American Banker: Are bankers misreading customer preferences?

Many bankers think they can read their customers like an open book, but in fact they may need to put in some extra research time.

According to a new study by the Boston consulting firm Celent, banks overestimate how much their customers want to use smartphones to handle banking tasks.

The disconnect is not a fatal flaw, said Bob Meara, an analyst at Celent. But it suggests that many banks need to rethink their entire approach to learning about their customer base.