Frost & Sullivan: Customer Experience Determines Choice of Primary Bank by Customers in Malaysia

~ Two Local Banks Lead Customer Experience Index Score in Malaysia ~

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, March 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Customer experience is the single most important factor in determining the choice of the primary bank for customers in Malaysia, says Frost & Sullivan.

Mr. Hazmi Yusof, Country Head, Malaysia & Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific at Frost & Sullivan said that the Frost & Sullivan Malaysian Banking Services Customer Experience study showed that Maybank Berhad and CIMB Bank Berhad lead the Customer Experience Index at an overall level in Malaysia.

Over a period of two months from Oct – Nov 2014, Frost & Sullivan surveyed 1,300 respondents randomly selected from consumer online panels.

He added that 38 per cent of the respondents surveyed said that customer experience is more important when choosing a bank as compared to other factors such as choice of products and services, the determinant of trust, and rates or fees charged by the bank.

He also said that 81 per cent of the respondents surveyed disclosed that the lack of customer experience will be one of the main reasons that will drive them away from their primary bank.

"Banks that continue to overlook the importance of customer experience do so at their own peril," he said.

Mr. Hazmi also said that Malaysia is home to one of the most well-developed and regulated financial services markets in South East Asia, with strong, comprehensive oversight from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Securities Commission.

"The Excellence in Customer Experience Management study will benefit the banks in Malaysia as it serves as a benchmark for the experience delivered by retail banks to its customers and evaluates the critical factors that influence customer behaviour throughout their banking journey," he added.

He said that while a comprehensive view has been taken to assess company performance by channels and touch points, in summary, companies that have scored over industry average on a scale of 1-5 find a place in the "Band of Champions".

"These companies are the ones that have been voted highest by their own customers when it comes to delighting them. Therefore, there are instances where there are more than one company recognized for Excellence in Customer Experience in the same category," he said, adding that therefore, there are other categories where no company made it to the "Band of Champions" based on their scores.

Mr. Hazmi said that Frost & Sullivan measures customer experience based on 3 levels- overall customer experience, customer experience by channel and net promoter score.

He added that the overall customer experience is measured by examining customer experience across the customer journey while customer experience by channel is measured at various touch points or channels. Meanwhile, the net promoter score measured the likelihood of customers in recommending the brand to others which is calculated using percentage of promoters (likely to promote the brand) – percentage of detractors (likely to shift brand).

"Malaysian banks score an average 3.21 (on a scale of 1 to 5) on the Customer Experience Index with significant variation across channels," Mr. Hazmi said. He added that a score of 5 is "Extremely Positive" on customer experience while 1 is "Not Positive At All".

Below are the Malaysian banks that have been recognized in Excellence in Customer Experience Management, Banking Industry by their customers based on a survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan.

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