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Nigerians decry digital services of banks

By Adeyemi Adepetun, Head, Communications and Technology
04 October 2018   |   4:40 am
A Five-month survey on banks in Nigeria has revealed customers’ dissatisfaction with some of the digital services rendered by them.Conducted by Agusto&Co and unveiled to journalists in Lagos yesterday, the study indicated that platforms like mobile apps, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data ...

Analyst, Financial Institutions Ratings, Agusto&Co, Oluyomi Akinola (left); Senior Analyst, Ayokunle Olubunmi; Managing Director, Vivien Shobo, and Executive Director, Yinka Adelekan, at the launch of the firm’s Consumer Digital Banking Satisfaction Index Report in Lagos…yesterday.

A Five-month survey on banks in Nigeria has revealed customers’ dissatisfaction with some of the digital services rendered by them.Conducted by Agusto&Co and unveiled to journalists in Lagos yesterday, the study indicated that platforms like mobile apps, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Internet banking, among others must be upgraded and enhanced security-wise.

Besides, customers seek prompt transactions, reversals and resolution of inconclusive deals. They equally want integration of a failure complaint option, reduction in processes, service charges, down time as well as training of support staff to bridge prevailing 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 spotlighted, with four of them assigned ‘5 Star’ ratings for customer satisfaction.

Throwing more light on the study, the firm’s Analyst, Financial Institutions Ratings, Oluyomi Akinola, said the respondents, including students, self-employed and employed customers of the various commercial banks were drawn from the formal and informal segments of the economy and across all the geopolitical regions of the federation.

The population, which comprises adults of 18 years and above, was 48.4 per cent female and 51.6 per cent male.She disclosed that questionnaires were adopted and consisted of multiple choices, closed and open ended questions administered electronically and manually, thus allowing for a wider pool of respondents nationwide.Akinola said the sampled financial institutions were Diamond, Ecobank, Fidelity, First Bank, GTB, Stanbic, UBA, Union and Zenith.

The highly rated banks were Stanbic IBTC, UBA, Access and First Bank.Of the four, Stanbic IBTC came tops, emerging the ‘Best Digital Bank in Nigeria.’ GTB ranked fifth while Ecobank was placed 10th.She noted that the ‘5 Star’ rating assigned to StanbicIBTC reflected ease of use, perceived security and very good troubleshooting & IT resolution on its various digital platforms.

According to her, respondents applauded StanbicIBTC for the seamlessness in navigating through its primary platforms such as mobile app and web.The Agusto&Co official however, revealed, that findings from the Index indicated ample room for improvement on digital banking services in the country, as majority of the respondents desired better user interface, enhanced security features, increased services, particularly on mobile banking platforms, speedy notifications on accounts, less cumbersome enrolment procedures, reduction in charges as well as efficient transactional processes.

According to the research company, the objective of the Index was to create an independent appraisal of the ease of using digital banking platforms by the populace considering that banks have invested significantly in digitalisation.The Index, according to the analyst, would give financial institutions insights and suggestions on enhancing customer’s experiences on digital banking.

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