Branch-banking remains the most dominant channel for customers’ transaction in Ghana, KPMG Ghana Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey (BICSS) has found.

The survey, which involved 600 retail banking customers interviewed in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi, found that branch remains the most dominant channel for customers’ transactions in Ghana, with ATM usage trailing slightly behind.

On a weekly basis, usage of point of sales (POS) was the lowest at 2%, mobile banking was 4% while internet banking was 3%.

The Survey found that customers appreciate the convenience and flexibility afforded them by the alternate channels, however they want reassurance on the security of such platforms, as electronic fraud was a prime concern for respondents.

“Digital penetration remains low but presents great opportunity for banks to achieve efficiency. Considering the unanticipated degree of mobile money penetration, the adoption of non-traditional channels might be slow but certain,” the Survey report said.

The survey used KPMG Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) methodology, which consists of six elements of customer satisfaction: customer care, executional excellence, branding, and convenience, value for money and products and service offerings.

The report noted that: “These measures were used to capture customer perceptions; and the message is clear: banking customers in Ghana want excellent service quality. 36% of respondents say service quality is the most important reason for maintaining banking relationship. The other reasons respondents cited include proximity of branches (15%) and image and reputation (14%) and financial stability (12%).

The results show a direct bottom-line impact for banks that score high on the KPMG customer satisfaction index. Almost without exception, the top 5 banks on CSI index also achieved above average industry return on equity. With more competition, Ghana’s banking customers have naturally started to differentiate their banks based on their experience when interacting with them.”

The survey also considered customers’ loyalty to their banks. While 55% of respondent would recommend their banks to friends and families, 45% of customers will not. 11% of respondents are planning to change their banks and can be wooed by competitor banks. Value for money (what customers pay in bank charges and interest versus the service they receive) is one main area where customers feel dissatisfied with banks in Ghana.

“The banking industry players in Ghana definitely need to pay attention to service quality. Compared with other African countries, Ghana ranked in top ten countries on the KPMG customer satisfaction index. We conducted the same survey across 18 African countries.

Again, customer satisfaction ranks top for customers across the continent as the number one reason for maintaining banking relationship.

In our view, it is imperative that customer experience becomes a core part of banks’ strategy in order to attract, maintain and keep customers altogether. Nevertheless, the challenge is that ‘customer satisfaction’ is not a single lever or discreet project that banking executives can simply invest into, activate or install.

Rather it is a complex web of facets and perceptions, all of which combine to create the customer experience. There are dozens of potential levers and thousands of combinations that can be pulled, and no two banks will pull them in the same way,” the report said.

- See more at: http://thebftonline.com/business/banking-finance/22235/consumers-still-prefer-branch-banking-kpmg-survey.html#sthash.VMh3FfYk.dpuf