Data from Souqalmal.com found that personal loans and credit cards are the most searched for financial products
Only a third of UAE residents would actively recommend their bank to friends and family, according to a new survey from personal finance comparison website Souqalmal.com.
In the 2018 edition of its bank satisfaction survey – which queried more than 7,000 residents – Souqalmal found that overall customer satisfaction with banks rose 7 percent to 32 percent from 2017, when 25 percent of respondents said they’d actively recommend their bank.
The 2018 figure, however, represents a 2 percent decrease from 2016, when 34 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with their bank.
“The bank satisfaction index serves as a barometer for customer sentiment, and the results are a true reflection of how happy, or unhappy, bank customers are with the overall banking experience,” said Souqalmal.com founder and CEO Ambareen Musa.
“The UAE banking market is highly competitive, and banks need to wow their customers with great service and product offerings in order to retain them.”
UAE's most trusted bank
The survey found Emirates NBD to be the most trusted UAE bank, followed closely by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.
Additionally, the survey also looked into the most popular banking products in the UAE covering a number of categories including personal finance, credit cards, home finance and bank accounts. The results are based on product searches and visits recorded on the site between January 1 and December 31, 2017.
According to the results, the most popular personal finance product were personal loans from RAKBANK, while the most popular credit card was the ADCB LuLu Platinum Credit Card.
The most popular home finance product was home financing from Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, while the most sought after account was the Al Islami current account from Dubai Islamic Bank.
Lastly, the most popular car financing product was Noor Bank’s auto finance service.
Ambareen Musa noted that a closer look at the results reveals that an increasing number of UAE residents are using Souqalmal to search for non-salary transfer personal loans.
“These loans are often the only choice for borrowers who already have an ongoing salary-transfer loan commitment or those who do not qualify for a salary-transfer loan to begin with,” she said.
Additionally, Musa noted that co-branded credit cards generated the most searches, with greater cards that have tie-ups with supermarkets being of particular interest to Souqalmal users, which she said is “a sign that residents are increasingly conscious about their everyday spend and costs of living.”
The issues that saw the highest levels of customer engagement, according to Souqalmal, were debt repayment, savings options and terms and conditions associated with banking and insurance products.
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