KPMG ranks Sterling, First Bank biggest movers in retail banking

Sterling Bank and First Bank Nigeria have been ranked as the biggest movers in retail banking by KPMG Nigeria.

In its recently released 2019 Nigeria Bank Industry Customer Experience Survey, Sterling Bank was ranked the third-best retail banking institution in Nigeria.

KPMG said it carried out the survey in the second and third quarter of 2019 via face-to-face and an online survey with 25,466 retail customers, 3,045 SMEs and 369 commercial/corporate organisations as respondents.

“After the 2017 peak, we have now seen two years of decline in overall customer experience (CX) performance in the retail segment with nearly half of the rated banks falling below the industry average,” the report read.

“The top two performers had remained the same for the fourth consecutive year although GTBank replaced Zenith Bank as the top-rated bank in this year’s rankings while Sterling Bank, First Bank and UBA are the biggest movers this year – occupying 3rd, 5th and 7th positions respectively.”

In the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment, Fidelity Bank and Ecobank were reported to have made the greatest improvements; moving up more than four places into the top five.

“In the corporate segment, we also see a dip in overall CX scores compared to the previous year’s performance. Citibank and GTBank maintained top spots from last year, with new entrants Standard Chartered and Access Bank making top five positions at 3rd and 5th places respectively,” the report said.

“When assessed against the six pillars, integrity, defined as being trustworthy and engendering trust, is the pillar where Nigerian banks perform the strongest. This is not unexpected given the role banks play in the lives of customers.”

Banks were, however, reported to have lagged behind in personalisation which was defined as the bank’s ability to use individualised attention to drive an emotional connection with the customer.

According to the report, while the Nigerian banking landscape has constantly been characterised by steep competition, the stakes have been raised even higher and performing well on customer experience is the new minimum standard.

It added that as the race for the customer intensifies, front-runners would be those who demonstrate an understanding of the customer’s specific circumstances to consistently deliver a personalised experience.