What are you smiling for?

I would admit that when I walked into the Banani branch of Standard Chartered Bank in Dhaka, I was not expecting that the lady at the reception would smile and greet me in. As a reflex I also did smile back, quickly lost eye contact and moved on to fill up the pink slips, still thinking in the back of my mind, 'why did she smile at me? Am I looking funny? Does she know me? Do I know her? Have I seen her before somewhere? Which mela? Which mall? Pink City? Bashundhara Mall?'

Nevermind....I noticed slyly if she was extending the same smiling service to all customers who walked in or was I special, or was she suspicious? My brief 'participant observation' established the fact that she was naturally and willingly smiling at almost every customer walking in, depending on her preoccupations from time to time at her workstation. On the other hand, I tried to notice how the 'smile struck' customers were reacting to this smiling receptionist. Majority of the customers who walked in during my half an hour stay were male, students, business men, young and middle-aged men mostly. Other than a handful of them, most of the king customers either remained indifferent or just pretended as if she did not exist in that side of the room. However almost all of them, like me, didn't forget to throw a sly glance at her from different corners of the office space...probably posing the same questions as I did..trying to figure out the mystery of an unknown Bangladeshi woman smiling at unknown men, who she could be, what could be her family background etc. and all those unquenched curiosity, never realising just simply that its the very basic a staff at reception can do....smile, which does not cost anything...every company in the world asks, trains, teaches, preaches their staff to do this...at their customers....but many of them just forget to do it...or just don't do it because of some peculiarities on ground.

Female staff are deliberately kept at receptions not only in Bangladesh but around the world for variety of reasons. Having a sexist discussion would be something to discuss in a different post perhaps, but it is argued that you don't see many female staff smiling at you 'for nothing' when you walk towards the reception at any office premises in Bangladesh. Most of the time I have found staff at reception, both male and female, rather indifferent, cold, uninterested towards whoever is walking in to them. Many times, female staff are not very interested to make eye contacts too...perhaps wary of me smiling at her 'for nothing' :). Well I have heard arguments from both sides on this. Men say that many female staff think that they nearly were crowned Miss World in last year's beauty pageant but due to a twist in fate, they ended up at the wrong place of doing this job at the front desk or at the bank counters. Many also claim that some female executives carry the notion that some male customers might fall in love at first sight if they prefer to smile, act nice and easy with all of them. So to pre-empt and fend off any unsolicited advancement, the female cadre prefer to remain cold and appear as much formal, emotionless as possible.

Female staff on the other hand also argue that due to some peculiar perceptions towards women at work place in Bangladesh, most of the male customers, even colleagues are not 'properly' oriented with how to deal with female staff, colleagues etc. So many of the male customers, colleagues, who sometimes happen to be 'part time losers and lovers in their own right', try to express overflowing emotions of interest, mating and dating in the very first or few instances of receiving so called 'hints' from their female counterparts in the form of smiles, eye contact, showing signs of being comfortable etc. Women at workplace even in developed economies carry an extra burden of consciousness and identity, its no exception in Bangladesh, infact they perhaps carry a heavier load in that respect. However all these are mere hearsays which brings us to ask if there exists or not any research on 'gender issues while providing customer services' in Bangladesh..may be I will ask Parveen Apa.

Have a look at this article which I came across recently which discusses how women can crack the gender code at work place. Its a pretty interesting piece of work where highlights include when the author recommends women to 'dress for success, not for access' at work place (LOL)...also contradictory to what I have been trying to say in this blogpost...the author however advises working women 'not to smile too much' at work place. Not sure if you would agree with all this or not, but its worth giving a thought.

In fine, I think some men at work should realise that there is a right place for everything and every thoughts in the back of the mind...professional environment is perhaps best suited for work related issues only...so better take a casual 'professional' smile as its supposed to be. On the other hand...some women at work better accept the fact that not all approaching men wear dodgy looks and creepy personalities...so its advised to ease up. In the end of the day, it all falls on how one carries oneself...a 'smile' is harmless enough to cause any major trouble...but powerful enough to create that first link of 'putting at ease' with the customer. So smile, smile back and move on. :)))))))))))))))))))))


Image: That is a 'ficture' of a 'bideshi issmiling afa' taken from here

Grameenphone Attempted to Rob 40 Banks

Grameenphone single-handedly attempted the biggest bank heist in history. They were getting ready to rob 40 banks at once. (I wish I was being sarcastic). Even the Bangladeshi operations of Standard Chartered, HSBC and Citibank were perturbed by the attempt which also involved them. Clearly you have never heard anything about this white collar crime because the diversion was media advertisements.

