Banks are bending over backwards to enhance customer satisfaction, but why do you sometimes feel it isn’t working, asks Anita Menon.
Everything in life is supposed to progress or evolve in such a way, that it makes life easier, right?
Well, if you follow that line of thought, our banking activities are also supposed to be smooth, no-fuss operations. And to give them credit, banks do try and see that it happens in reality - longer banking hours, Sunday working, 24-hour banking... great. Or is it?
Have you ever noticed that if you’re in some banks in the morning, or in your lunch hour, the queue is endless because there are only two counters out of six working? Well, that’s the down side to the system.

The same number of staff works those longer hours, and are split into shifts. So at any given time, there are fewer staff and fewer counters open. And often, the question asked is, “Ma’am, don’t you have an ATM card/Debit card?” which may give you the impression they’re not best pleased to see you!
Malani Thadani, Head of Public Affairs at HSBC India, clarifies: “Most often, you go to the bank for the same reasons: To withdraw cash, to deposit cash or a cheque, to check your balance, to find out if a cheque you had deposited has been credited, or to have a new cheque book issued.
With your ATM card, phone banking and now Internet banking, there shouldn’t be a reason for you to come to the bank for these needs,” she says. “The whole idea behind the intense technological investments that banks make, is to save the customer time.
A customer would be making optimum use of her time if, for example, she came to the bank to discuss an investment product with an advisor. It’s not that we don’t want to see our customers. But we understand the pressure on time, and want the customer to get her banking needs attended to, at her comfort. That’s why we have facilities like doorstep banking.”
ATM This invention should have made life easier for most people, and sometimes it does; till there is a ‘system upgradation’ and the ATM is shut down... which happens quite often with some banks. Or, till there is a malfunction and the ATM swallows your card... Okay — so we can’t entirely blame the bank.
We know how temperamental technology can often be. Plus, ironically, to make the systems work better, they sometimes have to be shut down to be made more efficient.
FRIENDLY BANKERS You might think that the concept of a ‘friendly banker’ is disappearing. Banks at one time, could — depending on your relation with them — extend an overdraft in an emergency, at the manager’s discretion; they could get you a cheque book over the counter; you had a passbook which was updated whenever you went to the bank and made a transaction — at no extra charge; they knew you by name and wanted to help.
Today, with new rules, and a more impersonal atmosphere, that seems unlikely at some banks. According to financial consultant Manish Jhunjhunuwala, “There are hidden costs for everything with a lot of banks — especially foreign banks — from not maintaining a minimum balance, to getting a duplicate statement.
"Nationalised banks are online and efficient. We just hang on to the idea that they are not. You have to really consider why you particularly want a foreign bank.”
He adds, “Your relationship with a smaller bank is more personal. With foreign banks, you are encouraged to use phone banking or only your ATM. You don’t know them and vice versa. It’s too impersonal.”
Today, in a desperate bid for efficiency and lower costs, back office functions have moved, quite often to another city. “Sorry for the incovenience Ma’am, but it will take four working days to issue you another cheque book,” is an oft-spoken phrase.
Mudit Saxena, vice president, retail marketing and Internet banking, HDFC Bank, says, “True, it does take a day or two, but in each cheque book, before you reach the last five or 10 cheques, there is a slip for ordering another cheque book. Normally, if you send that to the bank, by the time you finish your cheque book, your new one has arrived. Isn’t it fair that the customer be asked to accept that part of the responsibility?
At the end of the day, a lot of private and foreign banks are still offering the customer facilities that the other banks cannot. The levels of technology we have implemented give the customer such a wide range of banking options, that in most normal circumstances, it is hard to believe that a customer absolutely had no access to her account, or to account information.”
When considering a new bank, keep the following in mind: # Find a bank that is located close to both your residence and your place of work. # There should be ATMs on your route to and from work. # Lower minimum balance requirements. # Establishing a relationship with a smaller bank is easier, and bank managers are more willing to come to your assistance if they know you personally, and if your account with them is in good order.
Manish Jhunjhunuwala says, “If you do business in other metros, it may be worth your while to have an account with a foreign bank, or with banks like HDFC and ICICI, all of whom give you ‘at par’ services in the main metros, and in the case of the latter two, in some smaller centres too.”
According to Malani Thadani, you should “choose a bank which offers you the widest range of services. It is also a plus point if the bank issues you with an international debit card which will link you with your account anywhere in the world.”
Mudit Saxena adds, “A very important criterion to bear in mind is the pedigree of the bank. Yes, there are banks that will offer you half a percent more than nationalised or private/foreign banks. But there are innum-erable risks associated with a lot of these here-today-gone-tomorrow banks.”
Mudit adds, “Choose a bank that gives you services at a preferred rate on personal loans or housing loans, since you are their customer.”