The objective of this paper is to present the results of a research that tried to investigate the role played by various aspects of retail banking service when it comes to customer satisfaction. The results of the research, which considered 1001 customers of banking services in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, showed that the service recovery practices adopted by the banks constitute the factor with the biggest influence on the customer's general satisfaction. Other factors, like satisfaction with managers, with products and services on offer and with automated teller machines were also identified as important for banking customers, while satisfaction with telephone banking services and with service at the bank counter were not considered significant.
Customer satisfaction; retail banks; services; marketing; retention
