Vast majority of customers in the UAE trust their banks

Dubai: A recent study commissioned by The UAE Banks Federation, the professional representative body for the UAE’s banks show a vast majority of customers in the UAE trust their banks.

The study undertaken by Brunswick Insight and Ipsos Observer to track the level of trust among the country’s banking customers aims to create a trust index using data from such future surveys.

The study is based on responses from 1,040 adults with bank accounts who are resident in the UAE. The survey was conducted in August and the sample of respondents reflected a representative cultural and gender mix.

The results of the first survey show that most (70 per cent ) customers in the UAE have a high level of trust in their banks, especially compared to customers in other international banking markets.

“As the organisation which advocates best practice for banks in the UAE, the Federation has a duty to gauge whether the efforts that banks make to meet their customers’ needs are effective and being felt by their customers,” said AbdulAziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of the UAE Banks Federation.

The survey found that while banks can do more to understand customers’ needs, to offer them products that they want, and to offer more reasonable fees and charges, only a quarter (23 per cent ) of expatriates believe banks at home are better than those in the UAE.

“These results bear out our own expectations, we accept that there is still room for improvement, not least in terms of giving customers what they really want, and in delivering it in a way that provides them with the best value”, said Al Ghurair

The findings of the survey were presented to the recent meeting of the Federation’s CEO Advisory Council to address areas identified in which the banking sector can improve its reputation among its customers.

The survey results also showed that 74 per cent of the UAE banking customers believe that their banks behave responsibly. In terms of top of mind responses about their banks, customers placed good customer service, loans and safety and security significantly ahead of excessive interest rates, high profits and poor customer service which figured at the bottom of their concerns.

Customer responses to the survey indicated that UAE based bank customers are five times more likely to say their view of banks has improved (41 per cent) than worsened (8 per cent).

A cross section of expatriate population responding to the survey showed that banks in their home country are worse (38 per cent) rather than better (23 per cent) than banks in the UAE. Arab expats (56 per cent) are say banks in their home country are worse.

An International trust barometer carried out by an independent agency (Edelman), states that the UAE comes 4th with a rating of 81 per cent, after Indonesia, China and India. This barometer has an average median of 53 pre cent and countries such as the US (51 per cent ), UK (32 per cent) and Australia (51 per cent) fail to meet the average ranking.