EXCLUSIVE: Find out what customers want from Nigerian banks

NIGERIAN banks are something most people, rich or poor, love to hate.

Banks maintain a strange position within the psyche of Nigerians and are often viewed as a necessary evil.

On the one hand there is the greed, unspeakable wealth, vaults for ill-gotten gains and of course the text messages reminding customers they’ve been charged a fee just to transfer a bunch of digital numbers to another account.

But on the other hand banks provide security for our hard earned money, they can help us save, get access to money and pay for things anywhere in the world, generate and create new opportunities through loans and can help our personal and business lives run smoothly.

It would take a brave person to revert back to the days of stashing money in boxes under our beds.

So, while it may not necessarily be a loving relationship, Nigerians still need to maintain a cordial relation with the banking institution of their choice.

Banks realise that customers can come and go anytime they want and that’s why they spend a lot of money trying to impress customers.

But as anyone who has stepped foot inside a bank knows, customer service isn’t exactly great.

If just one of the banks operating in Nigeria took customer service more seriously, did away with the needless paper forms and streamlined processes for its employees so they could handle any request quickly, well, I know what I would be doing.

According to the Nigeria Annual Banking Survey customer service delivered at the branch is what is most important to Nigerians.

Overwhelmingly ‘Good customer service in the branch’ was what Nigerians most desired, beating things like low transaction costs, better online and mobile banking tools, convenient branch locations, short lines, perks and good over the phone customer service.

It was interesting to note that although Nigerians are some of the biggest users of mobile phones in the world, they still prefer to conduct their banking at branches instead of over the phone or through mobile banking apps.

If this thorough annual banking survey was anything to go by, Nigerian banks have just been given their mandate — improve customer service.

According to the survey Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank, Diamond Bank, Heritage Bank, led by MD Ifie Sekibo, and Standard Chartered Bank were considered the top performing customer service focused banks in the country.