Customer Preferences in Bank Selection before and after the Pandemic in the Light of Financial Culture and Awareness

The concept of financial culture and its importance is one of the most popular topics today. Financial knowledge and awareness are necessary in every aspect of life. It is important not only when choosing a bank account type or taking out a loan, but also when conducting conscious financial activities. The recent crisis underscores the damage that can be caused by a lack of financial literacy and awareness, and the devastation that can be caused by irresponsible financial decisions. Lack of economic awareness and knowledge can cause enormous damage to the economy, lead to irresponsible economic decisions, projecting solutions over the years or even generations. This was perfectly illustrated following the 2008 crisis, with the collapse of a series of recklessly taken out credit products. More than ten years later on, a large number of research and studies have been written to promote financial literacy Even today, public education is still not equipped to effectively impart financial literacy. The lack of financial literacy was demonstrated by the crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic. Unexpected and unforeseen closures have highlighted new aspects of financial literacy. The emergence of home-based finance has led to a reassessment of previous financial decisions, including the selection of bank service providers. The objective of this paper is to show bank selection preferences as a function of financial culture before and after the crisis by highlighting the most important factors for customer loyalty based on the results of a primary research.