Secondly after the most anticipated IPO in Bangladesh failed so horribly, I am beginning to suspect if Anders Jensen is purposely being made into a scapegoat. Ironically Anders Jensen had his own scapegoat, ex-CEO Erik Aas. But the media seems to be buying into the story that the blunders of Telenor and Grameenphone was all because of Anders Jensen. But the image, corporate culture and intentions of GP have always been immaculate?

An article published in The Financial Express clears the 'bhera' Jensen over the fence. More importantly it raises the issue that even though GP did everything right business-wise, their image and IPO took the hit due to the internal machinations and schemes developed perpetually on a corporate level (and not Anders Jensen). Its not a coincidence after the entire world said 'no' to the IPO, the 40 banks, held hostage, let the ball drop to the floor. Everyone would have believed GP's $3 billion valuation and even a $300 billion valuation if Grameenphone didn't take Bangladesh for granted so often.

I will end the talk right here, I won't spoil the details for you (as much as I am inclined to). The article is posted below:

Special thanks to The Financial Express for publishing the article. Even though 'Grameenphone' is not mentioned due to an advertisement embargo, the message is clear.


Pros and cons of phone companies doing mobile banking

MOBILE Phone Banking allows banks to make transactions and allow banking activity with the use of a mobile phone. The concept is not new and has existed since the '90s as banks try to take the next step in technology. However, the procedure and guidelines for mobile banking proposed by the country's leading mobile phone operator to the Bangladesh Bank is suspiciously unconventional.

The conventional, orderly method is what we see adopted in North America and Japan. In these regions the phones are merely a medium of banking communication. Mobile phones in the banking landscape serve solely as a method of convenience much like ATMs and bank branches.

Bank accounts are linked directly with the phone, the money transacted is done on the phone and the changes are applied onto the bank account. The phone company never transacts money or accepts money in accordance with the banking laws. What the concerned operator has proposed in our case is the opposite.

It wants the phone company to have the right to accept money and carry out financial transactions that have nothing to do with phone time. The related operator wants a mobile banking license for a mere Tk 350 million while banks will have to raise their paid up capital to Tk 4.0 billion. Simply put, the related mobile phone operator is buying a license to kill the Bangladeshi banking industry for Tk 350 million.

Banks in Bangladesh are governed by the strict Banking Act and centuries of banking traditions and norms. But the concerned mobile service-provider has not had to abide by any of the high standard regulations of the banking industry in its entire history. Instead, it has been fined repeatedly for deliberately manipulating and blatantly disregarding its own less-stringent regulations. Giving a banking license to it for an industry that is extremely regulated is absurd. Banks in Bangladesh are shocked at the possibility that it is only in Bangladesh that a phone company can get access to a banking license. The related mobile phone service-provider's initial proposal calls for the innocuous feature of local remittance. But the limits are extremely high on this feature. For instance, if a person does not withdraw the entire remittance at one time, the phone starts being a bank account. With a phone license, the concerned operator easily becomes a bank.

It -- the mobile company under mention -- has made an ethical claim to the issue stating that if it receives a mobile banking license, it will be taking banking facilities to the poor and 'unbanked'. Unknown to it, for the last three years, private commercial banks (PCB) have lobbied the Bangladesh Bank for rural booth licenses. Because the costs of running a full-fledged branch is high, a stripped down version or a booth would be the answer for delivering world class banking services to all corners of Bangladesh. However, the Bangladesh Bank opposed this step by PCBs. Now the related mobile phone operator wants to copy this concept and market it as its own by labeling it 'mobile banking'. The playing field is clearly not level for banks as the mobile phone service-provider's rural outlets will be subsidized by their phone business. Furthermore, the implications for state-owned banks are more morbid. State-owned banks are already hanging by a thread and a banking license for the related mobile phone operator will make the situation even worse for them. It is also notable that despite the lack of bank booths, banks use each others' branches to full capacity and also signed up with the post office to offer remittance services to rural areas as much as possible.

