The Influence of Agency Banking on Customer Satisfaction in the Banking Industry in Arusha Municipality, Tanzania: A Case of National Microfinance Bank

Agency banking has become one of the essential services in the banking sector in bringing their services closer to the people at the grass -root or in remote areas where brick and mortar branches are not present. Tanzania has witnessed the mushrooming of the agency banking services to supplement the incapacitated areas of banking services, however its link on the customer satisfactions is yet documented, therefore, the study sought to determine the effect of agency banking services on customer satisfaction in the banking industry in Arusha Municipality, Tanzania covering a case of National Microfinance Bank. The study used exploratory research design because the major emphasis is on discovery of ideas and insights. The study covered a stratified random sample of 60 respondents. Data collection was done using questionnaire, interview and review of documents. Data analysis was done quantitatively using descriptive and inferential statistics and the findings are presented in tables and figures. Qualitative data were analyzed in themes according to the study objectives. The study revealed that the quality of agency banking services influence customer satisfaction with quality of agency banking having a strong positive correlation of 0.877, convenience had a strong positive correlation of 0.668, agency banking service location had a strong correlation of 0.803 and service reliability had a strong positive correlation of 0.586. Based on the study findings, it can be concluded that emergence of the agency banking services remain of significance on the growth of banking industry and customer satisfaction in Tanzania, with aspects of quality of the services, reliability, location and convenience of the service being important variables in customer satisfaction. Based on the findings the study recommends the bank should continue to create more awareness on Agency banking services, the bank agents should ensure that there is security at his or her business as this will build trust and more customers will transact. The bank should also add more services in agency banking e. g. account opening. The bank should frequently train its agents on service delivery.