Covid-19 has spurred an increased uptake in digital offerings around the globe. In particular, the ongoing crisis has highlighted the importance of digital transformation in financial services—especially for organizations operating in competitive markets, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
When it comes to customer support, many consumers have turned to digital channels, such as social media, to contact their banks for assistance. As they increasingly expect the same standard of service across all channels and providers, banks have had to rapidly innovate their customer service approach to better suit social media platforms.
This UAE banking sentiment index, conducted by KPMG in partnership with BrandsEye, offers insight into how UAE banks are addressing customer concerns on social media.
From 1 October – 31 December 2020, 41,430 public Twitter mentions were collected about eight traditional banks and three digital banks. Traditional banks comprised: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank; Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank; Commercial Bank of Dubai; Dubai Islamic Bank; Emirates NBD; First Abu Dhabi Bank; Mashreq Bank; and RAKBank. The digital banks were Liv Bank; Mashreq Neo; and Now Money.
A statistically relevant sample of these mentions was then analyzed to understand consumer concerns within the UAE retail banking sector in areas such as customer service, products, reputational risk and priority conversation.
