers dealing with only one financial institution has consistently increased: a minority in 1998 (39%), now a majority (60%).
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The incidence of consumers holding a credit card increased significantly, at least since 2001, from an already high level.
| Data | 2006 A | 2001 B | 1998 C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Bank account holders |
96%
(savings or chequing) |
98%
(any type) |
98%
(any type) |
| 2. | Number of financial institutions dealt with | |||
| One only | 60% | 44% | 39% | |
| Two or more | 40% | 56% | 61% | |
| 3. | Policy of holding funds was a problem | 9% | 9% | NA |
| 4. | Problem opening a new bank account |
1%
(last year) |
4%
(past 5 years) |
NA
|
| 5. | Problem cashing a federal government cheque |
1%
(last year) |
4%
(ever) |
NA |
| 6. | Had a serious problem last year |
6%
(with any financial institution used regularly) |
8%
(with primary financial institution) |
9%
(with primary financial institution) |
| 7. |
Used a non-bank cashing service to cash a cheque |
7%
(last year) |
8%
(ever) |
8%
(ever) |
| 8 | Telephone or on-line banking | 59% | 42% | NA |
| On-line banking | 46% | 23% | 11% | |
|
Telephone
|
25% | 29% | 30% | |
| 9. | Credit card holder | 85% | 79% | NA |
A 2006 (1,700) (Oct. / Nov.)
B 2001 (1,600) June
C 1998 (1,800) March / April 1
Notes
Indicators 2 and 3 are based on those holding a bank account. All other indicators are based on the total sample.
Rows 2, 8, and 9 show the significant differences seen between the three surveys.
| Question | 2006 | 2001 | 1998 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | With that in mind, do you have a personal savings or chequing account at any financial institution? (Include joint accounts) | Do you currently have a savings, chequing or another type of account with a financial institution? | |
| 2. | At how many different financial institutions, in total, do you have a savings or chequing account that you use for your personal everyday banking activities? | Approximately, how many different financial institutions in total do you deal with for your different banking activities such as deposits and loans? | |
| 3. | During the last year or so, did you have any problems or difficulties related to your financial institution's policy of holding funds when you deposit a cheque? | Do you find the delay to be a serious problem for you personally? Please use a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 means not a serious problem at all, 7 means an extremely serious problem, and 4 means somewhat of a problem. | |
| 4. |
During the last year, did you open or try to open a new savings or chequing account with a financial institution other than those you were using?
When you opened your new savings or chequing account, did you experience any problems closing, moving or transferring money from one financial institution to another? Did you have any other problems or difficulties when you opened this new account? |
Thinking about the past five years, have you ever had any problems when trying to open a new bank account? | NA |
| 5. | During the last year, did you have any problem or difficulty cashing a federal government cheque at any financial institution? | Have you ever had a problem cashing a federal government cheque at a bank before? | NA |
| 6. | During the last year, did you have a serious problem with any financial institution that you regularly use? | In the past year, have you ever had a SERIOUS problem with the financial institution where you do your primary banking? | |
| 7. | During the last year, how many times did you use a storefront cheque-cashing service to cash a cheque? By a cheque-cashing service, I mean a company like Money Mart, Cash Money, Stop N' Cash that will cash a cheque made out to you for a fee. | Have you ever used a Money-Mart or another cheque cashing service to cash a personal cheque? | |
| 8. | Do you use the Internet or telephone to do any of your personal everyday banking activities? | Do you do any of your personal banking either using the Internet or the telephone? |
How often do you use the following financial services or products? Please use a scale where 1 is that you never use them, 2, is that you occasionally use them, or 3 is that you regularly use them.
|
| 9. | Thinking about all your personal credit cards including those from stores, gas companies, banks and other financial institutions, how many credit cards do you currently have? | Do you have a credit card? | NA |
Footnote 12 2001: Canadians' Knowledge and Awareness of Financial Products, Services and Institutions by Ekos for FCAC. 1998: Public Opinion Research Relating to the Financial Services Sector by Ekos for the Task Force on the Future of the Canadian Financial Services Sector.
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