NEW YORK -- More than 250 commercial banking executives in arecent survey ranked customers knowing they have more bargainingpower than ever before as the most critical challenge facing theirbanks.

Simon--Kucher & Partners, a consulting firm on pricingstrategy, surveyed commercial bankers to find out the mostimportant trends in the industry and which strategies managers useto increase profitability during these turbulent times. Customerbargaining power ranked above decreasing liquidity or higher costs,the data showed.

When asked how their organizations are dealing with the increasedcustomer bargaining power, most executives listed lowering ratesand increasing advertising efforts to gain new customers. However,by doing this, managers are only making the situation worse.