Customer Service Banking Products of BRAC Bank

Customer Service Banking Products of BRAC Bank Limited

BRAC Bank Limited, one of the latest generation of commercial banks started its journey on July 04, 2001. It is an affiliate of BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee), one of the world‟s largest non-governmental development organizations founded by Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972. It has been the fastest growing Bank in 2004 and 2005. The Bank operates under a “double bottom line” agenda where profit and social responsibility go hand in hand as it strives towards a poverty-free, enlightened Bangladesh.

BRAC Bank Limited, with institutional shareholdings by BRAC, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Shore Cap International, has been the fastest growing Bank in Bangladesh for the last three consecutive years. In the recent past the bank has gone public with price of shares reaching impressive heights, further showing promising future.

BRAC Bank, a fully operational Commercial Bank, focuses on pursuing unexplored market niches in the Small and Medium Enterprise Business, which hitherto has remained largely untapped within the country. In the last five years of operation, the Bank has disbursed over BDT 2200 crore in loans to nearly 50,000 small and medium entrepreneurs in 2007. And this year Bank‟s disbursement plan is BDT 4100 crore. The management of the Bank believes that this sector of the economy can contribute the most to the rapid generation of employment in Bangladesh. Since inception in July 2001, the Bank’s footprint has grown to 36 branches, more than 400 SME unit offices and 38 ATM sites across the country, and the customer base has expanded to 200,000 deposit and 45,000 advance accounts through 2006.

In 2005, BRAC Bank had a $178 million portfolio consisting of around 21,000 loans with an average loan size of $8,000. It has around 400 regionally-placed loan processing units offering services in the heart of rural and urban communities and employs over 700 business loan officers – around 60% of total staff.

BRAC Bank is one of country‟s fastest growing banks. With 155 Branches, SME Service Centers & SME/Krishi Branches, 14 Apon Shomoy, 322 ATM Booths, 31CDMs, 398 SME Unit Offices and more than 7,695 (as on May 2014) human resources, BRAC Bank‟s operation now cuts across all segments and services in financial industry. With more than 1.3 Million Customers, the bank has already proved to be the largest SME financier in just 12 years of its operation in Bangladesh and continues to broaden its horizon into Retail, Corporate, Foreign Remittance and other arenas of banking. In the year: 2010, BRAC Bank has been recognized as Asia‟s most Sustainable Bank in Emerging Markets by the Financial Times and IFC.

Recently BRAC Bank has achieved the International award for “Excellence in Retail Financial Services”.

BRAC Bank has also been recognized as “The Best Managed Bank” in Bangladesh by The Asian Banker. The Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Award is widely acknowledged by the financial services industry as the highest possible accolade available to professionals in the industry as recognized in the Asia Pacific and Gulf regions today. Our MD & CEO of BRAC Bank Limited, Mr. Syed Mahbubur Rahman became the winner of The Asian Banker CEO Leadership Achievement Award for Bangladesh for achievement in the period 2011-2013.

BRAC bank Limited, with institutional shareholding by BRAC, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and ShoreCap Exchange, has been the fastest growing bank for last several years.

BRAC Bank Limited – An Overview of the Organization

BRAC Bank Limited is a full service scheduled commercial bank. It has both local and International Institutional shareholder. The bank is primarily driven with a view of creating opportunities and pursuing market niches not traditionally meet by conventional banks. BRAC Bank has been motivated to provide “best-in-the-class” services to its diverse assortment of customers spread across the country under an on-line banking dais.

At present, BRAC Bank is one of the fastest growing banks in the country. In order to support the planned growth of its distribution, network and its various business segments, BRAC Bank is currently looking for impressive goal oriented, enthusiastic, individuals for various business operations.

The bank wants to build a profitable and socially responsible financial institution. It carefully listen to the market and business potentials, It is also assisting BRAC and stakeholders to build a progressive, healthy, democratic and poverty free Bangladesh. It helps make communities and economy of the country stronger and to help people achieve their financial goals. The bank maintains a high level of standards in everything for our customers, our shareholders, our acquaintances and our communities upon, which the future affluence of our company rests.

