State Bank of India most trusted and popular bank in India: Survey

State Bank of India (SBI) continues to be India's most trusted and popular bank among the top 500 global brands according to a survey by Brand Finance, a business valuation and strategic consultancy firm.

In the survey, which looks at three big parameters — loyalty (how unlikely is a customer to switch banks), trust and popularity (the bank that customers said they were most likely to switch to) — SBI ranked first with a trust level of 86.3 percent, reported Business Standard.

On the trust factor, SBI is followed by HDFC Bank and Central Bank of India whereas on the popularity chart of the survey, it is followed by ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.

In the most popular bank category, 21.4 percent declared that they would choose SBI if they were to switch to competition because they were unhappy with their present banks.

“Consumer loyalty stems from consistent focus on being customer centric. SBI has earned the trust of its customers by staying focused on developing most relevant products and services from time to time, by being transparent in our dealings with them and being easily accessible to them,” Neeraj Vyas, deputy managing director and COO of SBI told the paper.

Citibank topped the loyalty list of banks with almost half of its customers claiming that they were unlikely switch banks.

“Citi is focused on providing our retail customers with global banking and wealth solutions, delivered digitally at a time and place of their convenience. We will continue to innovate to keep up with our clients’ rapidly evolving lifestyles so that we may continue to gain their loyalty,” Shinjini Kumar, consumer business manager, Global Consumer Banking, Citi India told Business Standard.

Among other public sector banks, SBI and Canara Bank showed high customer loyalty. Oriental Bank of Commerce and UCO Bank ranked the lowest among all Indian bank brands in terms of loyalty.

Brand consultant Bharat Bambawale told the paper that as loyalty depends on the nature of the customer and the maturity of his or her banking practices, there are a few factors that banks must concentrate upon to improve loyalty and trust levels.

A few of these factors include fully Internet enabled services, minimal cross-selling and sales calls, personalised service and a holistic look at customer needs.

The random sample survey was based on responses of over 19,000 people in 22 markets with an average of over 850 respondents representative of each market.

The survey stated that the Indian banking market is more flexible when it comes to customer preferences than many established banking markets, especially Switzerland, the US, or Britain.

According to the report, in the UAE, on an average 27.5 percent customers declared they are ready to try banking with the competition. Similarly, in India on an average 34.5 per cent of customers stated that they were likely to switch if they were unhappy.

Nevertheless, the trust levels are relatively high in India, with two in three respondents declaring trust in most bank brands researched.