Johannesburg, 22 Mar 2006
First National Bank (FNB) is the top achiever for being the most innovative bank according to the latest "Innovation in South African Banking" survey conducted by SystemicLogic.
Over 50% of the respondents stated that FNB is the most innovative South African bank. FNB also received the highest customer satisfaction level (78.6%) for customers using FNB as their primary bank. Of the 49% of respondents that use a secondary bank, 100% of FNB customers were satisfied with service levels.
The survey showed that branding, variety in offerings and mobile banking were rated as the three most important factors in making a bank innovative. When asked what they would change at their bank, respondents cited customer service and bank charges as the most critical elements. Survey respondents also stated that attention to personalised products would help a bank to become more innovative.
According to Michael Jordaan, FNB CEO: "Innovation and customer service are at the core of FNB`s business. We continually encourage and reward innovation, as we believe this helps to entrench our philosophy of entrepreneurship. These survey results show that our commitment to innovation is translating into satisfied customers.
"Furthermore, innovation at FNB continued to deliver value in 2005 as the Million-a-Month Account`s customer base rose to 237 000 since its launch in January 2005. inContact, FNB`s SMS and e-mail service, reached over 2.5 million customers, while the eBucks rewards programme has awarded R580 million in eBucks to its members since inception. The One Account performed superbly, increasing its loan book to R3.5 billion from R1.3 billion at June 2005," says Jordaan.
Focusing on and measuring innovation is not new to FNB. In November 2005, the bank launched an annual company-wide innovation campaign called FNB Innovators.
"This was a bold step to commit ourselves to entrenching a culture of innovation within FNB. An innovation campaign such as this requires an environment where there is support for new ideas, even if not your own. It forced us to define the concept of innovation within the FNB family and to be clear about what those innovations are meant to achieve. Furthermore, it required certain processes that had to be put in place, both from a technological and people perspective. A campaign such as this ensures customers come first. It inspires us to find solutions for problems and also to help our colleagues implement their ideas," says Jordaan.
FNB`s Cellphone Banking division was awarded first prize at the FNB Innovators awards last year. While SMS technology generally represents a new channel for convenient service delivery, the business model implemented by the division brings new meaning to convenient banking and effective money management.
FNB is a division of FirstRand Bank Limited and is an authorised financial services provider.
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