According to the Half-Yearly Financial Statement of 2013- the number of Employees including contractual engaged for the whole year or part there of (who received a total yearly remuneration of Tk. 36,000 or above) were 6,306 where as the total number of employees were 7,075 as the same period of pervious year.

Vision & Mission of BRAC Bank Ltd.

Vision:

Before stating the vision of BRAC Bank Limited, Bangladesh, let us first have the idea about the Bank‟s plan of action and goals in Bangladesh.

BRAC Bank will promote broad-based participation in the Bangladesh economy through the provision of high quality banking services. The Bank plans to achieve this by increasing access to economic opportunities for all individuals and businesses in Bangladesh with a special focus on currently under-served enterprises and households across the rural-urban spectrum. BRAC Bank believes in mutual benefits, the Bank‟s and its clients‟ benefit will depend on each other. So the pursuit of profit and developmental goals is mutually reinforcing. The target is to increase the ability of under-served individuals and enterprises to build their asset base and access market opportunities so that it increases the economic well-being for all Bangladeshis at the same time, and this will contribute significantly to the profitability of the bank.

BRAC Bank intends to set standards as the market leader in Bangladesh. It will demonstrate that a locally owned institution can provide efficient, friendly and modern full-service banking on a profitable basis. It will produce earnings and pay out dividends that can support the activities of BRAC, the Bank‟s major shareholder. Development and poverty alleviation on a countrywide basis needs mass production, mass consumption and mass financing. BRAC Bank‟s goal is to provide mass financing to enable mass production and mass consumption and thereby contribute to the development of Bangladesh. The Bank‟s goals are thus aligned with those of BRAC.

The Vision Statement

We know that a vision statement should be one, long sentence with specific details about where an organization wants to be in future. In the long run a business or an organization has to meet a certain target or goal, which is what, comes into the vision statement. So the above plan of BRAC Bank is summarized as follows:

 “Building a profitable and socially responsible financial institution focused on Markets and Business with growth potential, thereby assisting BRAC and stakeholders build a “just, enlightened, healthy, democratic and poverty free Bangladesh”.

Mission:

BRAC Bank will adhere to highly professional and ethical business principles and internationally acceptable banking and accounting standards.

Every BRAC Bank professional will need first of all a commitment to excellence in all that he/she does, a keen desire for success, a determination to excel and a drive to be the best. BRAC Bank Ltd. will individually and jointly learn continuously from customers and professional colleagues around the globe to improve the way of doing business so that the Bank remains the best in market. The Bank is willing to walk that extra mile with enthusiasm and empathy to serve their customers and to solve problems together so that their customers succeed in their business and remain loyal to the Bank. BRAC Bank will set up goals for themselves and then exceed the goals that they have set up. The Bank shall not accept failure.

The Mission Statement

Here also we know that the mission statement for any business or organization must be in line with its long term plan or vision. The mission statement should clearly state „what is the short term plan of the organization to achieve its long term goal‟, which is the vision, or doing what exactly now as well as in near future will ensure our goal in distant future‟. But BRAC Bank has multiple mission statements, each important and specific to its vision. The following lines will show the mission statements of BRAC Bank Ltd:

• Sustained growth in ‘Small & Medium Enterprise’ sector.
• Continuous low cost deposit growth with controlled growth in Retail Assets.
• Corporate Assets to be funded through self-liability mobilization. Growth in Assets through Syndications and Investment in faster growing sectors.
• Continuous endeavor to increase fee based income.
• Keep our Debt Charges at 2% to maintain a steady profitable growth.
• Achieve efficient synergies between the bank’s Branches, SME Unit Offices and
• BRAC field offices for delivery of Remittance and Bank’s other products and services.
• Manage various lines of business in a fully controlled environment with no compromise on service quality.
• Keep a diverse, far flung team fully motivated and driven towards materializing the bank’s vision into reality.

