Surveying the reputation-regulation interface in the SABI industry: Perspectives of private banking customers

Abstract

Purpose: Bank reputations took a severe knock following the global financial crisis of 2007–2009. To get the global banking industry back on its feet, regulations existing at the time were strengthened and new ones were introduced. While the industry has come a long way in clawing back its reputation, research on the present state of reputations of some global banks suggests that these reputations are still underpinned by national regulators. In the South African context, it is not clear to what extent bank reputations are underpinned by the reputation of the main banking regulator: the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). This article looks at perceptions of private banking customers to ascertain whether they believe that bank reputations derive from the reputation of the regulator.Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative research methodology was applied. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from 111 banking customers using a Likert scale. Four hypotheses on reputation-regulation relationships were then tested using the non-parametric Wilcoxon Signed Rank test.Findings/results: The results show that regulation plays no role in how private banking customers perceive bank reputations.Practical implications: This study highlights that there is little scope for banks to accrue ‘reputational rent’ by free riding on the reputation of the regulator. Banks must therefore take steps to proactively engage in their own reputation building exercises.Originality/value: This research is the first to look at the reputation–regulation interface in the local banking industry from private banking customers’ perspective. It highlights that each bank must work hard to build the reputation it desires.