The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr. M. S. Haq

It is a true story. One of the clients of Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh (SCB) visited yesterday (around 10:30 am of 23 August 2008) the bank's Dhanmondi branch at Road 2, Dhaka - 1209. The purpose was to obtain a certificate pertaining to deduction of taxes at source for the period between 01 July 2007 and 30 June 2008 - both days inclusive. Interesting though, I have had the opportunity not only to accompany the client to the branch but to observe, and to participate in, transactions that took place between SCB personnel and us (the client plus me) on two occasions and between SCB personnel and me on one occasion - all on the same day in connection with the above matter.

The client, after initial conversations with the receptionist, decided to see the branch manager - but it was his off day. She then asked for the next-in-command. We were asked to see him in a corner 'room'. We found the gentleman (I mean, the next-in-command) talking to perhaps one of his clients in that room. The room was shared by another bank official and that official also had a client. The layout and the structure of the room were such - we were able to overhear most of the conversation inside the room at that time. It instantly occurred to me: how much vulnerable the safety and security of clients and their bank information were, to the hands of say, criminal-s, who might be loitering in the branch premises perhaps in the guise of customers, for an instance?

It appeared to me, among other things: the structural insufficiency (in terms of say, physical structures) associated with the room or rooms similar to that room in banking environments of above nature or similar to above nature could be instrumental in inter alia: affording the criminals an easy access to physical profiles of clients and their account related information; creating or enhancing (or both) opportunities for them to plan and execute a variety of criminal acts - both inside and outside of say, that branch; and strengthening or sustaining (or both) covers for SCB insiders associated with those acts - if and as applicable. I wrote - in certain national dailies of Bangladesh - about possible risks and threats associated with the structural insufficiency at SCB and at other concerned banks on one or two occasions in the past. I also took up the matter with SCB's heads of corporate affairs and human resources in person and over the phone on more than one occasion, again in the past. But results in relevant areas are yet to be visible to me and to whom it might concern.

It is expected SCB and other concerned banks will consider the matter seriously this time and contribute positively to inter alia ongoing local and national efforts towards improving what I would call banking health and banking welfare at client levels. Measures such as and as appropriate: re-locating strategic work stations in less crowded areas of for example the SCB branch; making those work stations sound proof; and improving client interview processes for say, higher operational productivity (efficiency + effectiveness) than that at present; could do the needful in the matter of banking health and the banking welfare.

Now let us go back to the story. When the second-in-command saw us through the transparent partition of the room and came to know we had been waiting for him, he requested us to take the seat outside of the room. We went to the empty office of the branch manager and waited there for him. After a while, he came to the branch manager's office. We informed him we needed the certificate (mentioned above) that day (23 August 2008) due to certain incumbencies. He told us it would not be possible for the branch to issue the certificate that day and added the type of certificate the client had requested for, is issued normally a day later from the day of request. For the client, it would imply inter alia she could - based on her application of 23 August 2008 - receive the certificate on 25 August 2008 and not the next day due to an intervening holiday on 24 August 2008. On our query, he informed us the SCB service charge for the certificate was Taka 575 plus VAT. When we raised our concern before him about the high charge for a service of above nature, he then called someone over the phone and confirmed to us subsequently - Taka 300 plus VAT was the charge.

On our query as to why the certificate could not be issued that day given urgencies attached to it - he first told us none of the branch personnel including him had - on that day - an access to information needed for the certificate. We then asked him about the Gulshan - 2 branch, he repeated the same thing. At one stage of the discussion - we asked him - could we see the staff member responsible for the preparation of certificate? He then informed us the staff member was busy in preparing the pending certificates. It was then only clear to us - accessing information was not a problem. Thereafter, on our repeated requests and our readiness to pick up the certificate before the closure of the branch that day, he agreed to issue the certificate and asked us to pick that up at 1 pm from the concerned staff member - whom he introduced then to us. The client thanked him for his cooperation and we left the branch immediately after that.

