A review of Banking Companies in South Africa | StarInsights eKomi

Introduction

Which South African (SA)  banks are the best? 

When searching for a dependable financial institution, everything boils down to taking the best choice. There are several banks in SA that claim to offer the greatest services, including minimal transaction fees, quick loans with low-interest rates, simple withdrawal, and deposit processes, high-interest rates on savings, and high-interest rates on loans.

With plenty of offers, it’s not always easy to know which type of account to choose, let alone know which bank to choose. This StarInsights report examines the banking sector in SA based on publicly released results from Google Seller Ratings and its aggregated system of ratings and reviews.

Industry Overview

The banking sector manages cash, credit, and other financial transactions for both private individuals and corporate entities. One of the main forces behind the SA economy is banking, which provides the liquid capital that households and businesses need to invest in the future.

All banks in a particular country are required to be registered and regulated by the country’s respective frameworks. In SA financial institutions are regulated by various entities, such as the South African Reserve Bank, Financial Services Board, National Credit Regulator, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Financial Intelligence Centre, South African Revenue Service, National Treasury, and Department of Labour.

These regulatory boards have the responsibility to, among other things, protect financial customers by promoting fair treatment of financial customers by financial institutions, including banks, offering financial education programmes to current and potential customers, and otherwise promoting financial literacy and the capacity of current and potential customers to make wise financial decisions. They basically increase financial inclusion to increase access to financial services.

Over time, both personal and business banking has changed, with internet and mobile banking furthering convenience and creativity. This means the comparison of banks based on banking fees, rates, banking tech, and accessibility is less significant, as there are new ways that are crucial to consider when looking for a bank.

Without a doubt, online reviews offer a great deal of helping consumers to choose the best bank because they emphasise the good and bad of the banking business. Thus making it easy to ease your decision-making process.

The best approach to learning what to avoid, what to watch out for, and what to expect is to read reviews from actual customers. With the necessary knowledge, you may open a bank account that perfectly suits your needs and spending limit. After in-depth research, here is a list of SA’s top-rated and reviewed financial Institutions that you can rely on for both your personal and company finances in order to help you choose a decent bank in SA today

Top-rated Banks in SA

Banks	Ratings	Number of Reviews
Firstrand Bank Holdings, Ltd	5.0	3
Absa | Corporate and Investment Bank	4.4	327
Investec Johannesburg	4.3	73
Nedbank Group Limited	4.2	96
The Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd	4.1	332
Discovery HQ	3.3	13
WesBank HQ	2.4	136
Capitec Bank HQ	2.4	37
African Bank HQ	0	0

Most-reviewed Banks in SA

Banks	Number of Reviews	Ratings
The Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd	332	4.1
Absa | Corporate and Investment Bank	327	4.4
WesBank HQ	136	2.4
Nedbank Group Limited	96	4.2
Investec Johannesburg	73	4.3
Capitec Bank HQ	37	2.4
Discovery HQ	13	3.3
Firstrand Bank Holdings Ltd	3	5.0
African Bank HQ	0	0

From the above-tabulated findings, Firstrand Bank Holdings received an absolutely perfect Star Rating of 5 out of 5 in Google Seller Rating and occupies the Best-Rated position, However, the number of reviews for Firstrand are surprisingly low, they accumulated only three reviews. Absa Bank stands up in the second position with a stable 4.4-star rating, and Investec comes third with a 4.3-star rating.

In the category of the most reviewed Bank, The Standard Bank has a commanding lead over other banks in SA. The results of Standard Bank are all the more amazing because having a good rating with a large sample size is a very desirable feature, with a 4.1-star rating from 332 reviews. Absa Bank is not far from the top position, the bank is positioned second having obtained 327 reviews, while WesBank is positioned third with 136 reviews.

Kudos to the CEO’s and executive teams of the above-listed Banks for taking a customer-centred approach that enables trust in their brand. In this increasingly competitive business, these banks recognised that gaining favourable evaluations and maintaining high customer satisfaction ratings is critical to success. Other listed banks do have a notable rating, it is, however, important to understand that more reviews mean more business, sales, and growth.

With such an outcome shown above, eKomi wants more businesses to be aware of the correlation between online star ratings and sales. It has been revealed that customers have access to more resources and are more likely to locate a product that meets their specific needs. Therefore, a collection of reviews remains the best vehicle to rise up to the top rank for any business.