FNB dislodges Capitec as top bank
CAPITEC OUT: CUSTOMERS MAY BE TIRED OF SIMPLE PRODUCTS
Capitec surrenders top spot to FNB in a satisfaction survey, suggesting its customers are tired of its simple offerings.
First National Bank has dislodged Capitec as the nation’s favourite bank, saying it believes its internet offering and new products make the difference.
Capitec surrenders top spot to FNB in the annual internet banking satisfaction survey, suggesting its customers may have tired of its simple offering relative to the online functionality offered by other banks.
“Capitec is slightly stuck in the mindset of being simple and affordable, while other banks are continuously adding services [to their online banking],” said Dr Henk Pretorius, CEO of Columinate, an online marketing research agency.
Columinate has surveyed 6 500 people since it launched its annual Internet Banking SITEisfaction survey in 2012. This year more than 1 300 people participated in the online banking survey, with an additional 1 400 individuals surveyed in a separate mobile and tablet banking study.
The sample sizes for all banks included in the survey – Absa, Capitec, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank – exceeded 250. “We consider this a minimum acceptable sample size to deliver robust findings,” Pretorius said yesterday.
After losing top spot to Capitec last year, FNB is once again first, Standard Bank came in second and was 2015’s fastest riser. The bank has enjoyed a consistent climb in its internet banking satisfaction score.
Absa was once again at the bottom of the pile.
“We have listened to our customers and have committed R3 billion in targeted investments to make it easier for customers to bank with us. This includes enhancing and stabilising our IT Infrastructure and launching new technologies like our Home Owners App… and Features Store,” commented Marius de la Rey, head of distribution at Barclays Africa.
“The success of both FNB and Standard Bank relate to recent significant redesigns of their internet banking facilities,” Pretorius said.
FNB, however, lost the top position to Capitec last year after failing to communicate effectively on fairly significant changes made to its website which saw regular users struggling to find frequently used features, noted Pretorius.
“Standard Bank’s revamp of its site happened much more recently, and their focus on ease of use, and retaining a similar architecture as before, has meant that its users had to make less of an adjustment,” he said, adding that Standard Bank also did an excellent job of communicating the changes to customers at every touch point before and after the change.
After last year’s survey, Pretorius attributed Capitec’s coming first to its simple and affordable e-banking experience. This year, however, it appears that a more comprehensive offering is the order of the day, with Capitec scoring very poorly on the functionality metric.
More than a quarter of respondents use 15 or more features offered by their online banking platform, up from 14% last year. “Banks need to be able to offer these features in order to compete against other banks that offer this,” Pretorius said, noting this also presented opportunities for upselling.