The factors influencing the choice of retail bank of final year MBA students at UKZN.

Abstract

The banking sector has become such a high profile phenomenon in this time due to its efficient, sophisticated and reliable-money keeping services. Most people today rely importantly on retail banks for a safer money keeping method. Literature has indicated that banks, on the other hand, have realized they are in high demand, and therefore, have resorted to providing high profile methods of attracting and keeping their customers such as market segmentation. Within the segment of personal banking it has become significant for banks to study segments such as students, graduates, ‘new to work’, mature, and families. Demand for highly sophisticated methods of banking are in demand by the segments such as students and graduates. Previous studies have also indicated that customers opting for multiple banking have increased from 21% to 31%. This is an indication that bank customer needs have drastically changed and increased. This, therefore, exerts much pressure on retail banks to devise new methods of attracting this growing segment of customers and retain it. This has necessitated a study of customer selection criteria for retail banks. The South African banking system has also developed over the past years so much that foreign banks have introduced themselves and acquired stakes at the South African major retail banks such as the Barclays. This development, together with advanced technology and infrastructure it has developed, has attracted this new segment of students. The purpose of this study is to bring to the South African banks knowledge about this segment of customers that would enhance their business and the economy. The questionnaire will be used to study the MBA students’ selection criteria of commercial banks and the reasons thereof. For the purpose of this study a questionnaire was used to investigate the selection criteria of retail banks of MBA students at UKZN, Westville campus, North of Durban. From the study it has been perceived that selection criteria such as professional handling of problems, efficiency in handling problems, being attentive to customer concerns, ability to solve problems over the phone as well as easy accessibility to the banks offer this simplicity for the busy MBA students. From the results it became clear that if banks attempt to offer these they are going to easily attract and retain these customers.