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We take a look at who is rated South Africa’s best and worst bank according to customer ratings. Do you agree?
The SAcsi report, conducted by consumer champions Consulta, has recently released its findings on the best and worst banks in South Africa. For five years, the company has conducted independent surveys on consumer satisfaction in the retail, finance, and banking institutions in South Africa. Last week, we looked at the top insurance companies in the country. This week, we take a look at the top banks and which banks customers feel more loyal to.
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Capitec Comes Out Tops
Capitec has, for the fourth year in a row, come out as the clear customer favourite. Out of a possible 100 points, the bank scored a total of 83.1. Despite still being high above the industry standard of 7.5, it is a few points lower than last year. The study was done through a survey of 17 483 randomly selected banking customers. The survey considered customer loyalty, as well as the overall customer satisfaction. Only two banks have managed to improve their score this year, Nedbank and First National Bank. All other banks have felt a bit of a dip in the loyalty and overall customer satisfaction. For the first time in four years, FNB is trailing somewhat heavily in Capitec's slipstream.Consulta CEO, Professor Adré Schreuder had the following to say about the survey; “FNB showed the highest improvement and is now within reach of Capitec, with Nedbank still in the race. The intensity in competing for customers’ hearts and minds is fierce since only two banks have managed to improve their scores this year, namely FNB and Nedbank. Despite the Barclays announcement, Absa showed resilience in maintaining its score at the same level as 2015.”
Loyalty Is Only One Factor
Despite loyalty being one of the top deciders in the scoring of points, the NPS, or Net Promotor Score, also contributes. This is determined by how likely customers are to promote the bank to family and friends. Capitec achieved the highest NPS of 53%, which is 28% higher than the industry average. FNB has the next highest score of 47%, while Nedbank’s score of 26% is just one point higher than average. Absa scored 13% and Standard Bank 7%.“In the banking industry, we have empirical evidence that customer experience drives customer satisfaction rather than product innovation. Thanks to the ease of banking and simplicity of services, Capitec and FNB both performed strongly in this area,” said Schreuder.Not only is customer satisfaction and perceived fairness measured, but so is the Treating Customer Fairly (TCF) code. Elements of this code are already included in legislation, like the FAIS Act General Code. This score measures how well financial services providers have incorporated TCF outcomes into their brand culture.
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Interestingly, in comparison to American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Capitec dominated American banks. While they headed up the overall ranking, FNB found themselves in fourth position. Absa and Standard Bank were in eighteenth and nineteenth positions overall. Loyalty is a vital measure, for banks especially. In this market, it is somewhat simply for customers to change banks, should they be unsatisfied. This is, even more, the case for the two banks in South Africa that focus their marketing on the simplicity of changing banks.| 2016 | 2015 | Change % | |
| Capitec | 83.1 | 83.8 | -0.8 |
| FNB | 81.3 | 79.8 | 1.8 |
| Nedbank | 77.0 | 75.6 | 1.8 |
| ABSA | 74.2 | 74.3 | 0.1 |
| Standard Bank | 71.9 | 73.0 | -1.5 |