Banking Strategy Overview of Standard Bank Limited

Banking Strategy Overview of Standard Bank Limited

The Bank had been widely acclaimed by the business community, from small entrepreneur to large traders and industrial conglomerates, including the top rated corporate borrowers for forward-looking business outlook and innovative financing solutions. Thus within this very short period of time it has been able to create an image for itself and has earned significant reputation in the country’s banking sector as setting a new standard in banking. The various programs undertaken by the Bank to enrich the quality of human resource are mainly aimed at increasing professional knowledge and skill levels of employees through training and development, in order form a well-equipped work force for providing superlative services to the customers.

In preparation of this digest both secondary and primary data sources have been used. The primary data were mainly collected while conducting the survey on customer satisfaction. The secondary data sources were the company website, the annualreports and other publicized documents of the company as well as from other books.

The report will mainly focus on what criteria Standard Bank Limited of Bangladesh is maintaining for satisfying the customers in different sectors like investment, deposit scheme, loan sanction, remittance etc.

OBJECTIVES OF THE REPORT

The objective of this report is to gather practical knowledge and experience about the Standard Bank Limited and its operations in different fields and its customer satisfaction level.

More Specific Objectives:

To find out the position of Standard Bank Limited in the banking industry.
To find out how its present strategy is working.
To analyze the bank‟s performance in some key areas.
To find out existing problems of the bank.

THE BANK

Standard Bank Limited is a scheduled Bank under private sector established under the ambit of bank Company Act, 1991 and incorporated as a Public Limited Company under Companies Act, 1994. The Bank started commercial banking operations effective from June 06, 1999. During this short span of time the Bank had been successful to position itself as a progressive and dynamic financial institution in the country. The Bank had been widely acclaimed by the business community, from small entrepreneur to large traders and industrial conglomerates, including the top rated corporate borrowers for forward-looking business outlook and innovative financing solutions. Thus within this very short period of time it has been able to create an image for itself and has earned significant reputation in the country‟s banking sector as setting a new standard in banking. Presently it has eighty seven with two Islami window branches in operation.

The emergence of Standard Bank Limited at the junction of liberation of global economic activities, after the WTO has been an important event in the financial sector of Bangladesh.The experience of the prosperous economies of Asian countries and in particular of South Asia has been the driving force and the strategies behind operational policy option of the Bank. The Company Philosophy – “Setting a New Standard in Banking” has been preciously the essence of the legend of bank‟s success.

Standard Bank Limited has been licensed by the Government of Bangladesh as a Scheduled Bank in the private sector in pursuance of the policy of liberalization of banking and financial services and facilities in Bangladesh. In view of the above, the Bank within a period of 16 years of its operation achieved a remarkable success and met up capital adequacy requirement of Bangladesh Bank.

DIVISION OF BANK

Administration Division

The division controls all the administrative activities of the bank.

Systems & Operation Division

Activities regarding general banking are cash affairs, opening new branches, customer service and legal affairs.

Audit and Inspection Division

The role of this division is to conduct extensive visit to various branches all the branches and check and observe their performances and take notes on the issues, which they think are not fit to the originality.

Credit Division

Various types of loans and advances are initiated, followed up and recovered through this division.

Financial Control Division

Central accounts division does all the A/Cs related activities here. All the branches send their monthly and daily statement to the Head Office. The bank is using STEALER for their electronic data management system.

International Division

To deal foreign exchanges business, which is known as international division.

Branch Network:

Standard Bank Limited has a predominately network of its 87 branches as on 31^st December 2013, which are tightly bound with each other are in online.

ASSETS VISION OF STANDARD BANK LIMITED

Industrial Credit – Term Loan

One of the vital and prerequisites of country‟s development is its industrial growth. The bank has rightly identified and carefully extended industrial Term Loan. Out of the total credit portfolio of Tk. 74049.89 million in 2013. Tk. 35737.98 million has been deployed for large and medium scale industries.

The Bank has given concentration to disburse loan in the urban area. Only Tk 1405 million (1.89%) loans have been disbursed in the rural area.

Guarantee Business

The Bank has been assisting different business houses by providing non-funded banking facilities in the form of Bank Guarantee which is most lucrative and remunerating. The total Bank Guarantee business reached around Tk.5126.10 million during 2013 which is 26.66% higher than that of the previous year.

