Our vision on customer centricity

To be the reference and succeed in the long term, we need to earn and keep our clients’ trust day after day. To do so, we put our clients at the heart of what we do. We proactively offer them complete, convenient and hence relevant solutions and an optimal experience.

Everything we do is guided by:

• Trust
• Covenience
• Proactivity

To make a difference compared to our competitors, we focus on an integrated customer centric model. The combination of products, processes, distribution channels, external partnerships and relevant information allows us to offer meaningful and complete solutions to our clients.

We start everything from the needs of our clients

We want to create added value for our clients by accurately meeting th clients’ needs in terms of financial products. Therefore, everything at KBC is based on the client's needs and not on our banking or insurance products and services. It is also the client who chooses how and when products and services are provided and through which distribution channel. That's why the different channels are accorded equal status at KBC and need to seamlessly complement and reinforce each other.

We protect our clients from certain risks

We want not only to respond to our clients’ needs, but also to shield them from certain risks. As a bank, we are working in each of our core markets, for instance, on solutions for clients who need to get through a difficult financial period. As an insurer, our focus is firmly on prevention, health and safety, with a variety of prevention campaigns being launched throughout the year.

We constantly listen to the market and analyse how we can improve

Since putting the interests of our clients at the centre of all we do is the cornerstone of our strategy, we want to be able to keep a close eye on the situation. That is why we are collecting their experiences in the various markets in which we are active and using that information to improve our services and products.

Digital First 

Client expectations have shifted enormously in recent years, with efficient and user-friendly products and services becoming the norm, powered by technology. For that reason, we have been engaged for several years now in the digitalisation of processes that allow simple, high-quality products to be brought to clients in a smooth and rapid manner. For a few years now, we have been designing products, services and processes from a ‘digital-first’ perspective. This implies that they were modified before being digitalised to make them simpler, more user-friendly and scalable and that they allow a fast and appropriate response to our clients’ questions and expectations. For clients who so desire, we will use the available data in an intelligent and appropriate manner, as we have seen that clients increasingly demand more proactive and personal products and services in addition to speed and simplicity. This is why we are transitioning from an omnichannel distribution model towards a digital-first distribution model. The human factor remains important in both models and our staff and branches will be fully at the disposal of our clients. In a digital-first distribution model, digital interaction with clients will form the initial basis. We therefore aim over time to provide all relevant commercial solutions via mobile applications. In addition to a digital product range, we will offer our clients digital advice and develop all processes and products as if they were sold digitally. For clients who so wish, Kate – our personal digital assistant – plays an important role in digital sales and advisory, so that personalised and relevant solutions can be offered proactively. Clients can personally ask Kate questions regarding their basic financial transactions. They also receive regular discrete and proactive proposals at appropriate times in their mobile app to ensure maximum convenience. Clients are entirely free to choose whether or not to accept a proposal. If they do, the solution will be offered and processed completely digitally. Employees in the branch network and contact centres continue to function as a beacon of trust for our clients. The human touch is particularly important in more complex services and solutions and in matters requiring emotional intelligence. Our employees will also support, encourage and monitor use of digital processes, assisted by artificial intelligence, data and data analysis. To guarantee our clients maximum ease of use and to be able to offer a growing number of possibilities via Kate, we will also change our internal processes, the way we supply our products and services, and how we organise ourselves internally. At the same time, this will require a further change in mentality and in-service training for our staff. For instance, Kate automates certain administrative acts, helping our clients as well as our employees save time.

We constantly work on improving the experience of our clients

The targets we set ourselves are naturally intended to raise the general level of client satisfaction, but we also want them to make everyone at our group aware of our client approach. Putting the client at the centre of all we do has to be in our DNA and must be part of our everyday routine.

The most important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relating to client satisfaction are set out in the table below. Effective results per KPI can be found in the annual report.