UAE bank service could be much better

Dubai: The UAE is considered one of the most competitive banking environments in the world.

In trying to capture market share, the large number of retail banks might be expected to exhibit high standards of service.

In these changing times of increasing internet, telephone and ATM usage by time-constrained cust-omers, service quality might assume a new dimension in this multi-channel reality.

However, the picture that emerges from a new benchmarking survey is a mixed one. Internet and telephone banking services and response times are in poor shape, whereas branch-level service is better.

Overall standards are reported to be significantly lower than in Western countries. The benchmark average of the 29 banks surveyed is 64 per cent, way below the Western benchmark (75 per cent) for quality service in the retail banking sector

In the accompanying ranking tables, only National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (Rakbank) beats the mark, with a score of 78.7 per cent.

Lloyds TSB Bank (of the UK) and Emirates Islamic Bank follow with scores of 74.3 and 72.2 per cent respectively. The former topped among foreign banks and the latter was the best Islamic bank.

Rakbank was adjudged the best bank for both call centre and branch services. HSBC was the overall best performing bank in responses to website enquiries.

These are the findings of a study conducted by Ethos Consultancy, based in Dubai. This second annual survey was carried out to assess the quality of service and the speed of response of customer service staff.

Trained and experienced researchers, or 'mystery shoppers', tracked all the different channels: branches, call centres and websites over a five-week period last August-Sep-tember.

Visiting the branch, the researchers looked at service performance of tellers, whether ATM machines were working and whether branch fixtures were in working order. Contacting the bank via websites allowed them to monitor the response after the contact was made.

And telephone calls made to the call centres gauged the response time and service quality. During the study, the researchers visited 870 branches, made 870 calls and visited bank websites 870 times, asking 86 questions.

With regard to branch services, face-to-face contact with a bank representative evoked largely positive feelings among customers. Branch service had many success stories.

Researchers found out that 92 per cent of the customer service staff at the branch were knowledgeable about the services being requested.

The teller, 94 per cent of researchers found out, was quick and efficient, and 88 per cent stated that waiting time to get to the teller was acceptable.

However, there were a few weak areas related to the interpersonal skills of the customer service and the teller staff.

Only 29 per cent of the staff offered to open an account "today".

According to the survey, the staff seem to be missing opportunities to sell their respective bank's products and services.

Also, not asking the prospective customer's contact details (only 12 per cent were asked), the study says, is "a huge minus" and "a costly occurrence" for those banks that have not yet trained their staff to ensure that they collect the necessary details.

The call centre results were still less impressive. The survey reveals that 257 calls, or 30 per cent of prospective customers, did not get through to the banks in question.

Also, the banks' telephone representatives did not ask 74 per cent of callers for their contact details.

"A prospective customer who has been unable to get in touch with a bank through the call centre is less likely to then want to visit that bank's branches to open an account. Clearly, much is still left to be done to improve performance [in this respect] in the UAE," says Philip Forrest, chairman of Osprey Partnership, a UK-based spec-ialist consultancy dealing with brand strategy and sales and service productivity.

When making website approaches, the research-ers received only 47 telephone calls following up the enquiries. One bank when contacted by a customer through its website did not manage to follow up on any single enquiry.

But actually there's a dramatic improvement in this regard over last year, when 11 banks never managed to follow up a single website enquiry.

"There is little point in spending huge sums of money on getting a slick website in place unless you are going to also get the back office processes in place to deal with enquiries," the study says.

With a few exceptions like Rakbank, customer care in the UAE's retail banking sector seems to leave much to be desired.

"The whole selling skills and customer service set present a gloomy picture when average response is this poor… I feel it is a reflection of the general malaise among banks that they have it too easy, do things the way they want to the degree of proficiency that suits them, don't really care about customers …" Forrest says.

The study suggests that when customer satisfaction score is less than 75 per cent it indicates that customer loyalty to the bank or the brand will be extremely low.

"Customers use the bank's services to suit their convenience and as soon as there is a circumstantial change they will switch very quickly to another supplier whom they perceive suits their needs better," the report adds.

Not doing enough to win over prospective clients goes to show that banks have their work cut out to improve the existing standards.

And, it may go without saying, it would have positive economic implications if banks cared more about delivering better services.

"The double benefit is that those who pay attention to customer care will find it easier to develop a more profitable and more loyal customer base, and thereby create the opportunity to sell them more products," Forrest says.

The full report is available at www.ethos.ae.

Overall

• Best RAKBANK
• Best Local RAKBANK
• Best Foreign Lloyds TSB
• Best Islamic Emirates Islamic Bank
• Best branch service RAKBANK
• Best call centre service RAKBANK
• Best website service HSBC

Ranking Bank %

1. National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RakBank) 78.7
2. Lloyds TSB Bank plc 74.3
3. Emirates Islamic Bank 72.2
4. HSBC Bank 72.1
5. Dubai Bank 71.8
6. Arab Bank 69.8
7. Citibank 68.7
8. National Bank of Abu Dhabi 68.6
9. Union National Bank 68.3
10. Mashreq Bank 67.9
11. ABN Amro 67.1
12. Emirates Bank International/Me Bank 67.0
13. Commercial Bank of Dubai 66.9
14. National Bank of Sharjah/Sharjah Islamic Bank 66.7
15. Commercial Bank International 66.4
16. National Bank of Dubai 66.1
17. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank 66.1
18. First Gulf Bank 65.6
19. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank 64.2
20. Dubai Islamic Bank 63.0

Overall Average (29 banks) 64.0 % Findings

• 63 of branch visitors felt the greeting they received at the customer service desk was warm and genuine
• 92 of the customer service staff serving were knowledgeable about the services being requested
• 36 of the staff made researchers aware of other bank products
• 29 of the staff offered to open a current account "today"
• 12 of visitors were asked for their contact details by the employee who served them
• 6 of visitors were contacted by the bank within 48 hours of making the enquiry
• 91 of visitors said the waiting time to see a customer service person was acceptable
• 27 of visitors said the customer service person who served them did not thank them as they left
• 88 of visitors said the waiting time to get to the teller was acceptable
• 94 of visitors said the teller was "quick and efficient" in dealing with their transaction
• 54 of visitors said the greeting they received from the teller was "warm and genuine"
• 30 of telephone calls to call centres were not answered within 3 minutes (previous year 10%)
• 44 of calls taken by call centres were answered within 15 seconds (previous year 83%)
• 74 of callers were not asked for their contact details by bank representatives (previous year 66%)
• 22 of enquiries placed through banks' websites attract a response (previous year 25%)