“As at 24 October 2020, banks had provided over R50 billion in financial relief to South African businesses and individuals who are financially distressed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdown – – R33,61 billion in payment breaks on credit agreements and R16,71 billion under the loan guarantee scheme,” according to a Covid-19 Relief Update of the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA). As a result, South Africa’s Banks earned a significant amount of goodwill and loyalty with their rapid and wide-scale debt-relief responses at the time.
“The arrival of the pandemic and hard lockdown redirected banks and their customers to an increased reliance on digital tools, processes, and self-service channels as a replacement for in-branch and call centre interactions. The digital acceleration brought about by the adaptation to a new multi-channel, connected normal, combined with consumer financial distress, have further increased customer expectations off an already high base, while reducing their tolerance for a bad customer experience,” according to the findings of the 2020 South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SA-csi) for Banking conducted by Consulta.
The Consulta survey polled almost 12 500 customers from the lower, middle, and upper retail banking segments on their overall satisfaction with South Africa’s big six retail banks during 2020 – Absa, African Bank, Capitec, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank.
Key take-outs from the SA-csi for Banking 2020
Overall Customer Satisfaction Score
- Capitec (84,7) is once again the leader, followed by African Bank (83.4), Nedbank (81,1), and FNB (80,2) – all in leader positions and above the industry average (79.6).
- Absa (78.6) and Standard Bank (77,7), although showing improvement on previous 2019 scores, come in below industry par.
- Nedbank has maintained its market share, while all other banks declined in market share, except for Capitec, which grew by 4%.
- Although showing some improvement in the last two indexes, Absa and Standard Bank are still struggling with their value proposition to clients – both banks have performed below the industry par over the previous five years.
- African Bank performs well at 83,4, although this is a 2,3-point decline in 2019’s score of 85,7. Whilst it has a significantly smaller customer base, it is notable that it performs well within its niche.
Complaints Incidence and Resolution
- Capitec has the lowest Complaint Incidence (11,9%) and a high Complaint Resolution rate of 55,4%, in line with global benchmarks.
- African Bank has the second-lowest Complaint Incidence rate (14%) and the highest Complaint Resolution date of 59,7 – also well within global benchmarks.
- FNB has the highest complaint incidence (23.0%) and the lowest complaint resolution rate (49.8), followed by Standard Bank, with complaint incidence at 22,5% and a resolution rate of 51,9. Both banks are below industry par, and on average, only half of the customer complaints are satisfactorily resolved.
- It is interesting to note that while all banks, with the exception of African Bank and FNB, showed a decrease in complaint incidence, they also showed a decline in Complaint Handling and Resolution, with African Bank showing the most marked decline of almost 10 index points. This could also be attributed to the pandemic’s remote working models, which were not always conducive to effective complaints resolution.
- Customer complaints mostly revolved around account queries, debit orders and payments, card issues, fees, and costs. Banks continue to be poor at preventing repeat causes of complaints and customer dissatisfaction once resolved, which directly correlates with customer loyalty.
Treating Customers Fairly
- The degree to which customers feel they are being treated fairly by their banks is highest with African Bank (86,3), Capitec (86,3) and Nedbank (82,9), and above industry par (81,1).
- FNB is on par while Absa and Standard Bank perform lowest on TCF and have consistently performed below industry par over a five-year period.
- Nedbank once again has shown the most substantial and most consistent growth on the TCF measure over a five-year period.
Managing every experience and touchpoint across such a diverse customer journey remains critical in any market. Last year’s FAIS Ombud Annual report highlighted that there was a constant voice of ‘unfair treatment’ from consumers of financial services, indicating the need for financial services providers to understand what it means to treat customers fairly.
