KPMG survey reveals 42% Nigerians use internet banking

A leading financial consulting firm, KPMG Consulting, has revealed that 42 per cent of Nigerians uses Internet banking.

The firm revealed this in a survey titled: “KPMG Africa Banking Industry Retail Customer Satisfaction Survey.”

According to the survey, Senior Manager, Management Consulting, KPMG, Bode Abifarin, stated that despite the fact that there exists 148million mobile telephone subscribers in the country, only 42 per cent of Nigerians still have access to online banking platforms.

“According to our survey, 77 per cent of Nigeria’s banking customers now use social media for personal reasons and 42 per cent said they use online banking platforms for one or more banking activities.

“The problem is that Nigeria’s banks have largely failed to translate this passion for the internet and social media into increased adoption of internet and mobile banking solutions, introducing these customers to alternative channels should be a top priority for Nigeria’s banks.”

She added that Nigerian banks can start improving internet and mobile banking penetration by improving customer’s experience, reinforcing trust and ensuring accessibility to online platforms.

Furthermore, Partner and Head, Advisory Services, KPMG, Adebisi Lamikanra, revealed that some customers are still concerned with financial stability while seeking for enhanced high quality service, innovation and greater convenience.

She also explained that findings from the survey showed that the most used channels used by retail customers were the branch and indicated that the report will help to provide benchmarks for Africa’s banking executives.

“Findings showed that most used channels is the branch. But as we actually dug deeper and talked to the customers, the reason why they used the branch is that access to alternate channels are not stable and we believe that the data within this report provides valuable benchmarks and important indicators for Africa’s banking executives”, Lamikanra explained.

Lamikanra then added that the survey report was measured based on the opinions of customers and their feelings towards their bank, its employees, products services and channels.

“It must be made very clear, however, that this is a perception survey and as such only measures the views of customers and their feeling towards their bank, bank employees, products, services and channels, this does not necessarily reflect actual capabilities or individual experiences”, she said.