If concerned mobile phone service-provider receives a banking license, there are some issues that are of great concern. The first is money laundering. Never having been trained in financial forensics, without having knowledgeable staff or being regulated by strict money laundering rules, the said operator expects the Bangladesh Bank to believe that despite these high-risk shortcomings, the mobile phone service-provider has overnight become best suited to offer mobile banking. In reality it will jeopardise the financial security and integrity of Bangladesh by making the country vulnerable to external claims of illegal activities.

The second problem is while banks continue to use triple DES encryption and AES encryption to offer transaction security, the concerned operator wants to get away by relying on SMS. SMS has been proved to be insecure. This is the reason Japanese phone companies use an NFC Payment system (think of it as secure bluetooth) that is linked up with banks instead of SMS. Not only does the mobile phone service-provider see itself not cooperating with banks where bank involvement is crucial, but it has also disregarded any investment for a secure protocol. The lack of secure protocols will only shift the blame onto the customer in false claims and identity theft.

The related operator has selectively thrown around quite a few case studies: Kenya, Philippines and DiGi Telecommunications while systematically ignoring the entire continent of North America and Japan. It states that DiGi does mobile banking, but this example is biased to say the least. Digi Telecom is owned by a familiar multinational parent company (which also has a stake in the related mobile phone service-provider in our case). But the real icing is that DiGi had to partner with a bank, Citibank, for remittance/mobile-banking services. But the said operator is conveniently unaware of this. The situation with Kenya does not fare much better. Phone companies have held Kenyan banks hostage. Kenyan banks have claimed that they are being cornered by Kenyan foreign-owned phone companies, Safaricom and Zain.

Kenyan banks have alleged that the phone companies have taken their own liberty with the laws (similar to the scandal over the Bangladeshi VOiP) and are in the process of wiping them out. Since the Kenyan phone companies also have major foreign ownership, their foray into the banking industry takes out capital to Europe where it would traditionally be used for the improvement of the Kenyan economy. The interesting thing is that the concerned operator found Kenya's scrambled egg mess exemplary when compared to the tried and tested models which have served North America and Japan just fine.

Maybe we will find some insight in the way India decides to deal with its poor and 'unbanked'. India, as you may recall has foreign remittance that dwarfs Bangladesh's remittance. India not only has a larger rural population but a rural population that is spread over a landmass 23 times larger than Bangladesh. Yet Indian phone companies do not take the liberty to accept money for anything other than phone time. Mobile banking exists in the realm of banks, not the phone companies.

Indian banks and phone companies seem to be doing just fine without any cause of confrontation because each knows where they stand and the limitations of their respective licenses. Where is Bangladesh's unique headache for granting mobile banking licenses to phone companies stemming from?

It is not new for the concerned mobile phone operator in our situation to systematically ignore banking channels.

Its new service BillPay which lets users pay bills through mobile phones could have easily been tied up with a bank account. Instead it took the roundabout route and did it on their own terms ignoring banks entirely. The problem is that this writer does not recall the mobile phone license allowing the concerned mobile phone company, operator or service-provider to accept customer deposits for anything other than phone time. It might not disclose the fact that in western countries, all bills are paid through a bank account (be it mobile, branch or ATM).

Instead it takes the credit of bill payment by restricting banks from their mobile network while taking pieces of the banking industry piece by piece for themselves.

As for remedies to the hypocritical and contradictory views of the concerned mobile phone operator, there are a few solutions. If the Bangladesh Bank wants to take the risk and allow phone companies to do banking business, it should be done in the same conditions as in the US, where banks are the backbone and mobile companies act strictly as the vessel.

The second solution lies on the consensus that the unbanked cannot be bought under banking channels without mobile banking. If so, then why not provide a few mobile licenses collectively to banks so that they can bring the "unbanked" under their umbrella? But that wouldn't be fair to phone companies as the banks would be getting more for their highly regulated banking license. Or would it?

