Phoenix-Hecht Quality Index™

The Phoenix-Hecht Quality Index™ is a statistically valid comparison of customer perceptions about bank performance for treasury management services. Individual bank Quality Index™ scores are available directly from participating institutions.

The purpose of the Quality Index™ is to provide a simple means of comparing individual bank performance ratings from the universe of private and public companies with annual sales above $40 million. Phoenix-Hecht has published a Quality Index™ since 1992 as part of the larger research project, The Treasury Management Monitor™.

There is a Quality Index™ for each two different classes of corporations, based on the annual sales size of the corporate customer.

• Middle Market ($40-$500 Million)
• Large Corporate (Over $500 Million)

Grading Methodology

The Quality Index™ has five letter grade ratings, with the highest being an A+ and the lowest a D. The specific numeric rating required to achieve each letter grade was set in 1992, allowing for consistent interpretation that an A in one year requires the same basic score as an A in the following survey.

Customers of each bank (survey respondents) were asked to provide numerical ratings of one to five, with five being high, for only the services utilized. For each question and market segment, a mean rating was computed for each bank. A single mean rating for each question was then computed using all banks with more than twenty responses. The mean ratings for all questions were then used to compute survey-wide means and standard deviations for each market segment.

To calculate grades, the mean rating for the question/market segment was compared to the overall mean rating for the companies of that sales size market segment. The difference between the two was stated in standard deviations from the overall mean. Next, the mean rating for each bank for the question/market segment was compared to the mean for all banks from the same question/market segment. The difference between the two was stated in standard deviations from the question/market segment mean. The two standard deviation differences were weighted and added together. Two-thirds of the weight was based on the position within the specific measure and one-third was based on the overall score.

Achieving a specific grade is somewhat easier in certain products than in others. For example, wire transfer, a highly automated service, consistently receives higher grades than do other services. The calculation of grades is based not only on how well a bank does relative to its peers in a category, but also on how a category scores overall in the survey. These two factors are weighted equally in the grade determination process.

Grading Categories

The product evaluations measure the respondent's perception of processing speed, accuracy and timeliness for a core group of treasury management products.

• Wholesale Lockbox
  • Speed of processing
  • Accuracy of processing and reporting
  • Timeliness of receiving remittance detail
  • Overall features and capabilities
• Wire Transfer
  • Timeliness of incoming wire notification
  • Outgoing wire features and capabilities
• Balance Reporting
  • Timeliness of information
  • Overall features and capabilities
• Controlled Disbursement
  • Timeliness and accuracy of notification
  • Retrieval of archived images
  • Positive pay exception screening
  • Overall features and capabilities
• ACH
  • Speed of error correction
  • Overall features and capabilities
• Depository Services
  • Accuracy of processing and reporting
  • Remote deposit features and capabilities
• Internet Services
  • Ease of use
  • Overall features and capabilities
• Other Services
  • Sweep accounts
  • Fraud prevention services
  • Foreign trade services
  • Purchasing card
  • On-line short-term investment program
  • Cash vault services
  • Processing of credit card receipts

The bank perception evaluations measure the respondent's perception of the bank's capabilities.

• Product specialists
• Customer service
• Customer calling program
• Timeliness of processing account maintenance requests

The relationship management evaluations examine many of the human aspects found in the selling process. Relationship manager is defined as the contact from whom the customer purchases treasury management services

• Calling officer knowledge
• Anticipates service needs on new services
• Prompt call follow-up
• Problem resolution
• Accessible when needed
• Understands client's business and industry
• Overall effectiveness

Survey Methodology

In the fall of each year Phoenix-Hecht conducts a portion its corporate survey of senior financial executives responsible for managing the bank relationships for treasury management services. The survey targets public and private U.S. parent corporations with sales of $40 million and greater. Major domestic subsidiaries of international corporations were also included. A significant number of companies participate in the survey. Typically, the sample universe results in an error rate, attributable to sampling and random effects, of plus or minus 2.4%, with 95% confidence.

To view the latest Quality Scores, click here.

Banks Surveyed

Bank of America
BB&T
BMO Capital Markets (Harris Bank)
BNY Mellon
BOK Financial (Bank of Oklahoma)
Capital One
Citibank
Comerica Bank
Commerce Bancshares - K.C.
Compass Bank
Deutsche Bank
Fifth Third Bank
First Horizon (First Tennessee)
HSBC Bank USA
Huntington Bank
JPMorgan Chase
KeyBank
Marshall & Ilsley
M&T Bank
Northern Trust Company
PNC Bank/Nation City Bank
RBC
RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland)
Regions Bank
Sovereign Bank
SunTrust
TD North
UMB
Union Bank
US Bank
Wells Fargo/Wachovia

Note: Individual bank results are released at the sole discretion of the surveyed bank.