An analysis of more than three million public social media posts between September 2023 and August 2024 shows that Discovery Bank ranks first among South African banks for positive online comments from clients. However, bank customers overall continue to be highly dissatisfied with customer service.

The 2024 DataEQ South African Banking Index ranks the top three banks for net positive sentiment by consumers as Discovery Bank (47%), Absa (40%) and FNB (27%). The lowest-ranked of the eight banks surveyed were Standard Bank (7%) and Capitec (0%). A net positive score of 47% means that there were 47% more positive comments than negative ones. A score of 0%, achieved by Capitec, means that positive and negative comments were equal. The average score was 20%, and no South African bank had a negative net score, unlike a similar survey of banks in the UK, whose average net score was -13%, according to DataEQ.

The survey also found that the banking industry was South Africa’s best-performing industry with regards to consumer sentiment, outperforming insurance (18%), retail (9%), and telecoms (-19%).

A caveat to the results is that online marketing campaigns significantly influenced the outcome. “Several banks used strategic campaigns to drive positive engagement around products and service experiences. Most campaigns were linked to competitions encouraging customers to share their positive experiences with their banks,” the DataEQ report says. Excluding these campaigns brings the average net score down to -4%.

The survey arranged net sentiment scores according to reputational and operational topics:

• Customer loyalty: 43%

• Pricing/fees: 42%

• Physical facilities: 34%

• Products: 30%

• Transactions: 14%

• Digital experience: 11%

• Customer service: -21%

• Account administration: -52%

The survey found that features linked to savings options, rewards programmes, and user-friendly digital banking tools drove positive sentiment.

“On the negative side, fraud-related issues were prevalent with customers reporting unauthorised transactions, missing funds, and limited or slow resolution from support teams. Technical issues and account access challenges were also common. Inconsistent reward fulfilment, unexpected deductions, and perceived high fees further impacted net sentiment,” the report states.

Although sentiment about debit and credit card products was positive overall, largely driven by promotional activities, consumers’ card-related complaints “included account holds without notification, difficulties with transactions, unresponsive customer service, and challenges in replacing lost or stolen cards. Customers often expressed frustration over unauthorised transactions, declined payments, and digital security concerns.”

Despite “pockets of positivity”, the report says, more than 60% of the industry’s customer service conversations were negative. FNB was the only bank to achieve a positive net sentiment score (55%) for customer service. “Praise was largely driven by compliments for its staff, with customers often going onto social media to make special mention of the staff members who helped them at various branches,” the report says.

Of the highest ranking bank overall, Discovery Bank, the report states: “Discovery Bank was publicly praised both on social media and in the press for its achievements, including winning the best consumer solution award at the MTN Business App Awards, successful product launches, partnerships, and community initiatives. Discovery Bank’s innovations, such as personalised home loans with dynamic rates and Vitality Money and flight rewards, also received praise from consumers and the media. Much of the bank’s reputational success was linked to effective campaigns that utilised hashtags.”

Commenting on the survey, Hylton Kallner, CEO of Discovery Bank, said: “It’s good to see that, overall, the banking industry remains the best-performing industry in terms of public social media sentiment amongst South Africans. From Discovery Bank’s perspective, we want to know how our clients feel and what is affecting them, so these insights from DataEQ offer significant benefits. Social media enables us to engage directly and in real-time with our clients and the broader public. It gives us an immediate feedback loop on our service and products, allowing us to measure everything around our performance as close to immediately as possible and helping us to address concerns in a proactive way.”

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