Most retail customers happy with Indian banks

New Delhi: A survey by global consultancy firm Ernst & Young has found that majority of retail customers are satisfied with the country's banking system and that trust has increased after its' astute handling of the 2008 global financial crisis.

Unlike many other countries, India was less affected by the meltdown, mainly on account of conservative banking policies followed by the Reserve Bank of India.

According to the survey, 'A New era of Customer Expectation' that is yet to be released globally, 75 per cent of the retail banking customers in India said that their trust in the banking industry grew in 2010.

"Indians have the highest level of trust and satisfaction in their banking industry...The credit crisis has had minimal impact on customer confidence in the Indian banking industry," the survey said.

It surveyed more than 20,500 global retail banking customers of which 1,000 respondents were from India. The objective of the survey was to gauge what drives customer relationships with their banks.

Indian banks have lived up to the expectations of majority of their clients as the global financial crisis of 2008 had a minimal impact on them compared to their global peers, said the survey.

In contrast, it found 44 per cent of global retail banking customers, outside India, said their confidence in the banking industry had decreased in the past 12 months.

"In order to drive customer value and reduce attrition, much-improved leverage of customer data and insight will be critical, as tailored offers and service propositions are likely to be positively received by the customers," said E&Y National Director Viren H Mehta.

Interesting, the consultancy agency found that despite generally high level of satisfaction with banks, Indian customers were leaving their main bank because of poor service offered by them.

"11 per cent of the Indian respondents surveyed are thinking of switching their banks in future as against 7 per cent of the global respondent," E&Y said.

Also, 50 per cent of customers who decided to leave their main bank did so because of general level of service quality, while 38 per cent cited product and service offerings, the Survey found.

Source: Financial Express