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SA consumers more willing to switch banks

Johannesburg - Overall customer satisfaction amongst South African banking consumers declined 2.6% on last year’s rating, according to the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) released on Tuesday.

SA banks recorded an overall index satisfaction score of 75.6 out of 100. This is a statistically significant decline of 2.6% from last year’s score of 77.6 out of 100.

The results emanate from research conducted during the fourth quarter of 2013.

The SAcsi surveyed 7 796 randomly selected customers of Absa, Capitec, FNB, Standard Bank and Nedbank.

Capitec set this year’s overall banking benchmark at 81.5 out of 100. Its customer satisfaction score increased by a statistically significant 3.2% on the 2012 rating and was 7.8% above the industry average.

Following closely behind Capitec, FNB (79.5) shares the industry leader position with a satisfaction score which is 5.1% above industry average.

All the other banks’ satisfaction scores were below industry par, although the scores showed some movement compared to 2012.

In the case of FNB, which marginally enjoyed the top spot over Capitec in 2012, its satisfaction score remained unchanged, whilst Nedbank showed a decline of 5.5%. Standard Bank’s score is down by 3.6% and Absa’s by 4.3%.

“SA’s banking industry has gone through revolutionary changes over the past couple of years,” said Prof. Adré Schreuder, founder and chair of the SAcsi.

“With Capitec bringing competitively priced banking products to the market and FNB driving new innovations in the way in which consumers do banking, it is more challenging for the banks to keep up with consumers’ increased demands on service quality and value for money.”
 
Schreuder said that SA consumers’ expectations have increased slightly from last year to this year and that consumers are more willing to switch banks if they are not satisfied with the products and services offered by their bank.

“This behaviour makes customer retention a challenge, one that no South African bank should take lightly given that retention scores have dropped slightly from last year to this year,” said Schreuder.

ATMs

South African consumers did not differentiate between their experiences with ATMs of the different banks.

Although FNB has a marginal lead over the industry, and Capitec and Nedbank showed marginally lower ratings, none of the index scores are statistically significant in relation to the industry average.
 
Branches

Capitec is a clear leader here. Its customers gave Capitec branches a satisfaction score of 81.2, which is 7.9% higher than the industry average.

The other banks all follow with satisfaction levels that do not show statistical differences from the average for the industry.

Cell phone banking

FNB leads the cell phone banking sphere with a score that is 4.7% higher than industry average.

The other banks do not really show any differentiation in their customers’ satisfaction with cell phone banking.

Online banking

FNB leads the industry for online banking satisfaction with consumers rating FNB 7.0% above industry average.

Nedbank is on par with the industry, whilst Absa (-6.0%), Capitec (2.8%), and Standard Bank (-4.3%) are all below industry average.

Banking apps

Banking applications on mobile devices, which put banking capabilities directly in the control of the user, are relatively new innovations in SA.

FNB (+6.8%) and Nedbank (+4.3%) take the lead with regard to banking apps. Standard Bank is on par with industry average, whilst Absa lags the industry average by 4.3%.

Capitec does not offer a banking app, and was excluded in this measure.

Contact centres

Contact centres have been a long-standing service to support customers with bank-related queries, and it seems that no single bank can boast a high satisfaction rating.

All scores are on par with the industry average, save that of Standard Bank which is 6.1% below the average.

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