Relationship banking and the management of organisational trust

The paper analyses the personal, institutional and behavioural bases of trust in banking relations, arguing that banks should pay attention to intra‐ as well as inter‐firm policies for developing trust and assessing trust‐worthiness. Trust may derive from person‐to‐person interaction and/or from an impersonal, symbolic presentational base. Marketing strategies can both analyse the trust characteristics of customers as well as proactively pursue those relational forms of marketing that can generate long‐term competitive advantage. However, the most relational levels of marketing require a system‐delivery approach which must itself derive from internally nurtured forms of trust based on appropriate personnel policies, organisational routines and training.