Abstract

ATM and customer satisfaction is one of the most debated areas in the banking industry. Banks customers are aware of the importance and service offered by ATM banking. Thus customers are interested in fast and reliable means of carrying out their banking transactions.

This study sought out to examine the effect of ATM service on customer satisfaction case study of NFC bank Buea. the specific objectives of the study were; What are the services offered by ATM of NFC Bank Buea, how effective are the services provided by ATM to account holders of NFC Bank Buea? What are the problems faced by customers while using ATM services offered by NFC Bank Buea? From there, 3 research questions were formulated and the hypothesis stated in both null and alternative form.

The study adopted the case study research design and sample size of 30 ATM users of NFC Bank Buea Branch and the sampling technique used is a purposive sample technique. A total number of 30 questionnaires were used for the collection of primary data for this study. Data was analyzed using SPSS VERSION 21 and results were presented in tables and chats. The study found that the use of ATM in NFC bank is very convenient.

The result found that ATM service has a significant effect on customer satisfaction of NFC Bank. The study concluded that ATM services offered by NFC Bank Buea are ineffective. The study further recommended that; NFC Bank Buea should engage in regular servicing of ATM machines in order to curb the problem of machine breakdown so as to accelerate its service delivery, also NFC Bank Buea should install ATM machines at different checkpoints such as busy streets, markets, university areas, and NFC Bank Buea should subscribe to different Telecom industries such as CAMTEL, MTN, NEXTEL, ORANGE in order to solve the problem of network breakdown.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1Background of the Study

The history of the ATM can be traced back to the 1960s, the first automated banking machine only collected cheques and deposits, and was invented by America inventor and businessman, Luther Simjian in 1960. A Scottish inventor John Shepherd-Barron who was managing director of De La Rue Instruments invented the first ATM machine that used paper vouchers printed with radioactive ink, a machine used by Barclays Bank (Barclays Bank in Enfield Town in North London, United Kingdom) on 27 June 1967 (Anderson, 1993).  Finally, in 1969 Donald Wetzel created the first ATM in the united states that used d plastic cards similar to the ones we used today.

ATMs are known by various other names including automatic banking machine (or automated banking machine particularly in the United States) (ABM), Automated Transaction Machine, Cashpoint (particularly in the United Kingdom), Money Machine, Bank Machine, Cash Machine, Hole-In-The-Wall, Autoteller (after the Bank of Scotland’s usage), Cashline Machine (after the Royal Bank of Scotland’s usage), MAC Machine (in the Philadelphia area), Bankomat (in various countries particularly in Europe and including Russia), Multibanco (after a registered trademark, in Portugal), Mini-bank in Norway, Geld Automaat in Belgium and the Netherlands, and ATM in Uganda (Khelton, 2014).

In Africa, ATMs are being introduced for the first time and we must understand the new users who live within a culture, which may bring new factors into the adoption curve. It concentrates on urban Africa but the approach can be generalized to cover other public (and personal) technologies, as well as other developing markets.

ATM payment system which, according to Oboh (2005), was first introduced into the Nigerian financial service sector in the late 1980s by Societe General Bank, First Bank and Equity Bank has in no small measure enhanced the electronic payment system.

In addition, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has recently engaged in series of reformations aimed at both making the Nigerian financial system formidable and enhancing the overall economic performance of Nigeria so as to place it on the right path in tune with global trends. One of the major reforms is the Cashless Policy.

Tanzania banking sector has adopted the use of ATM in offering services. National Microfinance Bank (NMB) Ifakara branch introduced ATM services in 2009, and now customers are accessing the service.

1.2 Statement of Problem

Numerous studies have been done in countries like the USA, UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Finland, and Australia on the effect of ATM in providing bank services and customer satisfaction (Gerrard and Cunningham, 2006). However, no sufficient work has been done in Cameroon with regard to ATM services and customer satisfaction issues. It is therefore against this background that the researcher was prompted to investigate and find out the effect of ATM services and customers` satisfaction in bank Atlantique Bamenda Branch.

In many parts of the world the majority of bank customers regularly use Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) and today‟s western youth have not known a world without them. For them, the prevailing Perception of a cash machine is that of a tool providing a familiar functionality of basic financial information and dispensing cash.

Balunywa, (2014) disclosed that ATM has diverse merits but customers still complain of shortfalls on the use of the system such as; break downs of ATMs, long queues at ATM service points, retention of customers cards, limited knowledge on the use of ATM cards, fraudulent transactions and its operation in just a few languages. Much as Stanbic Bank has managed to put up 173 machines they are still experiencing long queues in the banking hall and at the ATM point with no clear known cause.

Korah (2015) argued that ATM technology in the banking industry has caused long queues which lead to continuous customer dissatisfaction since people wait for hours to get the cash needed to meet their daily expenses and limit customers daily withdraw between Ushs 800,000 to Ushs 1,000,000 depending on individual bank policy like Stanbic Bank allows daily maximum withdraw at Ushs 1,000,

1.2 Objective of the Study

2.1 Main Objective

The main objective of this study was to obtain information on the effect of the ATM system on customer satisfaction in the Cameroon banking sector case study of Banque Atlantique Buea.

2.2 Specific Objectives

1. To examine services offered by ATM at Banque Atlantique Buea.
2. To examine the effectiveness of ATM services
3. To study the problems faced by customers while using ATM services offered by Banque Atlantique Buea.

1.3 Research Questions

1. What are the services offered by ATM of Banque Atlantique Buea?
2. How effective are the services provided by ATM to account holders of Banque Atlantique Buea?
3. What are the problems faced by customers while using ATM services offered by Banque Atlantique Buea?