Values – CRYSTAL

• C stands for being Creative, Be a person of innovative ideas in solving issues, thinking different ideas to reach one destination; do new associations between existing ideas or concepts for the organization‟s overall growth.
• R stands for being Reliable, Be worthy of reliance or trust at work so everyone could depend on you.
• Y stands for remaining Youthful, Be a person of freshness and vibrant characteristic at work. Feel young at HEART and project enthusiasm during performing duties.
• S stands for being Strong; Be a person of willing to move forward and apply conscious choice, willpower, discipline and passion at work.
• T stands for being Transparent, Be transparent at work at all level both internally and externally. Show openness and honesty through communication to bring transparency
• A stands for being Accountable, Be accountable for own actions and take responsibilities for the outcome of the actions; be responsible and answerable towards customers, organization, regulatory bodies as well as the society.
• L stands for being Loyal, Be loyal to the organization by being compliant at work, taking ownership and create belongingness which will carry your brand as your pride.

International Finance Corporation:

BBL has important international shareholdings apart from BRAC: IFC and ShoreCap. International Finance Corporation (IFC) is the commercial wing of World Bank. Using certain channels and overseas representatives, IFC helps local financial institutions find profitable ways to target small and medium sized companies. Funding comes from the Asian Development Bank, Canada, the European Commission, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and IFC itself.

IFC is a 9.5% shareholder in BBL. A new assistance program signed in August 2005 aims to double the bank‟s number of small and medium enterprise clients in 18 months through campaigns to target women entrepreneurs and rural clients, introduce new products and train branch managers.

Shore Cap International Ltd

Another international institutional investor Shore Cap International Ltd. is an international private non-profit, equity company seeking to invest in small business banks and regulated micro finance institutions in countries with developing and transitional economies. Shore Cap typically invests between $500,000 and $2 million for an ownership position of 10-25% of a company. As a minority shareholder, Shore Cap seeks financial institutions with a strong, experienced management team and a committed set of local development-minded investors. Shore Cap currently owns 8.75% of BBL‟s shareholdings.

Product & Service of BRAC Bank

BRAC Bank Ltd. is currently focusing on below different areas of business activities. These are:

1. SME Banking
2. Retail Banking
3. Corporate Banking Division
4. Cash Management & Custodial Services
5. Treasury & Financial Institutions
6. Human Resources Division
7. Finance Division
8. Credit Risk Management
9. Operations
10. Technology
11. Company Secretariat, L & RA
12. Risk Management
13. Special Asset Management
14. Research & Development
15. Service Quality
16. Communication

The businesses directly related to customer service are briefly described in the following sections:

SME Banking:

BRAC Bank considers the population of Bangladesh the most valuable resource of the country. According to BRAC Bank, after achieving liberation, the attainment of economic uplift should be our most important goal. Micro lenders are working here in the financial field, providing very small amount and on the other hand regular commercial banks have been providing bigger amount of loans to larger industries and trading organizations. But the small and medium entrepreneurs were overlooked. This missing middle group is the small but striving entrepreneurs, who because of lack of fund cannot pursue their financial uplift, as they have no property to provide as equity to the commercial banks. With this end in view-BRAC Bank was opened to serve these small but hard working entrepreneurs with double bottom line vision. As a socially responsible bank, BRAC Bank wants to see the emancipation of grass-roots level to their economic height and also to make profit by serving the interest of missing middle groups. 50% of BRAC Bank‟s total portfolio usually collected from urban areas, are channeled to support these entrepreneurs who in future will become the potential strength of our economy. The Bank currently is the market leader in giving loans to Small and Medium Entrepreneurs. It has been doing this for the last five years. Showing SME Network coverage in the figure below:

SME Products:

Currently BRAC Bank is offering 13 SME packages. These are listed and briefly explained below:

Anonno Rin- “Anonno Rin” is a business loan designed to finance small scale trading, manufacturing and service ventures, especially to help small and medium entrepreneurs to meet their short-term cash flow shortages and bridge the fund-flow gaps.

