What aspects of the advertising of banking products and services should you focus on?

20/06/2023

Advertising is a key element in the marketing of banking products and services. In general, it represents the first point of contact between an entity and its potential customer. It is common for entities to have advertising campaigns for their products and services to encourage customers to acquire them. This means that the information transmitted in advertising messages usually has a major impact on customer expectations and on the subsequent decision-making process.

Advertising banking products and services gives us useful information and helps us choose the product that best suits our needs. What is more, it plays a vital role when comparing different offers in an increasingly complex market.

The Banco de España is responsible for controlling and supervising the advertising of banking products and services to ensure that customers receive clear, sufficient, objective and non-misleading information. However, it is also important for you to exercise caution and read all the information in the adverts carefully, focusing on the following key aspects:

• The essential characteristics of the product: amount, term, interest rate, fees and other associated expenses.
• The APR, an indicator that will help you compare offers with the same or different characteristics and that should be highlighted.
• The entity offering the product.
• The duration of the advertising campaign.
• The special conditions that the entity may require in order to acquire the product, for example: being a new customer, being of a certain age, having your salary paid into the account, etc.
• The obligation to sign up for other accessory products apart from the one you are really interested in to access the conditions offered in the advertising campaign.