News

In some corners of the world, the branch still rules

May 9, 2013

Self-service banking at the ATM might be all that in some parts of the world, but in Ghana, folks still prefer a bricks-and-mortar banking experience. A survey this spring by global accounting firm KPMG revealed that the branch still rates in first place for Ghanaian bank customers. 

A report at Ghana Web said that 60 percent of those surveyed said they use the bank to withdraw cash rather than an ATM, while 83 percent said they prefer to pay their bills at the branch rather than online. This comes despite major technology investment by banks to entice customers to use less expensive banking challenges.

More than half of all customers (56 percent) even prefer to check their account balance at the branch; 38 percent reported that they use the ATM; only 3 percent said they used a mobile phone.

Ghana remains one of the seriously underbanked countries on the African continent. According to the Ghana Web report, on 30 percent of Ghana's 25 million citizens use a bank. There are currently just 26 registered commercial banks and 889 bank branches in the country.

The annual KPMG Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey launched just this year, covering 25,000 customers in 14 African countries.

Read more about trends and statistics.