Consumer Credit Scheme

The Bank also extends its credit to the employee against to help increasing their living standard. Around Tk. 153.23 million has been extended under the scheme under easy terms in 2013.

Commercial Lending / Working Capital

The Bank has been continuously providing working capital / commercial lending support to the small and medium entrepreneurs / business and as well as large industries. Around Tk. 5708.8 million i.e. 34.65% of the present credit portfolio has been extended in this area.

Loans to Leasing / Housing Finance Companies / Micro Finance Agencies

Standard Bank Limited has also opened up the window of financing the leasing /

Housing Finance Companies / Micro finance agencies on short, medium and long term basis for on lending / re-lending to their customers. Almost all the leasing companies have been enjoying this financing which presently amounts to around Tk. 1539.19 million and the leasing business is found to be visibly vibrant.

BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

Standard Bank Limited (SBL) has been able to achieve appreciable progress in all areas of its operations during the year 2013 and earned a pre-tax profit of Tk. 3179 million registering a growth of 28.03% over the profit of the year 2012. We attribute this success to the dynamism displayed by all those who worked hard for the growth of this organization.

Capital

The Authorized Capital of the Bank has increased from Tk. 1320.00 million of 2009 to Tk. 1500.00 million in 2013. The Bank went public and floated shares of Tk. 430 million in the year 2009 which was fully subscribed, thereby raising the issued and paid-up Capital to Tk. 1354 million in the year 2011. With the increase of paid up capital, the capital base of the Bank has become stronger.

Reserve fund and other reserves

The Bank raised its statutory reserve from Tk. 2489 million to Tk. 2912 million during the year 2013 which is quite significant compared to the position of the previous year.

Deposits

SBL always tried to give highest return on the deposits from the customers. The deposits of SBL reached the level of tk. 87962.50 million during 2013 from tk. 76077 million of previous year. The growth rate is 15.62%. Cost of deposit for the year stood at 10.51% compared to the previous year cost of 10.79%. The increase in deposit was possible due to superior customer service delivery at the branch level.

Loans and advances:

The total loans and advances made by the Bank amounted to Tk. 41,052 million as on December 31, 2012 against Tk. 38,034 million as on 31 December, 2010. Continued emphasis on quality assets resulted in the growth of loan portfolio to the extent of 40% which has paved the way for building of a sound asset base for the Bank. Traderelated and working capital finance were the principal areas where lending activities were concentrated.

Import and export business

The import business handled by the Bank during the year 2013 rose to Tk. 51056 million against Tk. 48500 million in 2012 which shows growth rate 5.27% .The total foreign exchange business handled by the Bank also showed a marked increase from that of the corresponding period.

The export business handled by the Bank during the year 2013 rose to Tk. 43288 million against Tk. 33967 million in 2012 which shows growth rate 27.44%. The total foreign exchange business handled by the Bank also showed a marked increase from that of the corresponding period.

Treasury

Treasury dealings in local and foreign currencies were of significant value. The treasury division comprises with two wings. One is money market dealing with the local currency for managing and utilizing fund and the other is foreign exchange dealing with the foreign currency. During the year 2011 total income from the treasury was tk. 159.63 crore from which tk. 90.58 crore earned from the local currency transactions in the money market.

Dividend

The Board of Directors of the Bank has been pleased to recommend 10% cash dividend for the year 2013 to the Shareholders of the Bank.

Foreign correspondents

Foreign Trade operation of the Bank played a significant role in the overall business development of the Bank. The number of foreign Correspondents and Agents of the

Bank in the year 2013 with 52 foreign Banks covering the prime business and trade centers of the world. During the period the Bank maintained excellent relationship with leading international banks.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

STANDARD BANK is committed to deliver efficient, prompt and personalized service to their distinguish customers who are their first priority and driving forces.

They want to provide them quality services through the integration of the latest state of the art technology.

IT division has been COM powered with more manpower to drive the bank technologically. They have started ON-LINE banking services for their all branches including Principal branch, Dhanmondi branch, Gulshan branch, Agrabad branch, Khatunganj branch, Jubilee road branch, and Topkhana and Khulna branch where clients can deposit or withdraw their money.

Communication backbone of their bank has been connected through VAST, FIBEROPTIC or RADIO LINK by using CISCO ROUTERS. More branches are being brought under the network of ON-LINE banking.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OF STANDARD BANK LIMITED

Human resource development and management has been proved as one of the most critical aspects of attaining organizational effectiveness. Human Resource management (HRM) is concerned with the “people dimension in management.

