In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, the role of Customer Experience (CX) has emerged as more than just a support function-it is now a critical pillar of modern banking architecture. As customers increasingly demand seamless, inclusive, and transparent services, banks are recognising that superior customer experience is not merely a competitive advantage, but a necessity for long-term sustainability and trust.
In line with this strategic imperative, the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) hosted a high-level engagement with key customer experience leads from across the banking sector. The meeting took place on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, at the GAB Conference Room, located at No. 12 Tafawa Balewa Street, North Ridge, Accra.
The meeting provided a platform for in-depth engagement and discussion of the findings from the recently concluded Mystery Shopping exercise in Cape Coast and Kasoa in the Central Region of Ghana. The Mystery Shopping initiative forms part of GAB’s broader agenda to promote service excellence, operational consistency, and customer-centric transformation across the banking sector in Ghana. This engagement also offered the Association a platform to set up the Customer Experience Network.
GAB leverages on Working Groups and Networks to deliver on most industry-sensitive activities. These networks mimic the functional areas within the banking architecture; and they consist of the heads of these functional units. An example is the CFOs network (consisting of all the CFOs of member banks), CROs network, COO network, Compliance network, Fraud Network, Research & Strategy Network, etc., and now the Customer Experience Network which consists of the heads of customer experience.
The meeting primarily focused first on the detailed presentation and discussion of findings from the Mystery Shopping exercise, with emphasis on actionable insights for the customer experience (CX) teams. The findings highlighted both service strengths and critical gaps; ranging from customer reception and staff engagement, banking environment & ambience, queue coordination and atm performance & efficiency, to product knowledge and cross-selling abilities.
In attempt to shape the future iterations of the Mystery Shopping initiative, GAB solicited feedback and inputs from the heads of customer experience, as the research team prepares to scale the scope of subsequent surveys in other regions in Ghana. Attendees were encouraged to share perspectives on priority assessment areas that reflect evolving customer expectations and operational realities.
Launch of the GAB Customer Experience Network
The meeting also witnessed the official creation of the GAB Customer Experience Network, a pioneering initiative to foster collaboration, knowledge exchange, and industry-wide best practice development in customer experience. As part of this launch, an Interim Committee was constituted to draft a governance charter that will guide the structure and operations of the network.
A comprehensive presentation was delivered on potential collaboration areas between the GAB-Customer Experience Network and key regulatory and industry stakeholders.
As the banking sector continues its transformation journey, the establishment of the GAB Customer Experience Network marks a strategic step towards entrenching customer-centricity across the ecosystem. By aligning research, policy, and operational practice, the GAB and its member institutions aim to deliver not only compliant and efficient services, but also human-centered, responsive, and accessible banking experiences to their customers and the underserved.
The outcomes of this engagement are expected to directly influence both regulatory dialogue and service innovation initiatives, ultimately benefiting customers and reinforcing trust in the banking system.