The Hurdles of Credit and CEO

As the western countries try to grapple with consumer loans, Bangladesh is not immune especially our CEOs. As many are aware, the CEO of Standard Chartered, Osman Morad, (along with a StanChart exec) has an arrest warrant against them for hiring goons for loan recovery. Apart from the electronic media, no one reported it. How could they? This isn't considered news especially if it can endanger current and future patronage of many award shows, roundtables and exhibitions. But despite the self-censorship from the self-proclaimed stalwarts of freedom, the news spread like wildfire.

As for Osman Morad, he isn't going to lose his job anytime soon unlike Anders Jensen. Osman Morad is just too talented and experienced to step down or resign for 'family' reasons. But what inspired this daredevil attitude? He only had to look at Bangladesh's prosperous NGO sector (yes despite RMG, NGO is also a booming sector). NGOs are notorious for using goons and 'peer pressure' to force payments from clients and Morad went with the 'when in Rome' ideology. To his defense it was a Credit collection agency that did the actions but he was very much aware what tactics these agencies use. Worst is that he approved this use and no one knows the countless times they performed these atrocities before someone had the guts to sue them.

I am not an advocate of loan defaults, but there are proper and standardized ways of dealing with defaults instead of the widespread NGO tactics. Especially if it comes from a international banks. They wouldn't dare to harass anyone in the UK, so what makes Bangladesh different? In short it is the lack of clear and updated laws. The consumer credit laws leave both the creditor and client at risk from abuse. It does not define what is harassment and the process a client or creditor should take once a loan has been defaulted. There is no credit agency and the branch managers define credit-worthiness by looking at the way you dress.

A formalization of consumer credit procedures and rights should be passed as a new Act. This would ultimately get both NGOs and Standard Chartered to change their localized procedures. Then only can we get NGOs and Standard Chartered to treat us like humans.

Sue kar (part deux)...The Al Vida Chronicle

The situation is a bit messed up. Grameen Phone’s hot seat of the CEO is too hot to handle. No CEO can park his bottom on the seat for too long. Wickets keep on falling one after another. Now our good old friend Unders Pants Tansen also decides to quit the prestigious (?) job of heading Telenor’s most profitable venture in the world. Seeing this in the Doinik Norway, his friend and colleague Arse Norbor calls him up to investigate what happened.


Unders! God Morgen! What is this I am reading? Why the hell are you being a chicken damn it?
Arse, don’t be one please, I am not in a mood to play chicken with you….leave me alone
What leave me alone, Jeg savnet deg så mye! (I missed you so much) …do you realize what you are doing? This is Grameen my friend, this is where we have put all our focus on, this is from where we are channeling out most of the money, and this is where we might end up having a sovereign small state around Gulshan area you see…or start a TV channel by our name etc. So think before you throw…
I understand Arse, but I am too good looking to hang around in this city…I want to go to Hollywood…or atleast try Bollywood, many have tried, my Aussie cricketer friend Brett has also tried his luck there, so I want to follow suit.
Ahh…stop kidding Unders…I know for a fact that you are being a chicken….why are you giving such a knee jerk reaction to the fate of your StanChart friend Gasman Furad?
What do you mean…?
I mean what I mean…Gasman Furad is going to face an arrest…that stupid lady…Mafsana or something….sued StanChart and Gasman for that car loan thing…but what is this 'sue me sue you' culture building up there huh? That old noble bugger has set up a bad trend to follow for the people of Bangladesh…sue and become famous and put is in deep shit….so I think you are being afraid that someone will warrant an arrest for you too very soon…
Don’t talk non-sense, how many pints did you endure last night? Wake up….I am not afraid of anybody, I haven’t done any crime, why should I run away? Moreover, StanChart has a reputation any ways for eating up people’s money in the name of saving it up...poor Gasman…
But Unders, don’t you think you are planning to quit too early too soon, I mean keeping in view our special IPO cake that we are about to bake…its party time mate, time to blow up candles and make merry..don’t you realize?
I know..I know…but I can sense something like a big mess coming up in the guise of all this hoopla…so I think its better that I call it quits and join Bollywood…run around trees with Priyanka or Deepika and become a star..and sing Om Shanti Om.
You are…..any ways…but which means we will have to look for someone who will be put into that hot seat in your place…more work for us.
Doesn’t matter, give him some extra money before he comes so that he can pay some more fines for unforeseen activities we committed, you never know the mood of the Major General in BTRC.
Yeah…I know what you mean...talk to you later
Chal chaley…apne ghar…ay mere…hamsafar…
Ahh..you and now your Hindi prowess…
Al vida…al vida…ab kehna aur kya…jab maine keh diya…al vidaa…
Up your !@#$% (hang up)

How may I help you? vs. Ki bepare ashchen?

