Hong Kong clients are fussiest with their banks: nearly one-third of customers in the territory are mulling switching their main bank, compared with 18 percent in Singapore and 16 percent in Australia.

Citibank ranks highest in retail banking customer satisfaction, with an overall score of 723 points, according to a survey by international research firm J.D. Power. The study measured customer satisfaction with the products and services provided by their primary financial institution. 

The U.S. bank achieved the highest score in five of overall six factors: account activities; account information; product offerings; fees; and facility. The sixth factor surveyed was banks' problem resolution.

More Work is Needed

Although the study finds that 71 percent of customers have used online banking to interact with their main bank in the last 12 months, only 30 percent have used mobile banking. This is significantly lower than the 78 percent in mainland China, 43 percent in Australia, and 41 percent in Singapore.

Nevertheless, it is clear that customers feel more work is needed to improve the digital user experience. Thirty-five percent said they experienced a problem accessing their online banking account, and 56 percent with their mobile banking app.

«It is interesting that despite the shortfall in the digital user experience, customers are still more satisfied using these channels versus traditional channels,» said Anthony Chiam, service industry practice Leader at J.D. Power.

Additional Key Findings

  • WeChat Pay rated highest in satisfaction among mobile wallets: Of the mobile payment users in Hong Kong, 29 percent indicated that Apple Pay is their main mobile wallet, followed by Octopus O! ePay at 17 percernt; Android Pay at 16 percent; Alipay at 15 percent; and WeChat Pay at 8 percent. However, WeChat Pay receives the highest satisfaction rating among mobile payment providers (7.7 points on a ten-point scale), followed closely by Apple Pay (7.6).
  • Premier bank customers are more satisfied: Overall satisfaction is substantially higher among retail banking customers who have a premier account (702) than among those who do not (667).
  • Switching intent from main bank is high: Nearly one-third (32 percent) of customers are considering switching their main banks, compared with 18 percent in Singapore and 16 percent in Australia.

The 2018 Hong Kong Retail Banking Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 2,371 retail banking customers. The study was conducted between November of last year and January of this year. J.D. Power conducts a series of retail banking studies across several key financial markets, including Australia, Canada, China, India, Singapore and the United States.