At about 12:37 pm I arrived at the branch (a bit earlier, though) for picking up the certificate. The concerned staff member was with a client at that time. After a few minutes, he delivered me the certificate duly signed by the authorized person. I thanked him for that. But when I was glancing through the certificate, I discovered a minor mistake in the client's address. I requested him to correct it and issue a new one. He expressed his inability to do that because the bank's prescribed letter head had been exhausted. I accepted his inability but requested him to assist me in checking the accuracy of account numbers indicated in the copies of certificate. Fortunately, I brought along the client's account number. In the checking process, we discovered wrong account numbers and wrong figures. The concerned staff member corrected those mistakes; printed new copies of the certificate, using the prescribed letter head; and delivered again to me the duly signed copies - the entire operations took less than 15 minutes.

It will not be out of place to mention here, the client had, on receipt of the certificate from me, discovered another mistake. She brought the matter immediately to the attention of one of the staff members - who was about to leave the office for the day - over the telephone. The staff member requested her to bringing back the copy of certificate to the branch for correction on the next working day - 25th day August 2008. Further, despite the fact, the format of bank's certificate was similar to what the client had requested for previously, the second-in-command could not advise her properly in that respect.

A brief analysis of above facts would reveal inter alia several developmental areas for SCB at structural, non-structural and other levels. A change management strategy supported by a solid strategy implementation and monitoring regime will be required for, among other things, supplementing and complementing existing efforts towards dealing with those developmental areas, per se. The strategy should focus on inter alia measures such as and as appropriate - presented not in the order of priority and importance:

1. improve organizational culture reflecting especially on ethics of banking at client-product interface levels;

2. enhance physical human security at bank-client transaction levels - a few recommendations have already been made in pertinent paragraphs of the article. Develop and implement early warning security system with the help and support of other banks, the country's law enforcement agencies including inter alia RAB, and concerned others. If the system does exist at this point in time then strengthen that system for more reliable and just-in-time services;

3. improve product knowledge and product familiarities at respective levels of leadership and operation. In that respect, improve foreign exchange management at certain branches of SCB.

4. upgrade human resources development activities for say, facilitating intra-bank leadership successions (I mean, at various levels of leadership) in a more impact-oriented and return-oriented manner than that at present. In that respect, ensure higher level professional selling skills development opportunities for say, aspiring and promising intra-bank leaders;

5. maximize the return on investments in areas such as entrepreneurial skills development, organizational skills development, organizational learning, and management of uncertainties for sustaining and enhancing the bank's comparative, competitive and other advantages at local, national and other levels through the foreseeable future;

6. identify the cause, effect and causality relating to neglect of work and implement remedial measures in relevant areas;

7. intensify war on poor quality of services on a continuous basis;

8. minimize, if not eliminate wastage for bringing down the bank's service charges and enhancing the bank's reputational costs - used in a positive sense, to mention a few;

9. promote public-private partnerships in the banking sector with or without the help and assistance of for example, Bangladesh Bank in pursuit of for example cultivating corporate culture in the above sector. Explore possibilities for transforming the bank's relevant operations into the World Bank type operations in areas say, poverty reduction and better governance - using for example the SCB's social responsibility window; and

10. subject the bank's servo-mechanism (used in an engineering sense) to regular and periodic maintenance programs - as required - in pursuits of coping with swings of demand and supply in areas say, client services at any given time;

SCB and other banks should accelerate efforts - at individual, collective and other levels - towards inter alia reducing the gap between the product rhetoric and the product reality in a meaningful and sustainable manner and to the satisfaction of all concerned. Further, I will be failing in my duties if I do not mention here how much pleased we are with the services provided to the client so far by Gulshan 2 branch of SCB. I wrote about that along with certain measures for improvement - in a number of national dailies of Bangladesh - at least on two occasions in the past and shared the copies of write ups with SCB for information, and action - as appropriate. The client had recently conveyed her appreciation about the performance of Gulshan 2 branch to one of SCB's high officials in one of the meetings with the bank. Let us work towards improving, sustaining and promoting the outcome of country's banking sector through the foreseeable future.