It might not be Customer Service month, but i had an interesting experience recently at a bank and thought i would share it with other fellow bloggers. Appreciate your feedback and comments.
Best Regards,
Jeeshan

The other day I was headed to one of the Foreign Banks in Bangladesh where I maintain an account. Given my tight work schedule and the banks operating hours, it becomes quite a challenge for me to do any banking. The only time I manage to drop in is usually at about 9:00 AM in the morning. One particular morning I managed to get to the bank at about 8:45 AM. At the entrance I was greeted by a ill-mannered security guard who exclaimed "You cant enter the bank before 9:00 AM". I stood out for the next twenty minutes watching the banks employees arrive one after another. The security guard eventually opened the gate at about 9:05. I took a seat at the front desk where I waited unattended. A few minutes later, a lady arrived at the scene with this "I am having a bad day frown" and asked "Ki Bapare Ashchen?" I was astonished!

In an identical scenario a few months back at around the same time in a bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka, something different happened. A bank teller who spotted me waiting outside summoned the security guard to open the door, after which he welcomed me in. There were warm smiles from all corners of the room. I was delighted at this red carpet treatment. What followed was even more remarkable. Shortly, the same teller accompanied me to come to the counter where he processed my request, and this was done at 8:50 AM when the bank was still not open. I walked out with a smile. What a way to start the day. The bank had exceeded my expectations not once but twice.

"Ki Bapare Ashchen" seems to be a very common phrase wherever you go in Bangladesh be it private, public or even a foreign owned enterprise. We Bangladeshis claim to be such friendly, warm people. In fact even if there is one thing that foreign tourists are full of praise about us is our hospitability. However in the instances such as the scenario I described above we seem to tend to forget about who we really are.

Customer Service is a widely misunderstood and misused concept in Bangladesh. Service level is not just delivered at the transaction stage and after sales stage of a product or service- rather across all customer touch points. In today's era of commoditization and emergence of me-too culture, service quality can be a key differentiator. It's unfortunate that very few companies in Bangladesh see such potential in service. Theodore Levitt once said "There is no such thing as service industries. There are only industries whose service components are greater or less than those of other industries. Everybody is in Service."

In one of his books, Philip Kotler explained the importance of three F's of service marketing: fast, flexible and friendly. He states any company can use these three F's as a base to develop appropriate service levels. Meeting your customers expectations is good, exceeding it is will take you one step closer to greatness. It's a small world out there, satisfied customers can give your business an unexpected leverage, while you are busy spending heaps on other marcom channels. Still convinced about your customer service? Try giving a call to your customer service helpline asking about an unusual problem? Better get a tough friend to do some mystery shopping. You will be surprised. So the next time you meet a customer or a prospect, smile and say "How may I help you?" Remember Peter Drucker's famous line, your business is all about other people's money. Be nice!

By

Jeeshan Mirza

Smile for what?

I walked in to the Gulshan branch of Prime Bank the other day around noon to sell some prize-bonds in my possession. Small, cosy little branch was busy and vibrant with seated and queued up customers. The staff behind the counter seemed weary and serious while trying to concentrate hard and deliver the service to the people standing in front who from time to time were giving ‘cold stares’ with an air of dissatisfaction and urgency. Perhaps the circumstances are usually so hostile and dry that the personnel who are supposed to provide service to the customers with a smile…don’t smile.

I did try, when in good mood, to smile at the person serving me food, or at the POS or at the bank counter…just to see how they react. They don’t. They either lose eye contact or give you a look of suspicion and disbelief. This is even serious when you are trying to throw a decent ‘customer-like’ smile at any female staff, in the context of Bangladesh. So I decided not to smile anymore at the customer service staff. Whatever my monthly income is, I carry an attitude as if the ACC is after me while I don’t care and I can be extremely harsh and rude if needed. I also stopped saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Ever since, I think I am a happier customer roaming around Bangladesh. I also realized that the staff also don’t expect a strange, unknown customer to ‘smile for nothing’, it is not in our culture, we are not used to such soft expressions of customer handling, we prefer to do it the rough way. So be it.

