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Consumers express dissatisfaction on digital banking services of Nigerian banks

By Adeyemi Adepetun
03 October 2018   |   3:19 pm
Four financial institutions get ‘5 star’ ratings 76.3% of bank users prefer to use mobile banking apps A five-month survey on the banking community in Nigeria has revealed huge customer dissatisfaction to some of the digital banking services rendered by financial institutions. The survey conducted by Agusto&Co unveiled to journalists in Lagos, today showed that…

Four financial institutions get ‘5 star’ ratings

76.3% of bank users prefer to use mobile banking apps

A five-month survey on the banking community in Nigeria has revealed huge customer dissatisfaction to some of the digital banking services rendered by financial institutions.

The survey conducted by Agusto&Co unveiled to journalists in Lagos, today showed that platforms including the mobile app, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Internet banking, among others offered by banks to their customers for digital transactions must be upgraded and security enhanced.

Besides, customers want an improvement in the speed of processing transactions, improve reversals and resolving refunds on incomplete transactions. They equally wanted banks to integrate a transaction failure complaint option, reduction in the cumbersome processes of a transaction, reduction in service charges, reduction in the rate of system downtime and training of banks support staff to bridge the IT knowledge gap.

In the survey titled: 2018 Consumer Digital Banking Satisfaction Index Report, 10 of Nigeria’s biggest banks by total assets as at December 31, 2017, were actually torch-lighted, four of them were assigned a ‘5 Star’ rating for consumer satisfaction.

Explaining how the survey was done, Analyst, Financial Institutions Ratings, Augusto&Co, Oluyomi Akinola, said that the respondents for the survey, which included students, self-employed and employed customers of various commercial banks, were drawn from the formal and informal segments of the economy and across all the geopolitical regions of Nigeria. There were 48.4 per cent female and 51.6 per cent males, 18 years and above.

She said questionnaire was actually adopted and comprised multiple choice, closed and open-ended questions, which were administered both electronically and physically, thus encouraging a wider pool of respondents across the country.

Akinola, who said the survey took five months and ended in August, listed the 10 banks, which the research focused on to include Access, Diamond, Ecobank, Fidelity, First Bank, GTB, Stanbic, UBA, Union and Zenith.

The four banks, which were however rated best include Stanbic IBTC, UBA, Access and First Bank. Out of these four, Stanbic IBTC scored the highest point, emerging the ‘Best Digital Bank in Nigeria.’ GTB ranked fifth in the survey, while Ecobank was placed 10th.

Akinola noted that the ‘5 Star’ rating assigned to StanbicIBTC Bank reflected ease of use, perceived security and very good troubleshooting & IT resolution on its different digital platforms.

According to her, from respondents’ views, StanbicIBTC has the most ease in navigating through primary platforms used such as mobile app, or web.

To her, customers felt the most secure using their preferred primary platforms, and the bank was quick to resolve conflicts encountered by customers on the various digital banking channels, adding: ‘’customers of the bank further disclosed that there were only very few instances of unsuccessful transactions, and the overall functionality of StanbicIBTC’s digital platforms is seamless.’’

She however, revealed that findings from the Index indicated ample room for improvement on digital banking services in Nigeria as majority of respondents desire better user interface, enhanced security features, increased services particularly on mobile banking platform, speedy notifications on account activities, less cumbersome enrolment procedures, reduction in charges for frequently used services such as airtime top-up as well as general improvement in speed on services.

According to Agusto & Co, the objective of this Index was to create an independent appraisal of the ease of using digital banking platforms by the Nigerian populace considering that banks have invested significantly in digitalization.

The Index, according to them, will give banks in Nigeria insights and suggestions on ways to enhance customer experiences on digital banking platforms.

Meanwhile, of all the platforms, 76.3 per cent of banks customers preferred to use mobile banking apps for their digital transactions, while 49.3 per cent make use of the USSD and 54 per cent use Internet Banking.

Commenting on the report, Executive Director, Agusto & Co. Limited, Yinka Adelekan, said “one of the major reasons we launched this Index was to get first-hand insights on awareness, ease, issue resolution and perceived security from users of digital banking platforms in Nigeria. It is essential that banks increase awareness of the different products and services available on their digital platforms.

“In addition, customers who use these platforms must be supported by minimal system downtimes, user-friendly navigation processes and improved turnaround time for IT resolution. We understand the need for convenience, speed and for customers to feel secure when they perform transactions. As a research and credit rating agency, we seek to provide banks with credible information on how best services can be improved for customers, which we believe can be achieved with findings from this Index.”

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