In the framework defined by national and European legislation and by the Bank’s internal policy rules and regulations, the Bank ensures direct, clear and complete informing of its customers on the terms which govern the services it provides. In particular, Piraeus Bank is fully compliant with:

• EU Payment System Directive 2007/64/EC regarding payment services at a European level,
• EU Directive 2008/48 on consumer credit agreements, as agreed on by the European Consumer Associations and the European Credit Sector Associations.

At the same time, the Bank ensures complete pre-contractual information provision regarding mortgages.

In order to further protect its customers from the potential risks of ignorance or misunderstanding of the terms of its products and services, the Bank:

• provides complete and accurate description of these
• takes care to systematically familiarize its customers with banking terminology,
• provides easier access to information by means of new technologies.
• accurately defines these without exaggeration inaccurate or misleading statements;
• avoids their excessive promotion; and
• does not take advantage of the public’s ignorance, inexperience or fears.

Piraeus Bank places particular importance on individualized products and services for its customers, examining individually the needs of each customer, who is perceived as a separate entity with its own particularity and dynamics. Indicatively, this individualized customer service includes:

• the possibility of a new loan;
• a balance transfer program with more favourable terms;
• a new banking relationship model - Piraeus Axia Personal Banking- which consists of individualized organization of a customer’s complete banking relationship: regular transactions, financial check-up, financial planning and monitoring of their portfolio. This service is undertaken by the specialized Bank executive of the Relationship Management Service.

The services provided by the Bank are designed and implemented with the customers’ best interest in mind and are aimed at:

• complete and concerted support from all service channels;
• a targeted approach at developing and managing the customers’ portfolio; and
• facilitating customers’ access to banking services.

Indicative of the final aim is the winbank mobile application, which became available to various cell phone types (iPhone, Android etc) with which everyone (including users who are not registered Bank customers) can easily pay their bills (electricity, phone etc) by means of innovative methods such as, barcode scanning and direct cell phone imaging of the bill.

In the last few years, Piraeus Bank has been developing initiatives to support its individual and business customers who have been adversely affected by the difficult market conditions by strengthening its refinancing and debt adjustment programs to relieve them.

The aim of these programs is to provide customers with a multitude of proposals and choices to assist them.

One of the services which reflect the Bank’s ability to provide solutions to their customers’ current needs is the Consumer Loan due Financial Obligations to the State, with a low interest rate and long repayment period. The greatest advantage of this product is that it gives customers the benefit of tax deduction as they make a one-off payment of the amount.

Particular emphasis is placed on matters concerning customer personal and bank data protection. The Bank created a new, innovative - for Greek standards - service “Piraeus Customer Protection”. This service aims to offer direct coverage of customers in case of data loss or theft anywhere in the world and offers, among others:

• cancellation of cards of all banks;
• transaction monitoring for fraud prevention;
• direct dispatch of cash and card replacement;
• coverage of unwanted charges; and
• coverage of the cost of replacing personal belongings.

Piraeus Bank’s commitment to strengthening its clients’ trust and protection is also reflected in the Bank’s online transactions. In particular, Piraeus Bank received PCI DSS Certification regarding data protection of e-transactions by credit and debit cards as well as the protection of the card-holders’ personal details. It is noteworthy that Piraeus Bank is the first Greek Bank to receive such certification.

In response to the institution of the Banking Ombudsman, the Bank has set up a Customer Service, the tasks of which are to review and settle any grievances or complaints of Bank customers and provide information and clarifications with respect to banking services and products offered. It has established a mechanism to receive and immediately investigate customer concerns: through a simple process, customers can choose one of the numerous means of communication to address their concern - at a branch, by phone, fax, internet - in order to receive the appropriate responses-clarifications.

Piraeus Bank surveys its customers on an annual basis to measure the level of satisfaction with their overall experience and on specific indicators. Piraeus Bank’s goal remains to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction.  

In 2019, KANTAR used a Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) quantitative research approach to measure customer satisfaction. A computerised 12-minute questionnaire was administered to a sample of 15,300 active customers (natural persons, at least 1 transaction in the last 6 months), across the country. The survey was conducted in accordance with the ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market, Opinion and Social Research, the Data Analytics and Association of Greek Market & Opinion Research Companies (SEDEA) code of conduct, and the quality control specifications defined by PESS (Quality Control in Data Collection).  

Both the customers’ overall satisfaction with Piraeus Bank and their preference for Piraeus Bank over other banks remain at high levels, with a significant improvement in the degree of preference compared to 2018. Regarding the overall customer experience, the results are positive, with a 72% of the sample rating Piraeus Bank as “excellent/very good”, 23% as “good” and 5% as “moderate”, and only 1% rating it as “poor”.  It is noteworthy that 9 out of 10 Piraeus Bank customers prefer “extremely/very strongly/strongly” Piraeus Bank to any other bank. 

According to the 2019 survey, all satisfaction indicators at the customers’ main branch of service remained high.  On customer satisfaction with the servicing experience at their main branch of service, “courtesy of the staff” and “staff expertise” service quality indicators scored the highest. Indicators on transparency show a significant increase in customer satisfaction compared to 2018. In particular, in terms of “providing full and accurate information” 77% of customers rate it as “excellent/very good” (versus 74% in 2018) and only 1% of customers consider it as “poor”. Moreover, “keeping promises” was considered “excellent/very good” for 77% of customers at the main branch of service (versus 74% in 2018). Customer experience with web banking remains at a very high level, with 9 out of 10 customers evaluating it as “excellent/very good”.  A significant increase compared to 2018 is recorded in customer satisfaction with the mobile banking App, with 86% evaluating it as “excellent/very good” (compared to 83% in 2018). These results justify the Bank’s focus on effective customer service. Finally, as part of the survey customers were asked to identify areas of improvement in the standard of service provided by the Bank. The results were taken under consideration and are being used in the implementation of the respective corrective actions.