Frost & Sullivan: Mobile Banking Is Emerging As The Next Preferred Channel

-- DBS Bank Leads in Customer Experience Index Score in Singapore

SINGAPORE, March 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile is emerging to be the next channel of preference from both customer priority and frequency of interaction perspective in Singapore even though it is still behind ATM, online, and branch, says Frost & Sullivan.  

Mr. Nitin Bhat, Partner at Frost & Sullivan said that Singaporean banks are still figuring out the way to encourage higher usage frequency of mobile banking.

He added that most banks are still figuring out the way to encourage higher usage frequency for this channel. He said that customers rely on many sources to find information about new products or services that they consider buying but only used a small number of channels for actual purchases:  branch, website, mobile application, and contact center agent.

"Branch is king for the purchasing stage, although not the top choice for the customer's source of information. Website on the other hand, is the preferred source of information, but only 50% of customers actually use it for final purchases," he added.

He also said that mobile banking is emerging as one of the top purchasing channels for Singaporean customers.

Mr. Bhat said that the Frost & Sullivan Singapore Banking Services Customer Experience study revealed that 31 per cent of respondents surveyed said website is the most preferred channel of experience with their bank while 27 per cent said they prefer visiting the bank branches.

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

"Since online channel is emerging as the single most preferred channel for customers, banks in Singapore need to ensure that their online presence is therefore informative, consistent, relevant and comprehensive," Mr. Bhat said.

Singaporean banks scored an average 3.24 (on a scale of 1 to 5) on the Customer Experience Index with significant variation across channels, he said.

He also said that DBS Bank is clearly the leader in providing positive customer experience management in the banking industry in Singapore as it scored higher than the industry average of 3.24.

Mr. Bhat 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 the 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. Bhat 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).

Mr. Bhat said that the financial services industry in Singapore is robust and disciplined, with strong oversight from Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). "Over the years, Singapore has seen its local banks consolidate into the three major groups  - DBS Group, OCBC Bank, and United Overseas Bank (UOB).  This is the latest of Singapore's continuous approach to remain competitive not only regionally, but globally as well," he added.

Below are the Singaporean 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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