Perception of Personal Banking Customers on the Telephone Banking Services Provided by Commercial Banks in Nairobi

Abstract

Commercial banks play an important role of facilitating the running of the economy by accepting deposits from customers who have excess money and lending it to the customers with a deficit. The banking Industry in Kenya has become very competitive due to many players, and also due to liberalization of economy and technological advancements. Banks have responded to these challenges by introducing innovative product and services. It is important for banks to understand how customers perceive these services and products because perception a determinant of buyer choice. The purpose of this study was therefore to determine the perception of personal banking customers on the telephone banking services provided by commercial banks in Nairobi. A descriptive survey was conducted. The population of study included all personal banking customers in Nairobi. There are about 3 million personal banking customers in Nairobi. Out of the 43 commercial banks in Kenya, 10 of them were conveniently selected. From these, proportionate and stratified sampling method was used to select 500 respondents. Primary data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. A trained research assistant administered questionnaires to respondents. Out of the 500 questionnaires administered 400 (80%) responded by completing the questionnaires. Data was analyzed using descriptive. Percentages and frequencies were used to analyze data in Part I. Data in Part II was analyzed using mean and standard deviation statistics such as percentages, frequencies, and mean. From the findings it is clear that many customers find telephone banking services as a convenient, time saving, reliable, flexible and a secure way of doing banking transactions. However the low response on some of the telephone banking services like giving instructions on fixed deposit account, stop payment of cheques, foreign exchange rate enquiry and visa debit enquiry is an indication that many personal banking customers are not aware of all the telephone banking services provided by banks. It was recommended that banks create awareness to customers on telephone banking and more research to be done on telephone banking covering all commercial banks and to cover corporate customers as well. It was also recommended that banks take time to understand the perceptions their customers have on the services that they offer so as to develop products that suit customers’ needs. The researcher recommends a further research covering all commercial banks in Kenya and to be expanded to cover the perception of corporate customers on Telephone banking services provided by commercial banks in Kenya.