However, this shield of insensitivity which I have adopted to tackle insensitive customer service agents is sometimes challenged….by a smile again! The same day after the Prime Bank fact finding mission, when I went to the Banani branch of StanChart to get the job done, I approached the help desk and was greeted with a friendly smile by the lady behind the counter. I realized that I forgot to smile back and I became suspicious for a while thinking if I know that lady or not, or what could be her ‘hidden’ motives. Too bad, my values have become so rusty that ‘dhakka khaite khaite ekhon ar bhalo jinisho ar bhalo lage na’. Nevertheless I tried to relate the nice behaviour of the staff of StanChart with its being a multinational entity, with greater exposure and outlook to global best practices of customer service. Whereas, Prime Bank perhaps does not look at the world in the same way. I also remember one of the staff at StanChart calling me as ‘Sir’ while giving me advice and instruction….whereas those at Prime Bank hardly made any eye contact and appeared really pissed off with my presence. Life goes on.

Some argue that given the socio-economic condition of an ordinary Bangladeshi in the city of Dhaka, when there is bargaining involved at every stage, while fixing a rickshaw, renting a house, buying rice and potato, added with traffic woes, power cuts, mugging, unemployment, pollution etc, you are never actually in any mood to wear even an artificial smile and greet erratic customers, just because your job profile says so. Perhaps the reality bites too hard than the customer service trainings arranged at lavish halls of Lake Shore and other hotels. What a mess.

Not so warm welcome

No matter how hard GP tries to uphold its company culture and values to internal and external audience by means of colorful posters, stickers and festoons in its office premises, all the efforts risk going in vain because of the personnel who are supposed to greet you with a smile at the reception. Outsourcing the security and external visitor registration to third party providers have become the norm for the MNCs these days. Grameen Phone seem to be no exception. However even my today’s encounter at the GP premises was no exception when I was ‘greeted’ by gloomy faced, uniform-clad, weary security personnel. Forget smile, they didn’t even bother to establish eye contact. Very reluctantly they forwarded me the registration sheet in which even more reluctantly I penned down half-correct information and proceeded inside the elevator with the swipe card.

The same day I had to make a visit to a leading multinational bank called StanChart, where I found that the doors and desks are manned by one of the leading security services agencies of the country. They were seen completely confused, stressed and irritated trying to answer queries of the queued visitors. I went to meet my friend Mr. Banker and informed the men in uniform the person I was looking for. They had a tough time scanning through the staff sheet at hand, and finally told me to go to level-6. Upon reaching the suggested level, I was ‘greeted’ with yet another layer of security (or door manning?). I told them that I came to meet Mr. Banker. They again went through their version of staff sheet and told me that Mr. Tanker is not available now. I was at a loss, as I had a prior tele-conversation with the person in question. I realized that the semi-educated security personnel couldn’t even hear a name right, couldn’t even spell out a name right. I also realized that after all they don’t belong to the company per se, they infact belong to the third party service provider in this case, G4S. But I wonder if companies like GP and StanChart don’t give any proper orientation or not to these personnel who man their receptions. Are they ever briefed from time to time about the host company’s culture, values and norms? Do they ever cross-check if the personnel at the first interface at the doorstep actually uphold the values to external guests? I wonder.

.

So even companies like G4S have tasks at hand. Mere giving basic martial arts training and basic etiquettes is perhaps not enough any more. A thorough understanding and knowledge about the host company’s values and norms is a must before they grab the business of placing their (wo)men in recipient companies. Otherwise, people like me will continue getting annoyed at the doorsteps of different companies, taking service for granted and accepting the fact that service with a smile is a myth in Bangladeshi corporates.

