Press release -
Best in banking service: A fourth consecutive win for Discovery Bank in ASK AFRICA Orange Index® awards
Johannesburg, 25 September 2025 – On Tuesday, the ASK AFRICA Orange Index®, a leading, independent benchmark study in the field of customer experience, released its survey results, assessing Discovery Bank the best bank in customer service for the fourth year in a row.
Discovery Bank also ranked second this year in the very competitive private banking segment, with Discovery Bank private banking also ranking third across all industries for most authentic brand.
Hylton Kallner, CEO of Discovery Bank, says, “What set us apart again this year is our human touch as a digital bank. Our clients have rated us highest in the industry for empathy, responsiveness, assurance and relationships. That’s powerful, and reaffirms our full-service approach and belief that, as a fully digital bank, we provide both a seamless client journey through our app and a personal 24/7 high touch service for our clients. Our continued innovation across our digital and service capabilities, such as Discovery AI and our WhatsApp channel, allows us to stay in touch with clients and maintain a strong human connection, while operating seamlessly as a branchless and fully digital bank.”
Customer experience (CX) is about how people feel when they interact with a company, its products, or services. For over 20 years, the ASK AFRICA Orange Index® has been the go-to standard for measuring CX in South Africa, looking at how satisfied, connected, and loyal customers feel, spotlighting companies that truly excel in delivering exceptional experiences. Their latest survey consisted of 59,000+ consumer interviews about their real experiences and expectations, which commended Discovery Bank for the best overall client experience among 200 companies across 26 industries in South Africa.
Importantly, and even though Discovery is a digital bank, its performance on service and emotional connection with clients remained the highest rated in the Index among all retail banks. The bank placed first in the latest survey across emotional connection, relationship building, its humanness, and client trust, reflected in the ASK AFRICA Orange Index® overall impact score of 75,38, above the industry average of 65,40.
Kallner says, “How our clients feel about us and how we approach service show our commitment to doing the right thing, and doing it well. I am grateful to the entire Discovery Bank team. It’s a remarkable achievement to provide levels of service that are consistently experienced as excellent. Always putting our clients’ needs first and setting the bar higher through continued excellence in service show their continued commitment, which shines through in winning awards such as these – now for four consecutive years.”
Discovery Bank is also the only bank that scored at least an 80 on PerformFactor™. When it comes to service, the human touch is still key and while Discovery Bank is a fully digital bank, survey respondents gave the bank the industry’s top scores for showing empathy, being responsive to their requests, trust and relationships. Discovery Bank is also the only bank that scored above 70 on FeelFactor™, where clients gave the bank top scores, sharing that Discovery Bank “is honest in its dealings with me,” and “genuinely cares for me and understands me as a client.”
Kallner says, “We are extremely grateful to our clients for acknowledging the work we do to give them excellent client experiences. With our clients rating us best in service and how we make them feel, it is gratifying to see that what we do to bring our human touch to every client interaction is felt and valued in a digital world.”
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About Discovery
Discovery Limited is a South African-founded financial services organisation that operates in the healthcare, life assurance, short-term insurance, banking, savings and investment and wellness markets. Since inception in 1992, Discovery has been guided by a clear core purpose – to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. This has manifested in its globally recognised Vitality Shared-Value insurance model, active in over 40 markets with over 40 million members. The model is exported and scaled through the Global Vitality Network, an alliance of some of the largest insurers across key markets including AIA (Asia), Ping An (China), Generali (Europe), Sumitomo (Japan), John Hancock (US), Manulife (Canada) and Vitality Life & Health (UK, wholly owned). Discovery trades on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange as DSY.
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About Discovery Bank
Discovery Bank is part of Discovery Limited, a financial services organisation that operates in healthcare, life assurance, short-term insurance, investments, banking, and wellness industries, in over 40 markets globally. Built on a shared-value model, Discovery Bank is fundamentally designed to create unique shared value for clients, differentiating the Bank from traditional banking models. Clients are encouraged to manage their money well, monetising healthy financial behaviours that lower their financial risk and realises long-term default and risk savings for the Bank. Discovery Bank shares this value with clients in the form of better interest rates, deep discounts and significant rewards from an exclusive retail, lifestyle and wellness partner network. The model has an overall positive impact on clients, society and Discovery Bank - clients experience greater financial wellbeing, the risk of defaults for Discovery Bank is lowered making the business more sustainable; while improved financial behaviours such as increased savings, higher retirement savings and lower debt levels, benefit society as a whole. Behaviour change and rewards are enabled through Vitality Money, an AI-powered programme on the Discovery Bank app that gives clients an understanding of the behaviours that influence their financial wellbeing, while giving them the tools to improve their financial behaviours. The more clients improve their financial behaviour, the higher their Vitality Money status and the greater the value they receive.
