Retail Client and Bank Branch. Expectations

The traditional model of organizing the work of a bank branch involves servicing both individuals and legal entities. As banking institutions developed, new models of work organization appeared. One of them consists in transferring corporate clients for servicing to the central office and assigning exclusively the function of servicing individuals to branches. At the same time, the primary task of the departments is to attract new customers and increase the number of products sold and balances. This task seems quite logical for the bank as a whole, nevertheless, it may differ from the goals and objectives that the bank’s clients pursue.

For a client, one of the main functions of a bank branch may be a service-consulting. Clients most often ask for information, clarifications, questions about servicing. The reason for coming to the bank branch can be both the connection of additional services and the issue of servicing a loan. The main flow of people in the department is made up of existing customers.

The branch is still the place where people go to open a debit account or get a loan. But of the total flow of customers in the bank branch is relatively small. The metropolitan branch of an average retail bank can record 2500 calls per month (100-150 calls per day), and 50-100 of them are new customers.

People think that the main task of the bank branch is to attract new customers. On the other hand, for customers, a branch is primarily a place where products sold by the bank receive quality support. After all, customers primarily go there for quality service – consultation, information, advice.

Personal managers are those bank employees whose task is to attract new customers to the bank and their subsequent service. However, not all customers need a personal manager. Only 15% of clients in one branch need the services of a personal manager. As a rule, these clients were purposefully attracted to the bank by personal managers. Their desire to apply to this particular bank arose not spontaneously but under the influence of contact with the appropriate manager.

Those customers who came to the bank on their own most often do not need the services of a personal manager. They are usually serviced by any bank employee who provides quality advice on existing banking products.

To ensure the normal functioning of the bank branch, the presence of qualified consultants but not personal managers is critical. The role of a personal manager becomes relevant when the bank begins to single out the upper middle class as its target segment.

What else makes people come to the bank branch?

Loans and credit cards are traditional banking products that still attract people to banks. Moreover, the number of applications related to servicing loans is hundreds of times greater than the number of initial applications for a loan. The department records an average of about 200 initial loan requests per month. About 50 applications will be suitable for the bank’s credit criteria, and customers will receive approval for a loan. The number of applications related to the subsequent support and servicing of loans or loan products ranges from 1000 to 1500 per month.

The main volumes of sales of consumer loans are made in places where credit funds can be immediately sold. The number of requests for a loan specialist based in a shopping center or car dealership significantly exceeds the number of requests for loans at a bank branch. Nevertheless, specialists offering loans or credit cards in a shopping center cannot provide further servicing of this loan. After the decision to give out a loan is made, work with such customers goes to the level of the bank branch. The client comes to the department in order to make another payment, to clarify the amount of debt, the size of the current payment or to find out what needs to be done for early repayment.

A branch-specific function of the economy – receiving and issuing cash – is closely related to servicing loans. Today, a person usually gets cash from an ATM and all other transactions are made in non-cash form. Still, cash is an inevitable reality. Most of the payments on loans are in cash. ATMs with instant cash deposits are becoming more widespread but they still cause concern among half of the bank’s customers.

The majority of real estate transactions are made in cash. The volume of such a transaction varies from several hundred thousand to several million dollars. Accordingly, only the cashier can accept or issue these funds.

The large turnover of cash in the realities of the modern world creates a new problem. How to separate a legitimate transaction from a cash-out transaction? Employees of the bank branch are actually the only people who personally communicate with the client. They are the eyes and ears of the bank. In this regard, they have a relatively new function for retail financial institutions to counter the legalization of income derived from illegal activities.

In a personal conversation, the employee should try to determine the profile of the client, whether he/she is an ordinary person or a professional who provides cash withdrawal services. This meeting is the key to determining whether the customer who regularly receives money from a certain company and withdraws it from the account is the person who receives the commission for “cashing out” or whether he or she needs cash to pay for purchases.

Thus, we can argue that the banking branch is a complex structure with a set of diverse functions. The task of attracting new customers is far from the main among these functions.

First of all, it is an information service center that provides product support and helps customers solve service issues. As part of this escort, the banking branch is the center for receiving and issuing cash.

Secondly, the employees of the banking branch are the only people who personally communicate with the client, they are the eyes and ears of the bank when implementing the “Know Your Client” policy.

What tasks does the bank usually pose to the manager of a branch?

The main task of the manager is to keep the team in good shape, motivating employees to work to achieve their plans. And the set plans are expressed in the number of attracted customers and the growth of balances.

• Wesley Cook