The Race to Zero - a mystery banking exercise 2009

Eighty20 examines the costs of low-cost bank accounts after obtaining contradictory data from multiple data sources (internet, branch, call centre) on the cost of point-of-sale withdrawals for the Absa Mzansi account. To gather comparable data they opened accounts at Standard Bank, Nedbank, FNB, Postbank and Capitec. While the study began with a focus on costs, it merged into exploring the consumer experience of banking more generally. The experience provided valuable insights on some of the key challenges for first-time banking customers.

Eighty20's experience with these bank accounts raises many issues - including how to encourage a more customer and experience focused approach within the Charter process, and how to create mechanisms to disseminate this information more widely within the market to ensure that the market really does start to work.