Standard Bank Limited, since its inception, has placed equal emphasis on all the four key functions of the process of HRM- acquisition, development, motivation and retention. The various programs undertaken by the Bank to enrich the quality of human resource are mainly aimed at increasing professional knowledge and skill levels of employees through training and development, in order form a well-equipped work force for providing superlative services to the customers. The reinforcement and enhancement of motivational aspects of the employees, at the same time, have remained one of the major concerns, as we all know that “success of an organization lies in getting employees to give them little bit extra.”

Standard Bank Limited has arranged professional training programs for newly recruited probationary officers. The Bank has so far sent a number of executives for attending training for 6 countries and workshops in China, United States of America, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and India.

The Bank has developed its own training centre with both in-house and visiting faculties and resource person. To further strengthen its efficient work force has recruited fresh business graduates of reputed universities as Probationary Officer. The recruited personnel joined the mainstream of banking which would surely enrich the quality of human resources and eventually contribute towards the Bank‟s operational effectiveness and long term sustainable results.

Human resources objective of Standard Bank

Human resource objective of Standard Bank is to provide the organization‟s requirements on human resource demand on its various sectors. HR functions in Standard Bank refer to policies and practices to carry out personnel aspects of the organization. These practices and policies are the followings:

Conducting job analysis (determining nature of each employee‟s job)
Planning employee needs
Selecting and recruiting job candidates
Orienting and training new employees
Managing wages and salaries
Providing incentives and benefits
Appraising performance
Counseling and disciplining
Training and developing
Building employee commitment

Recruitment

There is no alternative to skilled and trained manpower in service Industry. Bearing this in mind the well-educated, promising and honest workers are being appointed and trained. Standard bank has given top priority for developing skilled manpower and introducing them with modern technologies with the purpose to develop quality customer services. Standard bank recruit experienced bankers as well as fresh university graduates. In general, the board of directors determines the recruitment policy of the bank from time to time. The minimum entry-level qualification for any official position other than supportive management is a Bachelor degree. However, informally the management prefers a minimum master‟s degree for the appointment of Probationary Officers / Management Trainee in the Executive Officer position. The recruitment for entry-level positions begins with a formal written test, which is conducted and supervised by the Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka. After successful completion of the written test, a personal interview is conducted for the successful candidates by a panel of experts comprising of renowned bureaucrats and prominent bankers of the country.

Training

The Bank gives utmost importance to impart training to build up quality manpower at every level and focuses on motivational devices for appropriate career progression of the employees. The Bank regularly organizes various training courses at its own Training Institute in Head Office, Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) and the Institute of Bankers. Apart from imparting training, officials / executives of the Bank often participate in various seminars and symposiums outside the country to acquaint them with global banking environment.

In the year 213, 72 employees were sent to BIBM for training on different Banking policies and strategies while 114 employees were also sent for foundation training at BIBM. 62 employees were sent to the different Institutions in the country for participating in workshops, symposiums etc. Besides on invitation of Foreign Banks and Organizations, 21 employees were sent in the different part of globe to attend seminars, workshop and symposiums, which made themselves aware of the latest knowledge and techniques of Modern banking.

ON LINE OPERATION

All branches of the Bank including the Head Office have a STEALER bank Based Local Area Network (LAN) on UNIX platform, which is a multi-user and most reliable and internationally recognized secured Operating System. Our banking program supports all core banking facilities including: Current Accounts, Savings Accounts, Foreign Currency Accounts, term and Fixed Deposits, Loans and Advances, Special Schemes for Deposits and Advances etc. Besides the maintenance of various types of customer account, calculation and applications of interests, automatic deduction of various types of taxes on lives, the bank‟s books of accounts are also fully automated and integrated in to the banking software thus the Balance Sheet, Statement of Affairs and other management reports and generated by the computer system under Bank‟s Standard Chart of Accounts on daily basis.

WEB-PAGE

The Internet has brought about a revolutionary change in the world leading to convergence of communication and computing technologies. In order to provide round the clock and up to date information on the Bank to the trade and business communities worldwide, our own IT Team has developed a web page for the Bank. It can be accessed under the domain name: www.standardbankbd.com

SWIFT

The Bank has become the member of SWIFT Alliance Access, a multi-branch secure financial messaging system provided by the Society for Worldwide Inter-bank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), Belgium. With the activation of the SWIFT system the Bank enjoys instant, low-cost, speedy and reliable connectivity for L/C transaction, fund transfers, message communication and other worldwide financial activities.

