The best and worst banks in South Africa – according to customers

DataEQ has published its 2022 South African Banking Sentiment Index, revealing how consumers feel about the big retail banks in the country.

The index is based on over 4 million consumer social media posts about South African banks from 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022. The group then analysed posts for sentiment and conversation themes.

The customer service and experience solution provider uses topic analyses to gauge the sentiment of posts (either positive or negative) across 70 topics and seven broad categories, including reputation, customer service, pricing and customer retention.

The net index score is determined by subtracting negative sentiment from positive sentiment.

According to DataEQ, an upward post-pandemic trajectory saw the banking industry’s Net Sentiment improve most significantly over the past year, shooting up from -7.5% in 2021 to 9.4% in 2022.

“This sharp improvement saw banks climb to first place in the cross-industry Net Sentiment comparison, suggesting that South Africans had a generally better experience with their banks than local retailers, insurers and telcos,” it said.

Capitec falls out of favour

According to DataEQ’s findings, FNB has emerged as the most favoured bank among South African customers, with a net sentiment score of 37.5%. This is a strong reversal of the 2021 findings, where the bank was at the bottom of the index with -18.4%.

A third of FNB’s online operational conversation – relating directly to the customer experience from authors who either could be, are currently, or were at some point customers of the bank – centred on staff competency.

“Consumers also complimented FNB for its seamless transaction experience, as well as the virtual card and eWallet functions,” the group said.

Looking at the industry as a whole, there was a greater emphasis placed on digital experience in general. For the first time, the topic of digital experience garnered a higher volume of conversation than general customer service.

Digital downtime and digital security were both major drivers of negativity in this regard, while complimentary conversation around platform navigation and third-party purchases emerged as net positive.

When looking at the annual Net Sentiment scores for each bank, nearly all banks follow an upward trajectory, particularly from 2020. The notable outlier here is Capitec, displaying a year-on-year decline in Net Sentiment performance since 2019, DataEQ said.

Capitec ranked as having the lowest net sentiment score in 2022 at -15.4%, showing a declining trend over the last five years.

“All banks apart from Capitec and Nedbank showed year-on-year improvement from 2021. While Nedbank’s decline was relatively minor, Capitec’s overall score dropped by 4.5 percentage points, marking a depreciation in consumer sentiment compared to the previous index results,” the group said.

The index is split into two main sentiment assessments – looking at views around operations and views around reputation. The reputation index looks at sentiment around allegations of wrongdoing or other events that may damage a bank’s reputation. The operation index looks at sentiment around the actual business operations of the banks.

Absa, FNB, TymeBank and African Bank had higher than average reputational praise from consumers, while other banks’ reputations were impacted more by specific negative events and
allegations.

In terms of operations, the top overall performer, FNB, had the highest operational Net Sentiment by a large margin, followed by Absa.

On the other end of the spectrum, Standard Bank had the lowest score in the industry, with Capitec Bank ranking just above it.

These indices feed into the risk assessments for the banks.

Absa and FNB were the only two banks to show a decline in risk conversation compared to 2021. TymeBank, Standard Bank and Capitec Bank were most impacted by risk and showed the largest year-on-year increases. This was primarily due to downtime on digital platforms.

Capitec Bank was above the industry average in four areas of risk – downtime, accusations of unethical behaviour, fraud reports and health safety and security – while Discovery Bank had the highest ratio of risk conversation relating to accusations of unethical behaviour.

Consumers complained about feeling pressured by Discovery to sign up for a bank account in order to access perks. Meanwhile, discrimination also featured in the bank’s risk conversation due to Discovery Group’s staff vaccination policy.

“2022 has seen a new, more positive era of social media conversation towards South African banks. In large part, the sector has a handful of successful and cleverly-crafted social campaigns to thank for its first-ever net positive score, but improved customer experience has also played a key role in this feat,” said DataEQ.

“This year’s overall top performer, FNB, has done both of these tasks well. But FNB’s notable improvement from the 2021 index – having climbed up from eighth to the first position – is a testament to how social media Net Sentiment is ever-changing and requires constant effort and attention.”

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