BEING flexible and understanding ones business. These were just some of the common remarks picked up by Asset Benchmark Research (ABR) this year from Asia-based CFOs and treasurers about the service providers they work with.

Interacting with close to 800 of these individuals through surveys or interviews ABR was able to formulate this year’s Client Satisfaction Index (CSI) 2019 for overall transaction banking satisfaction looking at both cash management and trade finance services holistically.

While some banks consistently maintained their top 10 overall positions there were likewise several new players who broke into the upper echelon of client satisfaction in the region such as BNP Paribas which has been actively working with financial technology companies to offer clients more meaningful solutions.

Leading the pack this year in overall client satisfaction was HSBC, which stormed up the rankings having been outside the top 10 for the last several years. The bank, like others in the market, has been steadfast in revamping its internal operations to keep up with the growing demands of its clients. During the surveying period ABR discovered that clients of HSBC were especially satisfied with the implementation process of the bank. Other positive comments include its knowledge in coordinating with second or third tier banks within mainland China and how that greatly affected the collection operations of one client.

Not far behind HSBC in satisfaction and tied for second place are Bank of China and DBS. The Singapore-based bank over the past several years has been aggressively growing its business across key markets in the region. Digitalization has been a key pillar for the bank’s transaction banking unit, which has seen a roll out of useful services such as DBS Max which allows merchants to conduct real-time collections for easy reconciliation.

Conducted by Asset Benchmark Research (ABR) in February 2019, participants were asked how satisfied they were with their respective bank's services through a series of online surveys and interviews. ABR has now been conducting data assessment of Asian-based CFOs and treasurers for seven years. This year's CSI is based on the survey views of close to 800 CFOs and treasurers in the Asia region.

To see the list of rankings and information about our methodology please click here.

To see last year's full list of rankings please click here.

To learn more about our Treasury Review please click here.

For country and service analyses please get in touch with ABR at [email protected]