UAE Bank Benchmarking Study 2008
Bank Benchmarking Study 2008 (BBS08) was carried out by trained and experienced researchers and mystery shoppers who focus on real scenarios whereby a prospective customer approaches a retail bank via three channels: branch, call center or website. These channels are then evaluated on two key differentiators that define customer experience at a bank: response time and service quality.
The process of customer engagement for any business begins when a new prospective customer approaches a business to enquire about the services they offer. This study does just that, it benchmarks the performance of 29 leading retail banks in the area of dealing with a prospective customer enquiry;
- By visiting the branches (45 questions)
- Through the bank website address (20 questions)
- Through call center (21 questions)
BBS 2008 Sample Size
During the BBS 2008 study, Ethos’ researchers and mystery shoppers made 725 branch visits, 435 telephone calls to bank call centers and visited bank websites 300 times. Overall, there were 86 attributes measured from 1,460 assessments.
BBS 2008 Category Winners
- Best Bank Overall - RAKBank
- Best Islamic Bank - Emirates Islamic Bank
- Best International Bank - Lloyds TSB Bank
- Best Call Centre Performance - Dubai Islamic Bank
- Best Website Response Performance - First Gulf Bank
- Best New Bank - Al Hilal Bank
BBS 2008 Summary of Results
In 2008, and for the third time in a row, RAKBank outshone their competition by performing highly and consistently across all deliver channels. Graham Honeybill, GM of RAKBank stated “Our entire team is delighted with this result which is exactly the encouragement we need as we endeavor to give our customers the quality service they deserve”.
First Gulf Bank took second place. Their progress over the past two studies (2007 & 2008) has been dynamic to say the least. “In this journey towards excellence FGB improvement has been made by our staff commitment to our customers supported by a comprehensive program of measure, train and sustain (MTS)” stated Ritesh Chatterjee of FGB.
In the Best Islamic Bank category, Emirates Islamic Bank came out on top with an excellent performance across all the delivery channels with Best International Bank for the 3rd consecutive year going to Lloyds TSB, who has consistently maintained high levels of customer service since the conception of BBS in 2005.
Best New Entrant in BBS 2008 was Al Hilal Bank with another contending new entrant, Noor Islamic Bank, also doing well. New entrants; Doha Bank, Samba Bank and Umm Ul Quwaim Bank need to pick up their game and we look forward to following their progress in 2009’s study.
Best Call Centre Performance was awarded to Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) for the 2nd year running. DIB had a response rate of less than one minute for answering all calls with their employees showing good depth of knowledge and empathy for customer enquiries while Best Website response performance went to First Gulf Bank who maintained a call-back response rate within 24 hours.
"We are delighted that the quality of the service we provide to our customers has been voted best in the UAE market for the third year running" Graham Honeybill, General Manager of RAKBank