A conceptualisation of a customer‐bank bond in the context of the twenty‐first century UK retail banking industry

Purpose – This paper has two purposes. First, it is to highlight the importance of customer retention and bonding in the context of twenty‐first century banking environment. Second, it is to propose a conceptual model of the customer‐bank bond. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is written based on both extant literature and the author's observation. The paper begins by discussing the context of UK retail banking industry and stressing the importance of retaining bank customers. It then discusses various perspectives of interaction, relationship and bond between customers and providers of services, particularly between retail banking customers and banks. Finally, the paper proposes a conceptual model of bond between retail banking customers and their banks and discusses the implications for managers and theories. Findings – A conceptual model – a triplex bond, which comprises three categories: the primary, secondary, and superlative bond. Research limitations/implications – The paper acknowledges that further research is needed to validate the relevance of various dimensions to those proposed categories of bond and to test the power of related measuring instruments. Practical implications – The proposed model of a bond could potentially help UK bank managers in mapping out a plan for strengthening customer‐bank bond and, ultimately, in retaining their customers. Originality/value – The key contribution of this paper is a conceptualisation of customer‐bank bond that takes into account customer non‐personal interactions with their banks.