Justification of Corporate social responsibility by banks

The banks through Corportate social responsibility are giving back to the community to improve the communities in which they operate. Corporate social responsibility is mandated in many countries for corporates.Banks have discovered that it is equally important for business growth apart from providing excellent customer service and even coming up with very innovative products. It has therefore usual to see in the media banks highlighting their Corporate Social Responsibilities undertaken during specific periods.

Options taken by banks as Corporate Social Responsibility

• Education Foundations for the less privileged yet bright students
• Provision of much needed water, either by funding drilling of boreholes in arid and semi arid areas or where communities have no access to clean water
•  building of classrooms or schools facilities like libraries
•  hold marathons to support eyesight and/or heart operations for the people who are unable to afford the same.

Benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility to the Bank

Even though Corporate Social Responsibility is seen as of great benefit to the communities the banks also benefit from it. Some of the benefits are listed below

• Loyalty by the existing customers due to corporate social responsibility. The existing customers are proud to be associated with the bank that is having a positive impact on the community and are likely to continue banking with them
• Corporate Social Responsibility helps a bank to attract new customers. This is especially true for members of the community targeted by the bank. The new accounts opened lead to business growth and new opportunities.
• Corporate Social Responsibilities boosts the morale of the existing employees as they are proud to be associated with such a bank. This pride in the employer increases employee productivity and reduces staff turnover resulting in reduced costs associated with hiring and training of new staff.
• Corporate Social Responsibilities also singles out the bank as an employer of choice as most potential employees look to them as their ideal employer therefore they are easily able to acquire the best skills in the market.
• Corporate Social Responsibility activities act as advertisement opportunities for the banks’ products. The products sold to the community are seen more than just bank products but as products that result to  Corporate Social Responsibility
• Corporate Social Responsibilities helps in brand reinforcement among the populace. People generally easily associate such a bank and learnt to trust the bank viewing it as the one that cares for the welfare of the community.

Budgets must include the amounts that would be ploughed back to the community banks. Corporate Social Responsibility activities are important and cannot be ignored.

 Clients Customer experience at a bank

After several months of literally  being tracked down by a sales representative or sales executive as they prefer to be called my group decided to open an account at one of the banks, being satisfied that that the features looked good and would serve the interest of the group.

Six months down the line the group held elections as some of the office bearers were moving out of town and it would be prudent to replace them to allow smooth running of the group. There was therefore need to change the account signatories and one of the office bearers was mandated to get all the requirements needed from the bank. This was in readiness for when the other office bearers would be available for this process.

After ensuring all the requirements previously obtained from the bank were in place the office bearers walked confidently to the banks sure that the process would take the shortest time possible. When they got to the customer service desk after patiently waiting on the queue  a blank looking officer informed them that those are not the requirements and went ahead to produce a totally different list of requirements.

Protesting, they explained that they got the previous requirements from that desk and even their request to see the manager was declined. As at this moment the group has not been able to change the signatories and this has greatly hampered the operations of the group.

Reasons for poor customer experience

• Once one opens an account then they become a statistics to the bank, the customer no longer has a face or a name. The bank can proudly say they have reached the one million mark in number of accounts maintained. Customer experience is no longer necessary when the numbers are being achieved.
• Lack of staff training on all areas of banking. Training of staff members on the procedures of the bank is no longer a priority to the banks. It seems like provided you can communicate, press keys on the computer key board and sit on a desk that’s it. One will catch up on procedures as they sit there. This reduces the customers experience since the customer is not assisted.
• Quality of service is not in the interest of banks. It is the number of transactions that matter, profits have become more important.
• Banks are aware that the justice system is slow and a customer needs to have huge resources to file for damages. The banks will not bother to keep their promises. An ordinary account holder is unable to sue the bank due the costs.

Ways for the banks to improve customer experience

• Training is a must. The staffs must be trained in all aspects of serving the customers not just in selling.
• The bank must have standard operational procedures which are known and available to all staff. This will lead to consistency on all operations and forms that customers have to complete. This enhances customer experience.

Customers are the reason why banks operate. The banks must therefore make it a point to improve on their customer experience offering.