South Africa’s banking sector recorded its strongest overall performance in 10 years, achieving an overall Net Sentiment of 27%, according to the 10th edition of the South African Banking Sentiment Index by DataEQ.
The Index analysed 4.8 million online consumer mentions between September 2024 and August 2025, revealing a sector boosted by campaign-driven engagement, even as underlying operational challenges persisted.
Discovery Bank maintained its position as the country’s most positively spoken-about bank, topping the Index with a 61% Net Sentiment. Customers praised its rewards programmes, personalised benefits, and overall banking experience, with social media campaigns such as #DiscoveryBestBank and #TreatMeTuesday amplifying advocacy.
First National Bank followed with 46% Net Sentiment, supported by positive conversation around eWallet, FNB Connect, and branch service, while Absa placed third at 43%, with rewards, cashback offers, and initiatives such as the She’s Next Programme resonating with customers.
“This year’s Index reflects an impressive sentiment performance across the sector, with all banks benefiting from stronger engagement and strategic campaigns. However, the findings also show that sentiment is not uniform across experience areas. Reliability, fairness, and service remain significant challenges for customers. The industry has made clear progress, but there is still important work to be done to build better, more consistent customer experience,” said Aimee Malan, the managing director of DataEQ Consulting.
Campaigns drive positivity, mask operational gaps
Campaign-driven engagement had a significant effect on overall sentiment. With campaigns included, the sector’s Net Sentiment reached 27%, but dropped to just 5% when excluded.
Operational sentiment fell from 29% to -15% without campaigns, highlighting how initiatives such as Discovery’s reward-linked programmes, FNB’s #LoveFNB and Absa’s #WeDoMoreWednesdays shaped perceptions and encouraged positive interaction.
Discovery’s campaigns, for example, encouraged engagement through competitions and customer praise for personalised benefits such as gym discounts, cash-backs, and share access.
FNB customers highlighted app usability, tap-to-pay and virtual card features, and support for small businesses, while Absa saw positivity from initiatives including the Stokvel Awards and the She’s Next programme.
Complaints remain concentrated in service and digital reliability
Despite the positive sentiment, complaints still represented more than a quarter of all online conversation.
Customer service topped the list, cited in 45% of complaints, with long wait times, conflicting information, and unresolved issues frequently mentioned.
Account administration and product issues followed at 41% and 39%, respectively, while digital experience drove frustration for 37% of customers, with outages, app instability, verification failures, and delayed OTPs commonly reported.
Trust emerged as a pressure point across the sector. Net Sentiment scores were most negative for reliability (-86%) and fairness and transparency (-88%), reflecting customer concern over hidden fees, lengthy fraud investigations, and inconsistent service. Security, access, and customer care also scored negatively, underscoring ongoing challenges in building confidence.
Vulnerable customers highlight sectoral risk
For the first time, the Index analysed experiences of vulnerable customers, revealing low Net Sentiment across economic (-79%), life-circumstances (-69%), and social-demographic (-52%) dimensions.
Customers facing debt pressure, income shocks, bereavement, illness, or limited digital access often struggled to navigate banking processes, highlighting gaps in the sector’s ability to adapt to customers’ real-life challenges.
“Online consumer feedback continues to reflect the real, often complex experiences customers face when dealing with their banks. Understanding these signals more clearly will be important as the sector adapts to evolving expectations around service, customer experience, trust and vulnerability,” said Edzani Phiri, the lead banking analyst at DataEQ.
Although the sector celebrated a decade-high sentiment performance, the Index shows that campaigns can only do so much. Operational reliability, transparency, and service remain key areas for improvement, and banks will need to address these issues to translate positive sentiment into lasting trust.
