KPMG Nigeria has described the improvement in mobile banking in the country as significant, attributing it to investments made by banks.
The professional service firm stated this during the presentation of its 2016 Africa Banking Customer Satisfaction Survey in Lagos.
According to the report, 42 per cent of bank customers in Nigeria use online banking platforms to carry out transactions.
The firm said 18 countries on the continent were covered in the report, with about 33,000 retail customers surveyed.
The report said, “Nigerian banking customers are more than twice as likely to use an Automated Teller Machine as they are a branch, with almost half of Nigerian respondents (47 per cent) saying their ATM preference is related to the proximity and closeness of the machines.
“Interestingly, while 86 per cent say they prefer the ATMs for cash withdrawal, 66 per cent say they prefer the machines for balance enquiry.”
According to the report, the branch is the most preferred channel for banking within the African context, despite the rise in alternative channels across the continent.
It said the usage of all other banking channels had increased significantly between 2013 and now, presenting numerous opportunities for banks.
“Internet banking usage has increased from 14 per cent to 21 per cent while usage of the call centre has increased from 14 per cent to 27 per cent.”
A Partner and Head of Advisory Services, KPMG, Bisi Lamikanra, said, “The finding showed that the most used channel is the branch. But as we dug deeper and talked to customers, we found that access to alternative channels was not readily available or stable. Customers said their preference was for banking anywhere, anytime.”
The Manager, Management Consulting, KPMG, Wale Abioye, said the firm continued to see a deepening of the penetration of alternate channels in West Africa, particularly in Ghana and Nigeria.
On the level of mobile banking in Nigeria, he said, “Clearly, there has been a lot of improvement. Where we were about 10 years ago is not where we are today because banks have made a lot of investments.”
Abioye also said, “In our view and compared to what we see in advanced markets, there has been a lot of progress in terms of mobile banking, which is reflected in the adoption by customers. When we did the Nigeria survey about three years ago, mobile banking adoption was in single digit, but today, it is in double digit. Of course, there is room to continue to improve.”