Banks Should Arm Reps With Strategic Information

To the Editor:

I couldn't agree more with the April 21 article by Anat Bird and Thomas Brown ("Retailers Show the Way to Competing in Future," page 5).

One comment of my own: Many banks that I do business with - well-known institutions in the U.S. Northeast and Canada - have leading-edge information about their markets but do not make an effort to share it with their field managers so they can formulate locally responsive marketing strategies.

But we have been able to pack into a PC a marketing-based customer information file supplemented by a geographical information mapping system. It is astonishing what can be accomplished with data readily available at most banks and capable of being visualized on a screen. This only underlines the point that profitability information can be a powerful weapon in the arsenal of a field manager. Peter D. Louderback Nantucket, Mass.

Editor's Note: Mr. Louderback, an independent consultant, formerly headed the financial institutions practice at KPMG Peat Marwick.