Apurbo Rin- Apurbo is a loan facility for Small and Medium business. Apurbo loan has been designed and tar geted for relatively bigger business units requiring loan above tk. 8 lacs to 30 lacs

Pathshala Rin – “Pathshala Rin” is a loan designed to meet the needs of small and medium sized private educational institutions, such as kindergartens, schools and colleges etc.

Aroggo Rin – “Aroggo” is a loan allowed to various Health service Provider like private clinics, diagnostics centers and doctors’ chambers. The product offers fixed assets purchase financing under equated Monthly Installments.

Digoon Rin – This is a double loan on clients‟ deposits. With this, clients do not need to encash their savings rather they can take double amount of loan on their deposit for their business expansion.

Supplier Finance – SUPPLIER FINANCE is a loan facility for the enlisted Suppliers of various large retailers, marketing companies, distributors, exporters etc.

This product‟s main objective is to help various Suppliers to meet their short-term cash flow shortages or bridge the fund-flow gaps. Amount is minimum BDT 3 lac up  to maximum BDT 30 lac.

Prothoma Rin – “PROTHOMA RIN” is a loan facility for small and medium sized business, which is operated by women entrepreneur. The product offers terminating loan facilities for the purpose of working capital finance and/or fixed assets purchase. Loan limit is from minimum BDT 3 lac up to maximum of BDT 9.5 lac.

BIZNESS Account – “Bizness Account” is an interest bearing current account for sole proprietorship business Entrepreneur. Opening balance required is only BDT- 10, 000.00

Cash Secured Loan – “Cash Secured Loan” is a loan facility for small and medium sized business. There are two types of loan facility in the product i.e. Secured Loan and Secured Overdraft. These facilities are fully secured by fixed deposit of BRAC Bank. Amount is minimum BDT 3 lac up to maximum BDT 30 lac.

BIZNESS Loan – Bizness loan is an equated monthly loan facility for all types of business who have healthy bank transactions for the purpose of working capital finance and/or fixed assets purchase. Loan limit is minimum BDT 10 lac to maximum of BDT 50 lac.

Proshar – “Proshar” is a loan facility for small & medium sized manufacturing business. The product offers loan facilities for working capital finance and/or fixed assets purchase.

Trade Plus – Trade plus is a composite facility for small & medium sized importoriented businesses to meet their trade finance requirements.

Super Supply Loan – Super Supply Loan is a loan facility for Suppliers of various large retailers, marketing companies, manufacturing companies and various corporate houses. This product‟s main objective is to help various Suppliers to meet their financial requirements.

Retail Banking:

There are retail banking products of three categories. One is Loan Products, second is Deposit Products and the other is Cards. In Loan Products category there are eleven services/products facilitating clients‟ demands.

These are:

Salary Loan, NoW Loan, Car Loan, Teacher‟s Loan, Study Loan, Travel Loan, Credit Card Loan, Top Up Loan, HighFlyer Loan, Secured Loan/ OD and Doctor‟s Loan. Under Deposit Products category currently there are ten services/products in total. These are:

Fixed Deposit, Interest First, Abiram Account, DPS, EZee Account, Savings Account, Short

Term Deposit, Current Account, Salary Account and Step Up Fixed Deposit.

Under Cards category there are two types of cards products active. One is ATM Debit Cards and the other is Co-Branded Cards. ATM Debit Cards facilitates money withdrawal of upto BDT 20,000.00 per day. Also checking balance statements of ATM and POS (Point Of Sale) transactions. The Cards Department provides 24 hour customer support hotline to resolve queries and problems.

The Co-Branded Cards are from Aarong, ALICO and DIA Gold. The BRAC Bank Aarong ATM Card gives users 5% cash back facility from shopping in any Aarong outlets. The holder of BRAC Bank ALICO ATM Card can enjoy a special life insurance facility with insurance coverage of upto BDT 200,000.00. And BRAC Bank DIA Gold ATM card holder will enjoy a special cash back and cash discount feature. This feature is 10% discount from any diamond product bought and 8% discount on making charge of any gold products bought from DIA Gold.

