Retail banking faces cost dilemma.(Brief Article)

The retail banking sector faces challenging revenue trends and evolving consumer behaviour that is creating a cost dilemma.

THERE IS ON-GOING COMMODITISATION of products; increasing customer sophistication; a shifting revenue mix, including the declining role of deposit spread income and the emergence of new fee income sources.

At the same time, consumer expectations for access and convenience continued to grow, and although they were embracing new channel capabilities, such as the ATM, telephone and Internet, their use and dependence on traditional branch de