Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC has been named the leading bank in retail and corporate banking in Nigeria according to the KPMG 2022 Nigeria Banking Industry Customer Experience (CX) Survey.
According to the report, the lender, a subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, occupies the first position with a 73.8 CX score out of 100 in the retail segment and sustained the leading position for the second consecutive year. Time and effort are the drivers of performance in the retail category, and the Bank outperformed its peers in this regard.
Stanbic IBTC Bank, which held the top position in the retail and SME segments last year, performed well across key customer journey areas, particularly in resolution – a key area of improvement for the industry where customers rate banks on timeliness and quality of feedback on issues as well as the ability and ease of reporting issues and concerns.
Other customer journey areas where Stanbic IBTC Bank came tops include discovery – the ease of getting information about the Bank coupled with professional and friendly staff, the ease of account opening with digital-only options and the speedy onboarding process.
Stanbic IBTC Bank is among the top three in transacting – accessibility, timeliness, and quality of service from physical and digital channels, and in account maintenance which covers requests for account statements, general enquiries and updates to account information with accuracy and completeness.
Moving up five places compared to last year’s report, Stanbic IBTC Bank also emerged as this year’s leader in the corporate segment with an 80.9 score out of 100 and received great feedback on the depth of their relationship managers’ knowledge in key sectors.
The report also revealed that Stanbic IBTC successfully closed the gap in digital banking, emerging as a clear leader in the industry.
Speaking on these achievements, Wole Adeniyi, Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Bank, said, “The primary goal of the bank is to forge lasting relationships with its clients by offering timely, creative, and valuable solutions that benefit them. We are fully committed to serving Nigerians with top-notch financial services.”
According to Wole, “2022 has been remarkable for us at Stanbic IBTC. Asides from these good standings revealed by the KPMG report, the globally renowned credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings, also reaffirmed the retention of our National Long-Term ‘AAA (nga)’ and National Short-Term ‘F1+(nga)’ ratings for the Stanbic IBTC Group and Stanbic IBTC Bank respectively.”
“The National Long-Term ‘AAA (nga)’ and National Short-Term ‘F1+(nga)’ Ratings are the highest possible ratings on Fitch’s rating scale, and we were rated high based on the potential support from our parent company, Standard Bank Group, based in South Africa. We play a vital role in Standard Bank Group’s main operations in West Africa, and we retained our ratings based on our size and high operational integration,” Wole added.
Fitch Ratings assessed Stanbic IBTC’s strategic importance as the holding company for Standard Bank Group’s leading corporate and investment banking (CIB) and wealth businesses in Nigeria and Stanbic IBTC Bank’s position as an integral part of its Nigerian operations. It also considered Standard Bank Group’s controlling ownership of Stanbic IBTC, high integration of risk management, operations and strategy, shared branding, and Stanbic IBTC’s moderate contribution to Standard Bank Group’s net income.
The ‘AAA (nga)’ is given to issuers with the lowest expectation of default risk when compared with their competitors. The National Short-Term Rating of ‘F1+(nga)’ is assigned to issuers that have a strong capacity for timely payment of financial commitments in comparison to other issuers in Nigeria.
Wole noted that the organisation’s competitive position, good risk profile, healthy funding, and liquidity position also facilitated its upgrade in the Global Credit Ratings (GCR). The national scale long-term issuer rating assigned to Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC was upgraded to AAA(NG) from AA+(NG) and the national scale short-term issuer rating was A1+(NG), indicating a stable outlook and making Stanbic IBTC Bank the only financial institution in Nigeria with the rating.
Wole attributed the astounding performances of the organisation to the dedication and hard work of its workforce and the tenacity of the firm to continue to play vital roles in Nigeria’s economic development. He stated that Stanbic IBTC would not relent in developing sustainable solutions that ensure customers’ delight and the company’s success in the Nigerian financial services spectrum.