Corporate Banking:

Corporate Banking section has three types of coverage currently. These are:

1. Corporate Loan Products
2. Trade Financing
3. Corporate Cash Management

Corporate Loan Products is offering six services at the moment. The services are listed and described in the following section:

Corporate Loan Products

Overdraft – This is an on-demand credit facility designed to meet day-to-day operational activities of the business, including purchase of raw materials and expenses.

Term Loan – Short Term Loan/Revolving Loan: This scheme is to meet different shortterm fund requirements of the client. Payment of duty, Tax, VAT and other expenses related to the release of goods from customs through pay orders in the name of customs authority or Bangladesh Bank cheque is payable through this scheme.

Lease Finance – One of the more convenient long-term sources of acquiring capital machinery and equipment. The client is given an opportunity to have exclusive rights to use an asset, for an agreed period of time, against payment of rent.

Loan Against Trust Receipt (LATR) – This is advancement against a Trust Receipt provided to the client when the documents covering an import shipment are given without payment. Under this system, the client will hold the goods of their sale proceeds in trust for the bank, until the loan allowed against the Trust Receipt is fully paid.

Work Order Finance – BRAC Bank provides Work Order finance facility for its valued clients. Through this arrangement, clients can avail loan facilities against valid Work Orders up to a certain proportion.

Medium Enterprise – The products offered under this sort of financing are versatile in nature and each product is tailored according to the need of the borrower, under certain parameters. The range of organizations this sort of financing caters to include proprietorship concerns, private limited companies, educational institutions as well as NGOs.

The purpose of this unit is to serve medium enterprises having facility requirements like a large corporate in nature, but smaller in volumes. The facilities may range from a singlefunded or non-funded limit to a composite credit facility that includes various corporate products. The Bank believes that the emerging medium enterprise of today is tomorrow‟s large corporate that will facilitate the true growth of the nation.

Trade Finance:

Letter of Credit (LC):

This facility is related to import or local purchase of different items. It is also provided for the import and export of goods (such as raw materials, machinery, equipment, any trading item).

Letter of Guarantee (LG):

To meet different contractual requirement such as participating in Bid, Performance Guarantee and Advance Payment guarantee for different contractual requirements.

Corporate Cash Management

NCS – BRAC Bank will collect clients‟ bills through their Bills Pay Machines in the strategic locations of the city and also at the correspondent branches, where the BRAC Bank branches are not available and at the booths.

PTS – PTS will allow clients to disburse all kinds of payments anywhere in the country through BRAC Bank‟s own branch network in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Savar, Feni and the partner bank branches all over the country.

Advantages to Employers – BRAC Bank provides services such as Salary Upload, Multi Location Salary, payroll management, MIS on payroll etc. Salary Upload facility requires a consolidated cheque of the total salary amount and a break-up of the disbursements to the employees in soft and hard copy format, BRAC Bank will do the rest. Multi-Location Salary features salary disbursal in multiple locations within BRAC Bank network. Payroll MIS creates standard reports for corporate clients with neatness and conciseness.

Advantages to Employees – Along with all other Retail Banking services, employees can avail 24 Hour Banking through ATMs, Online Banking, Extended Banking Hours till 8:00 PM except for Thursdays and Fridays and Payday Overdraft on request for emergency situations (this is adjusted with the employee‟s following month‟s salary).

Cash Management Services – BRAC Bank’s national Collection Services (NCS) is designed to assist corporate with nationwide collection requirements by providing faster funds availability in a cost- effective manner.

Cash Collection Services: Through BRAC Bank Cash Collection Services they collect cash directly from clients offices/business premises. The whole process is arranged with executive logistic services.

Drop Box Facility: On request, BRAC Bank can install Drop Box at customer‟s office which can be used for depositing cheques or any instruction. Their representative will visit client‟s office and clear the box every day.

Probashi Banking

Our nation‟s workforce who are away from their families, relatives, friend and above all, from breathing the air of our country, working abroad for the prosperity of their lives and the nation in the long run while sacrificing a lot. BRAC Bank, through Probashi Banking services, is facilitating the banking needs of remitters. Currently BRAC Bank is providing six services for remitters under Probashi Banking. These products/services are described below:

Probashi Current Account – It is ideal for Probashi Bangladeshis who do not wish to earn interest due to religious reasons. This account also comes with cheque book and ATM card and is ideal for regular transaction.

