South African bank Capitec has taken the top spot in an online banking customer satisfaction survey, displacing previous favourite First National Bank (FNB).
Capitec scored 71 points in online marketing research agency Columinate’s annual “Internet Banking SITEisfaction” survey.
“This year Capitec scored the highest points in each category except for device flexibility, making them the overall winner of the survey,” said Columinate chief executive officer (CEO) Henk Pretorius.
FNB fell to 69 points from 75 last year, coming in in second place.
“We measure the ‘big 5’ banks in South Africa, namely Absa, Capitec, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank, against a number of key drivers. These include ease of use, information and quality, trust, innovation, device flexibility, reasonable banking fees, and communication and assurance,” said Pretorius.
Standard Bank took third place, its score increasing from 56 points last year to 62 points in 2014, while Nedbank ranked fourth at 48 points and ABSA remained in last position.
The survey also aims to provide numerous insights into consumer behavior.
According to Columinate desktop computers and laptops remain a favourite for internet banking, with 96 per cent of respondents preferring this channel, while 38 per cent preferred a combination of mobile devices and computers.
“70 per cent of FNB customers use a cellphone or smartphone for internet banking, while Standard Bank and Absa have the highest number of customers who conduct their internet banking using a tablet at 32 per cent each,” Columinate said.
According to the survey, the most commonly used features of internet banking are payments and general account management.
“This is where we believe Capitec is getting it right,” said Pretorius. “From the research results, it appears that they are delivering a simple, effective internet banking service at a low cost, which is what ultimately keeps their clients happy.”
