The number of customers served by Kenyan banks has hit 39 million, according to the 2024 Kenya Banking Industry customer experience survey. The research was conducted in the three major cities in Kenya, Nairobi (41%), Mombasa (34%) and Kisumu (25%), to obtain nuanced information on customer experience across the country. The survey included 661 respondents with an average age of 32 years. Of these, 533 of them were banked and 128 were unbanked. Additionally, 75% were retail customers while 25% were business customers.
The Kenya Banking Industry customer experience survey revealed 79% of adults had an active account in financial institutions, making Kenya one of the leading countries with a high financial inclusion rate in Sub Saharan Africa. The 21% unbanked cited insufficient funds and a high banking cost as reasons for not having active accounts. They also blamed long distances and a lack of trust on financial institutions, highlighting the importance of clear and effective communication from banks, as well as the need for bank branches in all regions of the country.
Currently, there are 38 licensed commercial banks in Kenya, with net assets of Ksh 6,589.8 trillion. 52% of transactions done by Kenyan customers in these banks are withdrawals, followed closely by 50% deposits and 29% savings. Similarly, withdrawals are the most accessed service (50%), followed by deposits (34%) and fund transfers (5%). The number of deposit account holders in Kenyan banks stands at 64,022,715, highlighting the positive growth of the banking industry in Kenya.
Furthermore, the Kenya Banking Industry customer experience survey revealed a growing trend in the use of credit and debit cards, with 44% of banking customers utilizing the payment method.
The Kenya Banking Industry customer experience survey further revealed that majority of the bank customers prefer mobile apps to access bank services. 42% of respondents use them, compared to 24% who visit their bank branches in person and 14% who use bank agents. This coincides with the easy availability of mobile phones in Kenya, with 85% of the correspondents owning at least one mobile device.
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The Net Promoter Score (NPS), a market research metric that measures customer loyalty to a company by asking customers how likely they are to recommend a company’s product or service to others, also highlighted growth in customer satisfaction in the Kenyan banking sector. The Net Promoter Score for retail customers stood at 8 out of 10, while the score for business customers was slightly higher at 8.5 out of 10.
On customers’ ambitions in the medium and long term, the Kenya Banking Industry customer experience survey disclosed that 13.7% of banking customers desired to own a home, 13.8% to buy land and 9.8% to educate children. Additionally, 17% of banking customers spent their money on food, the same proportion as on housing and rent. Education accounted for 11% of spending, and clothing for 8.5%.