South Africans love Discovery Bank and Absa

Discovery Bank has been ranked as South Africa’s favourite bank according to overall net sentiment.

This is according to DataEQ’s South African Bank Sentiment Index report for 2024, which is based on over three million public social media posts mentioning eight banks from 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2024.

The DataEQ team then used a combination of human and artificial intelligence to structure data accurately.

However, it is important to note that companies frequently run promotions encouraging customers to post social media posts expressing positive sentiment towards their brand.

This is noted in the report: “A notable amount of operational praise was driven by brand posts that encouraged customers to share positive experiences with the bank.”

The report includes the following banks: Absa, African Bank, Capitec, Discovery Bank, FNB, Nedbank, Standard Bank, and TymeBank.

Overall, South Africa has a particularly positive sentiment towards its banking sector relative to other countries and the country’s other industries.

For instance, South Africa’s banking sentiment has a positive net sentiment score of 20%, compared to Kenya’s +16% and the United Kingdom’s -13%.

While the average banking sentiment has dropped from 24% in 2023, it still outperforms other industries, such as telecoms at -19 %, insurance at 4%, and retail at 9%.

Of the eight banks included in the report, Discovery’s overall net sentiment was the highest at 47%.

The digital bank also ranked first in the operational and reputational sentiment rankings.

Discovery Bank received praise for its products, such as personalised home loans with dynamic rates, Vitality Money, and flight rewards. Customers also commended the bank’s security.

Absa and FNB came in second and third place with positive net sentiment scores of 40% and 27%, respectively.

Absa received praise for its ChatWallet service, which allows customers to transact on WhatsApp, and customers commended FNB for its bank staff’s exceptional service.

The only other bank to receive a score above the industry average of 20% was African Bank, which received a score of 24%.

However, no bank received a net negative score. The closest to this was Capitec, which received a net score of 0%. Standard Bank was the second-lowest with a score of 7%, followed by TymeBank with a score of 9%.

The report also noted the influence of campaigns, which may have masked customers’ grievances.

This was particularly noticeable regarding customers’ digital banking experiences, where net sentiment was 11%, including campaigns and -54%, excluding campaigns.

“This score was largely boosted by campaigns that promoted digital offerings and highlighted new features,” the report notes.

“Customers appreciated programmes that offered rewards through interactive digital channels and financial literacy resources.”

On the other hand, most banks received highly negative feedback surrounding their digital platforms, with common complaints including login issues, blocked accounts, unauthorised transactions, and technical errors within mobile apps.

Slow responses to fraud cases, limited support for online digital channels, and challenges with essential digital functions like deposits, transfers, and online purchases also caused customers to display frustration towards the banks.

Digital platform speed and responsiveness had the lowest net sentiment at -87%, caused by app outages, delayed transactions, and access issues.

Customer digital security also received a negative score, although much lower than platform responsiveness at 19%.

Areas where customers gave praise to banks were ease of use of their digital platforms (+98%), platform navigation (61%), and third-party purchases (51%).

Unlike customers’ digital experiences, campaigns failed to hide banks’ customer service failings, as FNB was the only lender to receive a positive customer service net sentiment.

Of all customer service conversations with banks, 60% were complaints.

While most customer service channels received net positive scores of above 15% — mobile app, branches, messaging, and online banking — the call centre and email channels drove the negative sentiment.

These channels received net sentiment scores of -89% and -88%, respectively.