Consumer trust in UAE banks is at a five year high according to the UAE Banks Federation.
More than three quarters of UAE consumers (74%) have a high degree of trust in the country’s banking sector. This represents a 2-percentage point improvement from 74% in 2018.
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Moreover, the finding represents the highest reading for UAE banks in the past five years.
The annual UAE banks consumer trust index is conducted for the UAE Banks Federation (UBF).
“It’s going to be very difficult to keep growing consumer trust forever,” says Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, chairman of UBF. “We should be ready for a 0.5% to 1% improvement or deterioration on this indicator for 2020.”
Trust in the UAE banking sector stood at 70% in 2015 but fell to 68% in 2016 and 2017.
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By GlobalDataSome 66% of respondents say that they are impressed with UAE banks. Expat Arabs have the most positive impression of the UAE banking sector at 83%. This falls to 57% among South Asian expats from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh.
“Maybe Asian customers have a unique requirement or they need unique services both here and back home.”
UAE banks consumer trust index: digital channel growth
The survey also indicates a growing preference for online banking channels.
While 94% of bank customers use ATMs, only 47% still use bank branches.
Around 61% of consumers use online banking and 67% say they prefer to bank through their mobiles.
Al Ghurair says the use of branches will “shrink” with digital transformation.
“We have fully fledged smart ATMs that can be used to perform any function that you would do in branches. The coronavirus pandemic will help customers migrate from branches and ATMs to online and mobile banking,” Al Ghurair adds.
“Eventually, the role of the call centre will also diminish. Customers will need to use call centres only if there is a transactional issue.
“Everyone is looking to do their business in a more cost-efficient and efficient way. In the last few months, customers have been moving more towards digital platforms, be it government entities or large corporates.”
The shift in customer behaviour will “require more investment from banks to improve the digital customer experience”, says Al Ghurair who is also chairman of Mashreq Bank.
“They will have to drop some services that were available traditionally through branches or other channels. There will be some cost-cutting because of digital transformation.”
The fifth edition of the Trust Index survey also reveals that customers trust traditional banks more than other financial service providers when it comes to the safekeeping of their money.
Traditional banks received a score of 7.2 out of 10 in relation to keeping customers’ money safe. This is followed by card schemes with a score of 6.6. Digital banks and fintechs score 5.2.