Let me compare

Financial Express reports

City watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is to launch an independent Web site to help consumers compare credit cards. The move follows recommendations by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) designed to help consumers get a better credit card deal. Others will include improvements in summary boxes on credit card marketing materials and statements, standardisation of terminology used in product literature and greater consumer education on the benefits of shopping around for a credit card. The OFT report into credit card comparisons follows a super-complaint from consumer group Which? in April last year. Which? said people choose credit cards without understanding all the issues that affect the cost of the card, and OFT research later showed that 70 per cent of credit card holders do not shop around. John Fingleton, chief executive of the OFT, said: "No one wants to throw money away, but consumers who don't shop around for credit cards are doing just that. "It is essential that consumers are given the right tools to make comparisons between credit cards more easily, and we can achieve this through some of the recommendations announced today which have received widespread support." Payments body Apacs said the new comparison Web site would prove an important additional tool to help people make informed choices about the card that best suits their needs. Director of communications Sandra Quinn said: "We are backing the OFT in hoping that these proposals will spur customers on to make better decisions by building upon the work already undertaken by the industry to make credit card products more transparent."

Though the credit wave is pretty new to have hit the shore of Bangladeshi youth/consumers, it would be nice to see some entrepreneurs coming up with a comparison website for not only the desi credit cards but also for comparing various other financial products offered by numerous banks and NBFIs of the country. Experts might argue, but I get a feeling (only) that my bank (guess which one) keeps on siphoning off money from my account with many innovative hidden costs (!) under the banner of 'this VAT', 'that VAT', processing fees, charges etc. Most of the time I don't understand why I am paying for all those charges and wonder if other banks do the same or not. My banker friends are eager to take advantage of my ignorance and really didn't welcome the idea of a comparison based website which would only make the consumers more educated and alert of different banking products. Nevertheless, I am the customer and I believe I am the king and I should have the option to choose. Any financial entrepreneur reading this...can you make out a business model out of this?

Education to earn money, money to get education

Eastern Bank Ltd. (EBL) (couldn't find its website) has launched an “Education Finance Pack” yesterday, especially meant for the students going abroad for higher education, reports ever improving Daily Star. “The pack is mainly for the students intended to study abroad, but it is also available for the students and their parents studying in Bangladesh,” Ali Reza Iftekhar, managing director and CEO of EBL, told a press conference in Dhaka. “EBL targeted 5,000 new students' accounts to award the pack, of those at least five to seven hundred students are expected to get the loan a year,” he added. The bank has planned to disburse Tk 2.5 crore under the pack. Each student will be entitled to borrow at least Tk 5lakh. According to EBL officials, the employees, businessmen and self-employed individuals, who earn up to Tk 15 thousand a month, are eligible to get the loan at a 18 percent interest.

Zahid recalled the time a few years ago while he was standing in a bus queue at Shahbag with some documents in hand and pondering what he has just done. He just paid around 25000 taka to a special ‘bhai’ who managed original bank statements from a leading bank in the country, the statements belonged to one Mr. Haroon living in Uttara and had a liquid healthy balance of around 33 lakhs taka. Zahid sighed over the fact that even though he had an ornamented academic career, it could never compensate the fact that his father never possessed the required amount of money in the bank, which is a vital requirement for getting student visas you see. So he had this friend, whose brother had another friend, who used to work in a bank, and who in return of a ‘small fee’, used to give away true statements to people like Zahid. Well so much so for ‘creative’ yet necessary means to produce financial statements in order to reach to the land of dreams and opportunities, out of this chaotic place. Yesterday I had a chat with the head of a foreign university’s agency here in Dhaka. He was lamenting over the fact that student export rate to foreign universities have gone down alarmingly. Mostly because of the fact that the high commissions and embassies have become stricter in terms of scrutinizing and cross-checking financial documents provided by aspiring students and their true and ‘virtual’ sponsors.

No wonder EBL has spotted a business opportunity in the largest consumer segment of the nation, its students, and have formulated a financial product in the form of student loans. I wish the campaign luck and I wish all those student good luck in their endeavors for a better academic future both at home and abroad. I hope students like Zahid will not have to buy original statements from renowned multinational banks of the country anymore, they can simply walk in to a branch of EBL and likes, apply and get the money to pursue further education. However as there is no free lunch in life and in Bangladesh, who knows how the aspiring students will fall under the axe of exorbitant interest rates for those loans.