PRODUCT & SERVICES OF SBL

SAVINGS ACCOUNT

This deposit is primarily for small-scale savers. There are certain limitations in Savings Account, i.e., customer can draw only twice a week, if they want to get interest on the deposited money. If a customer draws more than twice in a week he will not receive any interest for that month. Heavy withdrawals are permitted only against prior notice. Some Important Points are as follows-

Minimum opening deposit of Tk.5000/= is required;
Below 1.00 lac interest rate is 6%, Tk. 1.00 lac to 5.00 lac interest rate is 8%, above 5.00 lac interest rate is 8.50%.
Minimum Tk. 1000/= balance must always maintain all the time;
Withdrawal amount should not be more than 1/4th of the total balance at a time and limit twice in a month.

Customer Benefit

Cheque Book facility.
Opportunity to apply for safe deposit locker.
Utility payment service.
Collect foreign remittance.
Transfer of fund from one branch to another byo
Online banking service.

CURRENT DEPOSIT ACCOUNT

Standard Bank facilitates customers with different types of current account. There are current accounts for individuals, proprietorship firms; partnership firms, Joint Stock Company, school, college, association, trust and N.G.O. Account opening form for these categories are different.

Some terms and documents may differ but the overall process of account opening is similar to that of the saving account. Here I like to state what kinds of information to be furnished in the form and which documents customer should provide.

Current Account (individual): Branches use the forms distributed by the SBL head office for opening a current personal/ individual account.

Current Account (Proprietorship): To open a proprietorship current account photocopy of trade license, attached by the concerned officer, is required along with the procedure mentioned for individual current account. A customer should meet the following requirements to see an account has been opened in his/ her name:

Name of the applicant
Profession or business of applicant
Address of the applicant
Photographs of the applicant
Introduced by an account holder of the branch
Signature on the application form
Signature on the specimen signature card
Verification of details and signatures by authorized officer.

Current Account (Partnership): Opening procedure of a partnership current account is almost same as the opening of individual current account but some additional documents are required which are as follows:

Partnership deed
Letter of partnership
Trade license

Current Account (Joint Stock Company): All the formalities of individual current account opening should be met for the opening of Joint Stock Company; additionally following documents also should be submitted to the bank. These documents are:

Registration certificate from Register of joint stock companies
Certificate incorporation
Memorandum of association
Articles of association
Annual audit report
Copy of board Resolution containing
Name of the persons authorized to operate the bank account on behalf of the company.
Name of the persons authorized to deal documents with the bank.

SBL current account meets the needs of individual and commercial customers through its schedule benefit.

Minimum balance: Tk 5000/-
Interest rate : Nil

Customer Benefit:

Cheque book facility
Opportunity to apply for safe deposit locker facility
Collect foreign remittance in both T.C. and Draft.
Transfer of fund from one branch to another by

Telegraphic Transfer
Demand Draft
Mail Transfer

Collection of cheque through clearing house
Online banking service.

FIXED DEPOSIT RECEIPT

Fixed Deposit is the amount deposited by the customer for a fixed period of time. It offers comparatively higher rate of interest. For 1 month interest rate is 7.5%, for 3 months interest rate is 8.5%, for 6 months interest rate is 8.5% and for 1 year interest rate is 9.5%.

Procedure of FDR Account
Bank provides the interested customer a Fixed Deposit form.
Customers fill the form, which contains name of the customer, amount of money, duration, rate of interest etc.
After filling the form customer pay the money by cash or cheque.
After receiving the form from the customer the respected officer look for the cash seal or transfer seal. If any of these are present and the form is properly signed the officer provides a specimen signature card to the customer.
Customer signs thrice on the specimen signature card along with his or her full name.
At the same time respected officer issue a fixed deposit receipt on the specific FDR block.

Features

Interest is compounded once a quarter
Loan may be allowed up to 80% of the deposited amount under lien.
Excise duty and source tax etc. are deductible from the depositor profit.

DEPOSIT SCHEMES

Under deposit scheme, the Standard Bank Ltd (SBL) offers different types of products (scheme) to help the fixed income people to save money and meet any future financial obligations. The schemes offer a large amount of money after a certain period of time if the account holders deposit a specific amount on monthly basis.