Probashi Savings Account – This account provides interest which is paid in June and December of each year. This account comes with a cheque book and ATM Card and is ideal for Probashi Bangladeshis who want to save. Accounts are maintained in Taka.

Probashi DPS – Is a savings scheme specially designed for the Probashi clients. This service requires monthly installment of minimum Tk. 500.00 and any multiples. Provides a savings account with a personalized cheque book, earnings remitted to savings account will be automatically transferred on the due dates and loans are provided against 90% of deposited amount.

Probashi Fixed Deposit – A fixed deposit account allows remitters to deposit their money for a set-period of time, thereby earning them a higher rate of interest in return. Fixed Deposits can be made from 3 months to 3 years. Interest is paid on the maturity at a very attractive rate. Accounts are maintained in Taka.

Probashi Abiram – Probashi Abiram is a Fixed Deposit which is ideal for Probashies who want to get a return every month. If one has sufficient funds, this can be made into a fixed deposit from 1 year to 3 years and interest will be paid every month on their Savings Account automatically. This is ideal for customers who want to pay their DPS installments. Accounts are maintained in Taka.

Probashi Shubidha (NRB Beneficiary) Account – This is a specialized account for Non Resident Bangladeshis where the remitter can open an account for the Beneficiary. The beneficiary can then avail all the services offered by BRAC Bank such as: SMS Banking, Phone Banking, Internet Banking etc. When the beneficiary‟s account is setup, the Remitter just requires the account number, and amount of money to be sent to make a safe, fast and efficient transaction. Transaction is completed within 6 hours of receiving instructions.

BBL’S Green Banking Initiatives

BRAC Bank introduces Planet Card – first time in the industry. It is not usual Debit Card. You can contribute to create a Green Fund from your standard Debit Card Fee by simply subscribing for a PLANET CARD.

At SME, BRAC Bank Ltd has Solar Powered Unit Offices.

BBL supported Renewable Energy Sector by financing the first ever Bio-Gas Project in Bangladesh by Paragon Agro Limited.

As an environment-friendly Bank, BRAC Bank launched a campaign to encourage its customers go green by subscribing to e-Statements on World Environment Day. It will not only save trees, customers also gets monthly statements instead of half yearly ones, and one can always retrieve it from the system.

Areas need to improve:

• A CVs‟ archive should be maintained in a computerized database to reduce paper uses and space consumption. The CVs can be scanned as PDF files and maintained in Compact Disks archive.
• The existing requisition form can be made simpler by turning it into a one page form instead of two including only the needed fields so that one glance is enough to verify it. This will also reduce hassle when photocopying them for personal files or other documentation or filing.
• The Interview Scorecard can be qualitative instead of quantitative so that Board Members can easily fill up and comment about an interviewee in the scorecard.
• HR Vista Manager needs to pick up more features & speed. It should be upgraded.
• They can go for paper advertisement also for the other vacancies rather than Management Trainee Officers and higher positioned employees.
• Online recruitment system should be updated so that no need to data entry for interview.
• Performance Management system should be online based.
• Higher right people in right place according to person-job match criteria.
• Finical software should be upgraded.

Conclusion:

BRAC Bank intends to set standards as the market leader in Bangladesh. It demonstrates that a locally owned institution can provide efficient, friendly and modern banking service on a profitable basis. Human Resource Department is the most confidential department for any organization as well as Human Resources Division in BRAC Bank Limited. Here as an intern, limited information was collected for preparing this report because of too much confidentiality.

It was an honor to work as an intern in a reputed organization like BRAC Bank Limited. The BRAC Bank Limited is a bank that confirms the best service to the customers as well as to the employees by Human Resource Division. BRAC bank Limited is the fastest growing Bank in Bangladesh. By working in HR Division the knowledge was learnt would be helpful enough to sustain with the real organizational environment.