(photo courtesy HSBC student loan)

Email Interview 1 : Business Education in Bangladesh

Mahenoor Hassan Khan

Head of Sales

Standard Chartered Bank

www.standardchartered.com

1. What is your overall impression about the present standard of business education in Bangladesh?
Specifically business education is still in primitive stage in Bangladesh compared to other developing nations in Asia. However, standard is improving but in a very slow pace. Our business schools need to focus more on practical learning rather than theoretical education in order to help the students get accustomed to the real world.

2. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following comment, “There is relation between what is taught in business schools in Bangladesh and what is actually practiced in work place” .

Students must be able to learn about the real world scenario at the business schools. Unfortunately a very few schools have been able to offer business education with respect to the reality.

3. What is the most important factor lacking in business education in Bangladesh?

A business student must have a strong communication skill in order to face the challenge in the competition prevailing in today’s world. Unfortunately, this is one area, where our business education failed to improve so far considerably. The second most important factor is inability to think innovatively. This quality, again, can be achieved through practical education. Books only offer cases and various events in the past, but to survive in today’s world one needs to learn about real business scenario.

4. What is the main reason a number of students consider pursuing a business degree from abroad?

Lack of faith in our education system and intention of building career abroad are the two main reasons for a good number of students pursuing a business degree from abroad.

5. What is your educational background? (Degree, university)
MBA, Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka

6. In your opinion, which is by far the best business school in the country?
Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka

7. Does your company provide any campus placements while recruiting?
No

8. Which one thing would you recommend to the business teachers of Bangladesh?
Help the students improve communication skills and assist them gaining knowledge on real world activities

9. Which one thing would you recommend to the business students of Bangladesh?
Decide on your career plan first and pursue education accordingly with sincerity and diligently. Changing subjects or fields in the middle of a degree or course leads to confusion and apparently to failure to achieve proper education, which is not good for our business community.

10. Do you have any general comment regarding business education in Bangladesh?
We are in the right path in terms of business education. We have a great resource in terms of faculty members and very effective secondary and higher secondary medium of education system. All we need is to ensure is synchronization between teachers, students, education system and the real world needs. This will help develop our human resources, which will, in return, be able to enhance the reputation of Bangladesh while representing our country abroad in future.

National Payment Gateway for e-commerce and inter-bank transactions

Dutch Bangla Bank has already strengthened its competitive position with the largest fleet of ATMs across the country. Their thinktanks are also actively advocating for something even more useful and effective.

"E-Commerce is a much talked issue for last ten years in Bangladesh. However, it is still in the infant stage. Many enthusiastic merchants started e-commerce activities in Bangladesh but due to lack of support from the banking industries to collect the "Payment" which is a vital component of the e-commerce life cycle, they virtually failed to keep the interest vibraqt.Inter-bank fund transfer in Bangladesh is allowed only through clearing house which requires at least two working days to be settled the transaction. Due to absence of the inter-bank ATM/POS transactions, all such transactions are now happening through Visa / MasterCard networks for which the per transaction cost is very high (1.00 - 1.25 USD per transaction) and also a substantial amount of foreign currency need to be paid to the network authorities as 'network use' charge.National Payment Gateway will also facilitate the customers to pay their utility bills through ATM, Internet banking or sms banking systems from anywhere anytime even from his office / residence at mid-night or holidays.However, before implementing the National Payment Gateway, new policies, rules and regulations need to be enacted by the Bangladesh Bank (central bank). The task has nowbecome easier as the "Information and Communication Technology" act was already gazetted on October 08, 2006." Read more. ( by Abul Kashem Md. Shirin, SEVP and Head of IT, Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited)

Multinational banks like StanChart don't even allow inter-account fund transfers between two different account holders of the bank, let alone inter-bank fund transfer. What DBBL is proposing, would surely make way to easier and cost-effective banking experience for us.

StanChart shakes hands with DBBL

Standard Chartered is a leading bank of the country well-known for its huge array of...hidden costs. Keeping in view the principle 'if you cannot beat them, join them', they have recently tied up with Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd. to share the latter's ATM network across the country which by far is the largest network in Bangladesh. Good move by SCB, though the credit goes to DBBL, they have surely gained a competitive advantage through their wide network of ATMs.