|
|
Botswana: Standard Chartered Introduces 30-Minute Banking
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
7 April 2008
Posted to the web 7 April 2008
Mogomotsi Moloi
At least clients who wish to open new accounts, get personalised cheque books and Visa electronic debit cards at Standard Chartered Bank would no longer queue for a long time, thanks to the newly introduced 30-Minute Banking system.
The initiative was launched last week at the bank's headquarters in Gaborone. It allows customers to walk into any branch, open an account and have access to it immediately - all within 30 minutes. It is available at all Standard Chartered branches countrywide. Failure to provide this service in 30 minutes under certain terms and conditions will empower a customer to claim P10 for every minute that their account opening is not completed.
The bank says this is one of its continued efforts to improve its services in order to give clients quality service. A press statement from Standard Chartered says this process improvement is very critical to the quality of the customer experience at respective branches across the country.
"The changes made, which drastically reduced the time spent processing applications, include the simplification of the account opening form, the reduction of the number of documents that are submitted with the form from a time-consuming 11 to a manageable two, and the immediate availability of the account after opening," reads the statement.
Customers instantly receive a welcome pack, their debit cards and personalised cheque books with an initial 10 pages. Before the pages have been used, the 40-leaf cheque book will be generated and customer service will inform the client that it is ready. The debit card production is automatic and immediate and clients do not have to apply for it separately.
The cards' life span is 10 years and the bank's system would trigger the production of a new one month before expiry. The cheque book renewal system is triggered once a client reaches the 30th page.
Speaking at the media briefing to launch the new system last week, Stanchart head of consumer banking, Pierre Mourier explained that this is the latest addition to a series of service enhancing initiatives introduced by the bank since the advent of the campaign "Watch this Space". He stated that there is a recently introduced backup system to support the existing human resource they have in making the process a success.
"The simplification of the process benefits not only the clients but also our staff who would be able to use the time freed up to further improve the after sales service they provide and increased value-added propositions for an end-to-end superior service quality and experience for customers," he said.
He told the media that, for the moment, the instant account opening applies only to ordinary savings and current accounts.
But targeted products such as Peo and Diva are not yet offered in 30 minutes, said Mourier. "However, the teams at Standard Chartered Bank are working hard to enable to extend this service to include these products," he promised.
|
He added that over the last couple of years, Standard Chartered has made strides in good service delivery. "The 30-Minute Banking is meant to try and innovate the product, market and branding," he asserted. He emphasised that the bank is serious about service delivery hence they take major steps in improving products.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
