The 5th Annual Survey of Japan Financial Institution Customer Ratings METER®

• Report

Nikkei Research Inc. has released the latest version of its Japan Financial Institution Customer Ratings METER®, a survey where 160,000 people rated financial institutions in Japan. Metrics of loyalty indicators such as CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) and NPS (Net Promoter Score) was used.
The survey was conducted online in September 2021 among general individuals nationwide. The survey is held every year, started in 2017, and is the 5th time. A total of 150 financial institutions were evaluated, including major banks, regional bank, trust banks, securities companies, life insurance companies, and non-life insurance companies.

Ratings breakdown by various perspectives

The survey asked users of each financial institution to rate in various perspectives, including CSAT, and loyalty indicators such as NPS and CES (Customer Effort Score). The reasons for the ratings are also followed up by an open-ended question. Each evaluation of financial institution can be breakdown by the products held by customers, services used, and points of contact, making it easy to analyze the results for deriving insights for improvements. In addition, users were asked what they want from financial institutions and what each financial institution is doing in relation to "Fiduciary Duty," which the Financial Services Agency of Japan is urging financial institutions to practice. The survey also covers whether financial institutions offer suggestions, listen to customer’s needs, and follow up on them, or not. Analysis can be run over the relationship between these actions and the actual ratings of financial institutions.
*Net Promoter® and NPS® are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.

Understanding peoples' financial behavior and attitudes

The survey measures not only gender, age, financial products held, and financial assets, but also contact points with financial institutions, savings and investment style, risk tolerance, and financial literacy, making it possible to understand the characteristics of respondents and analyze them by target groups.

Covering the “where people seek for consultations” through the buying process

To provide data backing the decisions upon taking measures in this COVID era, the sources of consultation by each phase (information search, alternatives evaluation, product review) for investment products, life insurance products, and non-life insurance products, are covered.

Table 1. List of survey items covered

Ratings of financial institutions

The average scores of CSAT, CES, and NPS by type of business, are shown in Table 2. Across the business type, major banks had the lowest CSAT and NPS, while life insurance companies had the lowest CES. In the previous survey a year ago, online banks/merchandiser operated banks had the highest scores in all indicators.

Table 2. CSAT, CES, NPS: average scores by business type

Nikkei Research’s Japan Financial Institution Customer Ratings METER® includes the detailed results by each individual financial institution. It can be used as an essential data upon considering how to engage with your target audiences and plan effective promotions.

Please contact us if you are interested in further details.