As uncertainties continue to plague the world's banking and finance systems, coupled with tougher operating hurdles imposed by regulators, financial services firms are looking for ways to control risks while maintaining the client experience.
Due to be phased in from 2013, new rules that will require banks to hold sufficient capital to withstand market turbulence are also forcing players to search for ways to cut costs and trim lending.
Despite the challenging operating environment, CITIC Bank International believes that to remain successful, one of the keys to success is managing the customer experience.
'At branch level, we have put in place a set of guidelines on service delivery to ensure quality service is consistently delivered to customers. We also continually open new branches in order to provide customer convenience and accessibility,' says Winsome Ha, general manager for sales and distribution with the retail banking group CITIC Bank International. 'Our customers should enjoy a similar experience when they visit any branch or talk to our call centre agents,' she adds.
To ensure that customers' needs can be quickly attended to by appropriate staff, CITIC trains service ambassadors and CITICfirst associates stationed within branches to greet and attend to customers' needs. Each branch also has a Putonghua service ambassador to serve customers who speak Mandarin.
To help new recruits learn the routine and deliver consistent customer-centric banking services, CITIC has set up a 19-day New Join Staff Orientation programme, which includes training on the bank's corporate culture, operations, systems, services, compliance standards and product portfolio.
Part of the New Join programme also focuses on innovative ways to serve customers and to meet their banking needs. Ongoing staff reinforcement, coaching and role-play workshops are regularly conducted.