First National Bank has squeaked past Capitec to be named South Africa’s best digital bank, according to a new, independent study by Columinate.

The insights agency on Monday released its seventh annual “Siteisfaction” report, which named FNB as the overall winner, reclaiming top spot as the best digital bank by owning both the best mobile banking and best Internet banking categories.

However, FNB’s rise in satisfaction levels was not as prominent as Capitec’s decline in satisfaction levels, Columinate said.

This declining three-year trend may cost Capitec’s its reputation as a disruptor and is likely due to Capitec’s customers punishing the bank for the platform’s frequent unavailability

“This declining three-year trend may cost Capitec’s its reputation as a disruptor and is likely due to Capitec’s customers punishing the bank for the platform’s frequent unavailability,” the company said in a statement.

“Despite Capitec losing its footing, it still outperformed Nedbank, Standard Bank and Absa by a large margin. This is a critical lesson for new entrants such as Tyme, Bank Zero and Discovery to ensure they create a stable infrastructure, with little to no breaks in service or platform interruptions.”

Columinate’s Siteisfaction survey was launched in 2012 and is an annual measure of customer satisfaction with digital banking services in South Africa. The company rates each banking institution with a Siteisfaction score out of a possible 100. To date, the SITEisfaction survey has engaged more than 13 000 Internet and digital banking users, focusing specifically on the trends that shape the digital banking landscape.

Customers’ satisfaction with their primary banks’ total banking experience have steadily and significantly been improving over the course of the last seven years. However, the Siteisfaction score with overall Internet banking solutions has not enjoyed a similar improvement and continues to lag behind with a “meagre” 10-point rise from 54 in 2012 to 64 in 2018.

FNB claimed the top honours in the Internet banking category, even though its customers scored it slightly lower this year (75 in 2018, down from 78 in 2017). “The win can largely be attributed to the consistent good experience across all FNB’s digital channels but is also partially due to Capitec’s sporadic platform inaccessibility.”

Unavailability

Capitec marked a greater decline in Internet banking satisfaction due to this intermittent unavailability, dropping from 78 in 2017 to 70 in 2018. Bronze medallist Nedbank (51 in 2017 vs 60 in 2018), Standard Bank (51 in 2017 vs 55 in 2018) and Absa (44 in 2017 vs 48 in 2018) all showed improvement, with Nedbank and Absa receiving their highest scores in the category to date. Absa has also shown the greatest improvement with its customers’ satisfaction levels consistently growing over the course of the last three years.

“Standard Bank still has a way to go to return to its former glory of 66 back in 2015, when it was propelled to second place after launching its new Internet banking site, now three years old,” Columinate said. “Standard Bank is still toggling between the two platforms, which may further explain its unchanging score.”

In the “best mobile bank” category, FNB scored two points higher in this year’s study, netting 82 to top the chart. Capitec suffered a minor setback, scoring three points less this year, but still putting up a “very respectable” 80 points, the company said. Standard Bank and Nedbank showed virtually no movement, both scoring 70 points, and Absa suffered a two-point loss, trailing with 63 points. While FNB’s tablet app is rated the best application in the tablet category, it shares the top spot with Capitec for best smartphone app. — © 2018 NewsCentral Media