A recent study reveals that South Africa's corporates are generally satisfied with the services and service levels provided by their banks but would nevertheless like to see some improvements in bank provision.

As well as better access to credit, South African business executives would like to see greater price transparency in letter of credit (L/C) pricing. They do not, however, seem to want more face-to-face meetings with their bankers.

Generally satisfied

According to the findings of a survey of the South African corporate banking market by Associate Professor from the business school at Brock University in Ontario, Canada, Dr Brian Metcalfe and PricewaterhouseCoopers, major corporations are generally satisfied with the service levels provided by their lead bank. According to Metcalfe, personal interviews were conducted with financial directors and executives of 70 companies and state-owned entities between April and August 2004.

Scope for improvement

The study shows most companies are satisfied with the number of banks extending lines of credit in the South African market. "The majority of companies said they were "very satisfied" with the level of competition in the lending market," says Metcalfe.

"But there is also scope for improvement on the access to credit side. For example, many companies liked the idea of introducing a standard letter of application via the Internet where they could get access to quotes from all providers of L/Cs", he adds.

Infrequent meetings

Despite the high level of satisfaction with service levels, it appears that face-to-face meetings between companies and their senior bankers occur relatively infrequently.

Thirty-three of the seventy companies surveyed said that they met only once a year with their senior bankers. Thirteen said they met twice a year and sixteen said they had three or more visits per year. Only twenty companies said they wanted more than three visits per year.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.