Ghana’s banking sector is rebuilding after a period of macro-financial stress. Profitability and liquidity metrics are recovering, but competition for retail and SME wallets is intensifying, and customer expectations are rising.
In that environment, customer service is not a slogan; it is an economic strategy. When done well, it raises revenues, lowers cost-to-serve, reduces credit friction and strengthens franchise value. And when done poorly, it is an avoidable drag on returns and a pathway to client attrition.
This piece makes three linked arguments. First, it argues that banks must treat staff as primary customers, delivering internal services that empower staff to delight external clients.
Second, it argues that every employee (not just those in “customer service”) must see themselves as a co-deliverer of the customer experience. Third, it underscores the fact that the payoff is measurable as customer service excellence creates revenue and cost benefits that are visible in bank performance.
The logic behind the need for our banks to treat staff as their first customers is simple and deeply empirical. The service-profit chain, according to a 1994 study by Heskett et al., posits that the canonical framework linking internal service quality to employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability remains robust in both research and practice. When frontline and back-office staff receive timely systems, clear processes, training and managerial support, their satisfaction and capability rise; that translates into higher-quality customer interactions, stronger retention, and more cross-sell. And for banks, the transmission is direct; as such, each time the bank eliminates friction, it reduces cost-to-serve and increases the probability of profitable businesses. Indeed, the service-profit chain literature and subsequent empirical studies by scholars like Heskett and Hogreve show that internal service quality, the behaviours and processes that colleagues deliver to each other, predict external service quality and financial results.
The economics of how customer service delivers value and captures value
There are three quantifiable channels. First, revenue increases through loyalty and cross-selling. Firms that score higher on customer advocacy metrics capture higher organic growth. Likewise, loyal customers buy more products, generate referral business, and cost less to serve.
Second, it delivers lower cost-to-serve. Streamlined journeys and first-contact resolution reduce repeat contacts and manual work. For instance, a 2014 and 2022 McKinsey analysis on customer experience shows that improving the customer journey can raise revenues by several percentage points while cutting cost-to-serve by roughly 15–20% in many sectors.
Third, customer service lowers credit and operational risk. Better service increases transparency, shortens disputes, and raises the probability of early problem detection. For example, when a small business reports cash-flow stress, effective customer service would ensure early remediation to lower loss-given-default and reduce the build-up of problem loans, an important consideration for Ghanaian banks still digesting legacy asset-quality issues.
How to drive the industry momentum
The practical agenda for Ghanaian bank management should be to first prioritise treating employees as customers. This involves measuring internal service quality, running internal Net Promoter Score, and linking improvements to external customer outcomes. Also, it requires embedding customer metrics across functions. From compliance to IT, banks must set up customer-impact KPIs and SLAs. Additionally, Banks must invest in frontline enablement to ensure quick decision-making for SMEs, better branch tooling, and empowered call-centre escalation protocols. Furthermore, banks must use data to close loops and exact accountability, and to reward collaboration, not silos. Performance management should credit cross-functional problem resolution and reduce perverse incentives that prioritise departmental KPIs over customer outcomes.
In conclusion, an all-inclusive, hands-on-deck delivery of customer service excellence is an economic imperative, not a nicety. Indeed, Ghanaian banks must perceive and increasingly utilise customer service excellence as a strategic lever to capture market share, lower operating costs, and reduce credit friction at a time when margins are squeezed and asset-quality improvements are urgent. Adopting this approach to customer service excellence comes at a cost, but it significantly improves return on assets and return on equity.
The author is Oscar Onai - Economist - PMR, National Investment Bank, Ghana - oscar.onai@nib.com.gh