Going beyond expectations: banks strategies attract and retain or deter tertiary students’ clientele

The study assesses whether the banks’ strategies help to attract and retain or deter tertiary students from their businesses. It aims to highlight the banks’ need to go beyond expectations in nurturing their students’ clientele. The study can be the banks’ stepping-stone into the seemingly neglected tertiary student (TS) market. Using observation method and bank consultants’ interviews, this study probes South Africa’s (SA) major banks’ service time-lag together with student product offers and information accessibility. The study focused on whether different banks’ product offers, costing and service quality do attract and retain or deter student clients. The questions were based on students’ saving/cheque accounts, credit card and loan facilities accessibility. Findings. Product offers and information were inadequate from branch visits and website searches less informative. Queues time-lag differed from bank to bank, but, overall, unreasonable for TS market with product limitations and generalized information not specific to students’ needs. Further research can be undertaken to gain in-depth understanding of whether urban banks’ strategies for students are distinct to those of semi-rural areas, which was the scope of this study. Banks services are significant for maintaining students’ profiles, providing traceable trails, of sponsors, families and financial transactions, which will be valuable even for periods beyond their academic life. Many live away from their secured homes, expected to survive with limited resources and time constraint. Nurturing these relationship would prepare students for the financial market demands much to the benefit of all stakeholders.