Why Tanzanian Banking Customer Service Frustrates the Diaspora

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Tanzanian diaspora love their country deeply despite being perceived as mercenaries of hire. Efforts have been made to squeeze their wealth without restoring their constitutional citizenship rights. Still, the diaspora is resilient and believes politics will flip for the better and their stolen citizenship rights will one day be restored. So, they keep investing in their country that brazenly treats them as second-class citizens on their own home soil. The fear of politicians who lack the qualifications to lead suppresses diaspora citizenship rights.

Their fear is the diaspora. Once their constitutional citizenship rights have been restored, incompetent public servants will have nowhere to hide. Lately, the diaspora has been complaining of mistreatment by local banks. This can be summed up as poor banking customer service. This article looks at the diaspora’s consternation and the way forward.

The diaspora is keeping the faith despite the snub over their citizenship and feels the civic duty to persist in pushing the national development wheel. They know that their sweat will not go in vain. Lately, the diaspora has been looking at ways to invest in our money markets but has been accosted by hostile reception. If they want to open a local bank account online, their nightmare begins and never ends!

First, they have to endure a wave of questions as if they are seeking citizenship before an immigration desk. Most questions are personal, which should have been covered in the application form. After going through tough questions, they probably get accepted. Some face rejection for unexplained reasons. Then comes the hard part of getting their bank account cards. Local banks insist upon physical appearance at the branch where their accounts were registered to pick up their cards! Why is that hassle?

Most of the diaspora cannot travel to Tanzania to pick up their bank cards, so they implore those cards to be sent to their overseas addresses. Local banks would have none of that! Diaspora asks whether they can send relatives to collect their cards on their behalf, but the local banks reject that option. So until the diaspora gets a compelling reason to visit Tanzania, the bank card cannot be accessed, and therefore, the cardholder is cut off from using the local bank services. This is because they will need card numbers to upload into their financial apps, and without them, the cardholders are as good as not having them.

Another trouble that awaits them is how to deposit cash. The process is complex and takes many tedious steps to complete. Most of them reach a point where exhaustion takes a better part of them. So, they give up. In all this, the goodwill of the diaspora is frustrated by the bureaucratic inertia and lack of digital customer care. However, when the same diaspora knocks on the door of Kenyan banks, the customer service is really first class.

No questions are asked beyond the personal details framed in the application form. A bank account is opened in a matter of minutes, and a bank card is sent to them. Within two to four working days, the diaspora receives their bank cards, and access to Kenyan bank services proceeds unhindered. Moreover, deposits are also swift, confirming how far Kenyan banks have progressed in developing top-notch digital banking services.

Our banking system still lags in terms of digital services. Even local digital services leave a lot to be desired. Most of our banks have developed their own apps, but they rarely work. From stupefying updates to regular services and unavailability, customers have to endure disruptions in their financial transactions. Some apps keep you in the searching mode as if you have low internet connectivity issues. The apps are just too heavy, while the content is very light. Some apps keep asking you to visit your local branch to remove the bugs in order to use your banking app. Such messages come with such regularity that customers get bored and delink themselves from their app utilities. This means a customer has to appear at the bank in order to transact physically. The World has moved on, but our local banks are reluctant to let the past go away.

What our local banks fail to appreciate is that digital services are the way forward, and there is no backtracking. Digital services reduce banking operational costs and improve the bank’s overall balance sheet. It may lead to a reduced workforce and fewer branches, but it will certainly add more customers as a result of the convenience and efficiency of the transactions. What is happening is that our local banks have been slower to invest heavily in digital technologies and the prerequisite manpower.

This is a bit strange because the number of Tanzanians who have studied digital stuff is growing and remain underemployed. Local banks will continue catching up to Kenyan banks that have invested heavily in manpower with digital know-how. This explains why Kenyan banks have first-class digital services that Tanzanian banks can only dream of. Part of Tanzania bank’s inertia to adopt the latest digital technologies is due to historical factors. Tanzania banks are yet to fully embrace fierce competition. They are still in the deep sleep of government protectionism.

How many Tanzanian banks have crossed borders to open branches there? Are they not a handful? How many branches do they have? Are they not minuscule? But you can see KCB for example which now the darling of Tanzanian diaspora has been expanding in Tanzania to levels our local banks cannot imagine doing in Kenya. Our local banks seemed satisfied with the local market, and lack the ambition to widen its customer base.

Our banks sit on their local laurels without knowing even the local market demands better customer services than the banks have been dishing out. This may lead to an erosion of customer base, reduced profits and manpower dislocation to numb burgeoning operational costs. Ironically, our banks are overstaffed but by the wrong employees who lack training in digital tech. Our banks still operate as if we are still in the analogy phase while we are no longer there.

As a result, the contribution of our banks to the national economy is unacceptably low. Our banks ought to be aggressive and stop sitting on their local laurels. If you have noticed, our banks heavily rely on the goodwill of the government in power to do their business. You will see them falling over themselves to win government transactions, and whichever bank outwits rivals is the one to report favourable annual financial statements. Such a bank is also visible in disbursing her community development initiatives with whomever the banks deem instrumental in locking out competitors.

Beyond investing in treasuries and earning quick profits or lobbying intensively to have the TRA pass tax revenues through their banks, there is very little else our lazy and uncreative banks tend to do except slumber. This expounds on why customer service sucks to the core. Unless banking corporate objectives are directed towards improving digital services to match very high international standards, our local banks may slowly die a natural death.

Read more analysis by Rutashubanyuma Nestory