The schemes are

I.Three stage savings scheme

Monthly benefit scheme

III. Juniors savers scheme

Lakhpati scheme
Pension Savings Scheme (PSS)
Education Savings Scheme (ESS)

VII. Marriage Savings Scheme (MSS)

VIII. Savers Benefit Deposit Scheme (SBDS)

LOAN SCHEMES

The loan portfolio of the Bank is well diversified and covers funding to a wide spectrum of business and industries including readymade garments, textile, edible oil, ship scrapping, steel & engineering, chemical, pharmaceuticals, cement, construction, health-care, real-estate and loans under consumer‟s credit schemes allowed to the middle-class people of the country for acquiring various household items.

DEBIT /ATM AND VISA CREDIT CARD

SBL decided to bring more diversification in its array of products and services. This was necessitated to cater to the emerging needs of the market.

Debit/ ATM card and VISA credit card are two such products, the bank could hardly afford not to have them and offer to its customers. In the last quarter of the year under review, the board of directors decided to have its own network of ATMs in strategic locations preferably in branch premises. To do this the bank further agreed to join and share existing network of ATMs currently available in the country. Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd (DBBL) and Q-cash are such two networks which have the largest footprint in Bangladesh. Accordingly SBL has entered into agreement with these networks to give maximum coverage to our ATM cardholders in addition to banks own network.

The bank has also engaged IT Consultants Limited (ITCL) as a third party processor for visa card management. Most of the preparatory works has been done and waiting for visa certification to launch Standard Bank Visa credit card at the earliest.

MERCHANT BANKING WING

In order to broaden the base of service SBL obtained a full-fledged merchant banking license from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 06 April 2009. A dedicated wing named, Merchant Banking Wing (MBW) was established for this purpose. After completion of all formalities including staffing, infrastructural facilities, renovation etc .MBW of the bank started operation from august 2009.

The bank has initiated steps to expand the activities of merchant banking operations as below:

Merchant Banking subsidiary company: The formation of a Merchant banking subsidiary named SBL capital Management Limited is underway. It is expected that this subsidiary will commence operation from june2013.
Opening of new branches: SBL has plans to open a few branches of merchant banking subsidiary at different areas if Dhaka city phase by phase during June 2014.
Introduction of new products: SBL is also working to launch a few new products under the merchant regulation.

ISLAMIC BANKING

There are two Islamic banking windows of Standard bank ltd. Those are:

Topkhana road branch, Dhaka.
Agrabad branch, chittagong.

Accordingly SBL has opened 2 Islamic banking wings in two divisions during the year 2009. They are following and maintaining properly the guidelines for islami banking issued by Bangladesh Bank. In this regard SBL has installed separate high profile islami banking software which is known as “HIKMA” software.

This “HIKMA” software is completely separate from the conventional software where method of profit calculation is as per Bangladesh Bank guidelines and as per Islamic Banking.

SBL is offering the following deposit and investment products to the clients under islami banking:

Deposit products

Al-Wadiah current account
Mudaraba savings account
Mudaraba special notice deposit account.
foreign currency account
NFCD account
RFCD Account
Mudaraba term deposit receipt Account
Mudaraba monthly savings scheme
Mudaraba hajj saving scheme.

Investment Products

Bai- Murabaha
Bai-Salam
Bai-Muajjal

RETAIL BANKING

According to the statistics and market research paper available, the consumer lending market in Bangladesh has a size of BDT 2600 billion whereas loan outstanding of September 30, 2013 as per schedule bank statistics of Bangladesh bank is around BDT 52 billion. This indicates that only 32% of the market has been utilized by the financial institutions. So the remaining 68% of the market holds tune potential for the loan giving institutions. To exploit the rapidly increasing opportunities in the fast expanding SME sector through maximizing effectiveness of our product development, distribution & sales strategies of Standard bank Ltd.has established a retail banking division in 2012 with the launching of consumer financing & small enterprise financing. The division has introduced the following asset products on consumer financing:

Salary loan scheme
Car /auto vehicles loan
House renovation loan
Self-employed professional loan.

