• The survey conducted between May 12 and June 7 sought to find out the awareness and usage of various banks and services, bank selection criteria among others
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
Kenyans still rely on banks to transact despite emergence of other forms of modern financial service providers such as mobile banking.
A survey released by Infotrak CEO Angela Ambitho yesterday shows that 88 per cent of Kenyans are likely to continue using banks in future.
Only one in five people would prefer to receive financial services from a non-bank institutions.
The survey, 'The Changing Face of Banking' was conducted between May 12 and June 7, targeting 801 people of all gender above 18 years in Nairobi, Nyanza, Coast, Rift Valley, Central, Western and Eastern regions.
It sought out to find out the awareness and usage of various banks and services, bank selection criteria and imagery, awareness and usage of mobile financial providers and impact of mobile financial services on usage of bank’s products and services.
It also sought to establish the future likelihood of using commercial banks, importance and trust and relevance of commercial banks compared to other financial service providers including mobile financial services providers among others.
According to the findings, 83 per cent of the respondents would save their money in a bank, 76 per cent would take loans from banks while 63 per cent would undertake their investment/wealth management in banks.
The survey says that besides bank accounts, the use of other financial providers is notable and their importance cannot be downplayed.
“The usage of this relatively new concept has, by far, overtaken usage of traditional financial service providers like insurance, SACCOs, pension schemes among others,” the survey states.
The report calls on banks to be innovative in the way they offering their products and services because they are still highly regarded.
Bank charges/prices is the key factor when selecting a bank. Branch network and customer service, are second and third respectively.
“This affirms that customers are consciously or unconsciously after human-centric service/product delivery model,” it states.
Other factors are security of funds, ATM network, interest rates on savings, easy loan application procedures, reliable systems and the bank's reputation.
In terms of preference for accessing bank accounts, 55 percent of people above 50 years would prefer to go to the branch outlet physically while accessing through mobile banking apps is high among youths aged between 18 and 34.
“Although with time this generation and gender divide is likely to disappear through attrition of the old generation and female empowerment programs, it is important for innovators to come up with a technology that would be easier/ comfortable to use across different demographics.”
Preference for physical visits is highest at the Coast(74 per cent) and Eastern (59 per cent) while while preference for mobile based banking apps is skewed to Nairobi, Rift Valley and Nyanza regions.