GTBank Named Nigeria’s Best Digital Bank

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), one of Nigeria’s leading tier-1 bank, has emerged the best digital bank in Nigeria, displacing Zenith Bank Plc which was the highest ranked bank in 2019.

The rating was announced on Thursday in a report by the Consumer Banking Satisfaction Index in its third edition released by an indigenous African credit rating agency and a leading provider of industry research, Agusto & Co.

The consumer banking satisfaction index reveals customers’ preferences towards digital banking channels on some selected banks in Nigeria.

According to the credit rating agency, the survey dissected the level of customer satisfaction towards digital banking channels in Nigeria GTBank scoring the highest user experience score.

As revealed by the report, GTBank Emerges the Best Digital Bank in Nigeria with a user experience score of 74.2. Zenith Bank was the highest-ranked bank in the 2019 edition, with a score of 74.2 but dropped to the 4th position this year, a score of 70.9 due to lower ratings in transaction success rates and troubleshooting & IT support.
First Bank of Nigeria ranked second, while Access Bank ranked third.

GTBank’s top position was underpinned by comparably higher transaction success rates, which is most crucial in the current ‘COVID-era’.

The Bank’s position was also upheld by the significant level of awareness of its digital banking services compared to the other banks in the survey sample.

According to Agusto & Co, mobile banking applications remain the most popular platform for digital banking. The increasing use of mobile banking has also been backed by the growing base of mobile phone users, which has grown by a five-year compound annual growth rate of 6 per cent to 184.4 million as the end of 2019.

Approximately 82 per cent of the survey respondents are aware of their respective bank’s mobile banking service while internet banking recorded 57 per cent awareness.

The respondents are least aware of WhatsApp and other virtual banking platforms (such as the chatbot service and telephone banking), with only 6 per cent of the respondents indicating their knowledge of these services.

It also observed that the COVID-19 pandemic has driven an increase in the use of digital channels and created an opportunity to grow transaction income across the various platforms.

In addition to benefits to commercial banks, the pandemic has also provided digital banks (also known as FinTechs) with an avenue for growth.

The survey also indicates that only 46 per cent of the survey respondents are aware of digital banks.

Approximately 39 per cent of the survey respondents would like to have a further breakdown of their bank statements to reflect their spending habits while 31 per cent yearn for a branch/ATM finder option on their bank’s digital platform.

Commenting on the survey, senior analyst, Financial Institutions Ratings at Agusto &Co, Mariam Dabiri said their company seeks to provide banks with credible information on how best services can be improved for customers.

“We believe findings from this Index will provide good insights and suggestions to enhance customer experience. Generally, we believe that there is a need for more dedicated investments in customer service and relationship management to support growing traffic across digital banking channels.”

The 2020 Consumer Digital Banking Satisfaction Survey targeted a focus group of respondents drawn from the formal and informal sectors of the economy.

The coverage banks indicated in the survey are the top 10 commercial banks based on the value of total assets and contingents as at 31 December 2019.