The division has always been discovering the potential of retail & consumer finance in Bangladesh, understanding the current market condition and examining the latest development within the retail banking , mastering new & successful ways to reduce or mitigate the risk of retail & and small financing

CORRESPODENT BANKING DIVISION

The main aim of Standard bank limited is to increase its foreign exchange business and in this connection they are doing international banking with all major banks of the world. At present they are maintaining correspondent banking relationship with 23 major banks of the world. These are:

The Hong Kong and Shanghai banking corporation (HSBC), Citibank N.A., Standard chartered bank(SCB), American Express bank ltd., Mashreq bank PSC.,Wcchovia bank, The bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi ltd.,Union De Banques, Et ArabesFrancaises, Danske bank ltd, A/S Commerz bank, Dresdner bank, Bank Islam Malaysia, Berhad, Nepal Bangladesh bank ltd., NIB bank ltd., Arab Bangladesh bank ltd., AB international finance limited, Bhutan national bank, UTI bank ltd., The bank of Nova Scotia and ICICI bank limited , Habib bank, Ag Zurich, Nordea bank and Samen bank.

EXCHANGE HOUSE

Standard bank limited is maintaining drawing arrangement with 1(one) exchange house in the UK and another 1 (one) in the USA for inward foreign currency remittance. These 2(two) exchange house are remitting sufficient funds through our bank. Establishment of some exchange house in the U.A.E. is going to execute very soon.

TREASURY

Treasury unit is a core-banking unit and Standard Bank limited s treasury unit is one of the best earnings sources of the bank. The bank is well equipped with skilled human resources for efficient dealing. Our everyday business evolves around participation in foreign exchange market and money market in a substantial volume.

RISK MANAGEMENT

The strategy of every commercial bank is to control & manage the risks which are inherent with the very nature of its business. So as to eliminate the possibility of loss & to aim maximize profit.

The board of directors of Standard bank limited gives full cognizance on the importance of various risk involved in the business of banking. The risk areas are managed by experienced, skills & prudent bankers duly supported by modern technologies i.e. Credit risk grading manual under credit risk management. The management of SBL has been given top priority on core risks in banking and the process of proper structuring is under way as per prudential guidelines provided by

Bangladesh Bank for efficiently managing the risk elements in order to protect the investments of their valued clients & honorable shareholders.

ANTI MONEY LAUNDERING (AML)

STANDARD BANK Ltd. Established anti money laundering department (AMLD) headed by one Vice President designated as Chief Anti-Money Compliance Officer (CAMLCO).The department since its inception, has been conducting seminar, workshop and training on regular basis for awareness against money laundering among the executives and officers of the branch level and head office level. AntiMoney Laundering Department (AMLD) also implements the instructions of Bangladesh Bank circulars issued from time to time .The bank has an Anti-money laundering policy and guide notes under managing core risk in banking duly approved by the board of directors of the bank.

The Anti-Money Laundering Department of the bank has developed uniform KYC format covering all information of the constituents and account opening checklist and those were distributed to the branches to ensure obtainments in support of information incorporated in the A/C opening form to protect un-scrupulous persons at the entry point of the branches

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Foreign exchange operation of the bank played a significant role in the overall business of the bank. The Bank is contributing in the country‟s national economy after successfully handling foreign transactions offering a broad spectrum of trade finance product through its 17 A.D branches. During the year 2013 the bank has contributed in the country‟s national economy after successfully handling of foreign exchange transactions VIZ. import, export and remittance. In 2013 volume of import has significantly increased from Tk. 48499.70 million to Tk. 51036.10 million, which was 11.59% higher than last year, the volume of export business has tremendously increased from Tk. 42520.80 million to Tk. 42574.50 million which was 4.74% higher than last year and foreign remittance business also remarkably increased from 703.45 million to Tk. 989.83 million which was 32.33% higher than last year.

Conclusion

The importance of sustaining and improving bank performance is increasing day by day. Particularly in an environment which is characterized by rapidly flourishing technology and its growing application to banking, tremendous competition, product development, shift in marketing strategy, deregulation & globalization on the one hand, and escalation in the number of bank failures accompanied by mergers and mega mergers on the contrary. In order to keep abreast with the prevailing market scenario Standard Bank limited has already strengthen its position in the industry. The Bank has grown well in its 14th year of business, expanded its coverage of financial products and customer segments and enhanced its service capabilities across multiple channels. The result achieved by the Bank reflects that it claimed to even higher operational height despite stiff competition.

To be a leading private sector bank, Standard Bank Ltd. has to apply some new dimensions in its customer satisfaction level & its products and services. Otherwise, it would be quite hard for them to keep their business position in competitive market industry. Because of without pure satisfaction from the customers no one can last longer in the market. Existing customers hope better future of Standard Bank Limited by providing best services.