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SCMP Reporter

Quality might be said to be in the blood of Hang Seng Bank, which has won a certificate of excellence.

   The bank's deputy chief executive, Roger Luk Koon-ho, said it had been a tough job competing in a field involving 20 entries but the findings had been beneficial to the company.

  'There was a team of adjudicators here to talk to staff at various levels to cross-check what we said [in our documentation] and do their evaluations,' Mr Luk said.

  That exercise resulted in 'quite a few pages of feedback', detailing various ways the bank could do its job better.

  To be fair, the adjudicators had suggested the bank try moving up from its already high standard.

 'Our quality is our commitment to service,' Mr Luk said.

  However mundane that might sound, Mr Luk said the credo could be traced to the founding of the bank. It was framed in the 'Eight Golden Practices' enumerated by founder S. H. Ho, when operations began in the 1950s.

  These practices guided staff on the need to listen to customers, to be efficient and honest, as well as courteous, caring and appreciative of everyone's patronage.

  And all were summed up by the bank's long-time chairman, now honorary chairman, Dr Lee Quo-wei.

  'Hang Seng Bank is an ordinary bank for ordinary people,' Dr Lee always liked to say, 'but our services are extraordinary.'   Mr Luk said managing quality essen tially came down to 'serving the customer better' - and never resting on one's laurels. 'That's why we chose the slogan, 'Because we care',' he said. 'We care for the customer, we care for the community and we care for our staff.'   Asked to single one 'quality' initiative undertaken during the last year, the deputy chief said manning the quality watch at the HSBC affiliate was more a case of fine-tuning systems already in place.

  The last big initiative - begun a few years ago and still hot today - was a campaign to ensure the bank's friendly service could be duplicated in the institution's call centre operation.

  Enhancing electronic links was crucial because that was the channel where most banking would be done in the future. 'Service delivery over the phone is as important as delivering service over the counter,' Mr Luk said.

  So the marketing department was put to the task of monitoring phone practices against agreed standards of performance.

  Marketing staff would make phone calls 'out of the blue' to assess how queries were handled. Staff who fell short of best practice guidelines were singled out for remedial help, he said.



Hang Seng banks on positive feedback from the adjudicators