Standard Bank is still the perceived market leader in the provision of business electronic banking services.
An annual survey by research firm BMI-TechKnowledge shows that 45% of businesses surveyed recently believe Standard is the market leader in this area.
Standard is followed by Absa and First National Bank (both 19%) and Nedbank (11%). The balance comprises Investec (3%), Citibank (1%) and Rand Merchant Bank (1%).
Last year Standard garnered 41% of the vote and in 2003, 42%. Absa has slipped from 26% last year and 22% the year before, while FNB has improved from 15% in 2004 and 16% in 2003. Nedbank is down from 13% last year and 14% the previous year.
BMI-T principal analyst Althea Bacchialoni says the survey, now in its 15th year, consisted of 618 interviews conducted from January to February in the corporate to large business sector.
Standard Bank also led the business customers` satisfaction ratings for electronic banking, with 88% of its surveyed customers expressing satisfaction. FNB received 87%, Absa 70% and Nedbank 63%.
Bacchialoni says closing branches - 6% were closed in the past two years - has proved to be a mistake. US banks, she says, are now opening 15 branches a month.
The survey shows that businesses find talking to bank staff at a branch the most attractive communication option, followed by telephoning the branch. Less attractive are using the bank`s call centre, e-mail and writing a letter to the bank.
Please, don`t SMS me
Businesses, the survey shows, do not like SMS communication with their banks. "Businesses are saying that the higher the technology you throw at me, the less attractive it is," Bacchialoni says. "I still want to talk to people."
She says FNB`s SMS-based communication has been very successful among consumers, but accountants and financial managers at businesses do not want that.
Bacchialoni says one of Standard`s advantages in business electronic banking is the fact that it provides a single interface. "FNB has several electronic products, but you have to log out and log in again each time you use a different product."
Standard has also not focused on chasing business from a specific size of business, but has gone where the opportunities are, regardless of whether they are small businesses or large corporates.
While in 1998, 39% of respondents expressed "acceptable" or "extremely acceptable" levels of confidence in the Internet as a process to conduct company business banking, this year that has climbed to 80%.
This is lower than the 85% of 2003 and 2004, mainly because of two security scares last year. Bacchialoni says the growth since 1998 is a result of successful marketing.
Security is still top of mind when businesses are asked to list the three most important issues for their business electronic banking products, with 74% of respondents mentioning this factor.
Twenty-four-hour availability was mentioned by 51% of respondents. Other issues were responsiveness (40%), customer support/service (35%), functionality (33%), stability (25%), price (22%), and flexibility (18%).
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