Functions of General Banking in United Commercial Bank

Functions of General Banking Division of
United Commercial Bank Ltd

This report has been prepared to present an evaluation about the functions of general banking division of United Commercial Bank. The findings will gauge the organization by considering the overview and history of UCBL. This report also contains the product and service offerings of UCBL, Vision, mission, objectives and other associated topics. Moreover it contains little general idea general banking activities of Chashara branch Narayanganj. In addition job description, specific responsibilities, different aspect of job performance, critical observation and recommendation are also given.

At the end of the report, contains the analysis of the customer’s perceptions on quality of general banking activities of UCBL. This will let the reader a wide range of understanding about the organization. Information was collected from both primary and secondary sources to compile this paper. The sources include questioner survey, opinion from the officers, gathered information from the websites and few other sources are also there.

Overview of the Organization (United Commercial Bank)

“United Commercial Bank” one of the leading and fastest growing privately owned Bangladesh based financial institution that provides financial services including- personal and business banking, loans, credit and debit cards, money transfer facility, online banking and other services. United Commercial Bank, from its beginning gave more importance in technology integration in order to remain competitive in the region of banking to hold their position. Keeping the network within a reasonable limit, their strategy is to serve the customers through capacity building across multi-delivery channels. This bank successfully establishes itself as one of the leading first generation banks in the country with a huge network of 148 branches. Also consumer products like UCB cards have been showing incredible success and growth since 2006 and soon became the leader in local market with around 40000 card holders with 115 ATM booths. This bank has already made a separate entity in the territory of private sector banking through personalized service, innovative practices, dynamic approach and efficient management by the help of 3,679 employees who always show their dynamic performance to keep their leading position in the banking sector. They are better positioned and balanced to make their customers capable enough for changing times and facilitate them to compete more effectively in the market they operate. This bank is aiming to play a fundamental role in the economic activities of the country by the expansion of trade, commerce and industry thorough an inventive credit policy.

General Banking Activities of Chashara Branch, Narayanganj

General banking has a separate value for any bank and banking system. Without this division no bank can run their operations and also puts no value for the bank. General banking itself carries a most important value for any banking system. General banking activities are given below:

• Account opening
• Give requisition for cheque book
• Issue Pay-orders
• Works with account closing
• Process account transfer
• Provide account transfer facility
• Create FDR and different types of DPS
• Cheque clearing process
• Do online transaction
• Provide internet banking facility
• Foreign Remittance
• Local Remittance
• Provide account information and statement to the clients or customers

Account opening

First step for opening an account in a bank is to take interview to the person who wants to open the account and also need to know some common information about the nominee. After gathered all the information and other necessary papers an account opening officer have to fill all the information in the account opening form.

• Necessities for opening account
• Two copy of account holders photograph
• One copy of nominees photograph
• One copy of both account holder and nominees national identity card
• One copy of utility bill ( Electricity Bill is more preferable)
• For student account, students identity card copy is mandatory
• For minor account and if minor is a nominee for any account in both the case birth certificate is needed
• Put customers details in the software

Once done with the account opening form then, the officer will open the account by using (named-FLEXCUBE) software and provide all the necessary information. This software is help to keep all the record of the account and also any information can be found for later purpose from this software.

Process for Cheque book requisition

For having a cheque book at first one has to fill up the cheque book requisition form. Then the form has to submit to an account opening officer and then the officer will post the requisition by the help of the software. The cheque will take maximum one week to reach to the branch and then those cheque books have register in a book to maintain a record. At the time of delivery customers have to give a signature on that register book.

Issuing pay-orders

Pay order is an instrument, which is used to remit money within a city through banking channel. The instruments are generally safe as most of them are crossed. When P.O. submitted by bank through clearinghouse, then the issuing bank gives payment. Thus bank’s liability is established by debiting bills payable. But before giving payment it should be examined whether endorsement was given by the collecting bank or not. If not then the instrument is dishonored by marking “Endorsement required”.

The procedure for selling P.O. is as follows:

• Purchaser must be an A/C holder of UCBL
• Deposit money with P.O. application form
• Give necessary entry in the bills payable on line register
• Payee’s name, date, P.O. no. etc.
• Prepare the instrument
• After it has been scrutinized & approved by higher authority, the instrument is delivered to customer. Signature of customer is taken in the counterpart
• Types of Pay- Order
• Account payee: only can en-cash it by depositing it in his account
• Blank Crossed: any one can en-cash it by depositing in their account
• Cash payment: P.O. can be paid in cash if buyer gives a letter of Identification regarding payee

Account Closing

Account closing is also a part of general banking division and this process is put under account opening section. Customers can close their account at any time by giving earlier notice to the bank. Similarly, the bank on genuine ground may close customer’s account giving reasonable notice for the action or without any notice if the conduct of the account is not satisfactory to the bank. In either case, bank will realize a minimum closing charge from the customer’s account.

Account Transfer

Account opening department also deals with transfers account from one branch to another on customer’s request. The steps are:

• Application for account transfer
• The customers shall surrender the unused cheque books/leaves along with the requisition slip and other materials supplied by the bank for operation of the account
• Verification of signature and approval of operation head
• Inform the respective branch
• Forward the documents
• Close the account

Fixed Deposit & DPS

Fixed deposit is one, which is repayable after the expiry of a predetermined period fixed by clients. Usually FDR’s done for the period of one month, three months, six months, one year, two years and three years and the interest rate is varies for each period at UCBL. These deposits are not repayable on demand but they are withdrawal subject to a period of notice. Hence, it is a popularly known as ‘Time Deposit’ or ‘Time Liabilities”. Normally the money on a fixed deposit is not repayable before the expiry of a fixed period. The FDR becomes renewed automatically in UCBL if the customer does not withdraw money within 7 days of maturity. Also, if the clients want to get their interest amount against FDR then they can transfer that interest amount to their savings accounts and then they can easily withdrawal their interest amount from savings account.

Cheque clearing process

Clearing Department of a bank performs one of the important jobs of general banking division which centers in clearing of cheques and it mainly works under a software based computerized electronic fund transfer system which known as BACH (Bangladesh automated clearing house). Branches those are certified by Bangladesh bank to enlist to use BACH system can collect/transfer their money without going from one branch to another. As such, the clearing department eases, fosters and ensures the receipt and transfer of payment on behalf of its customers. In this respect the activities of clearing department are sensitive one since the credibility of the bank to the customers relies on the smooth, efficient and effective functioning of the department. Clearing department divides the cheques deposited for clearing into two – inward cheques and outward cheques. Inward cheques are those placed by different bank branches and which are issued by the account holder of that very branch (inward cheque receiving branch). Outward cheques are those deposited in particular branch of a bank and which are issued by the account holder of the other banks.

Online transaction

By the help of online banking system client can transfer money from one account to another account within UCBL and also can get all their transaction details through online. For online transaction bank charges commission and vat on different amount of transaction from clients account.

Internet Banking

UCBL Internet Banking enables customer to access their personal or business accounts anytime anywhere from home, office or when traveling. Internet Banking gives customer the freedom to choose his/her own banking hours. It can save time, money and effort. It’s fast, easy, secure and best of all.

The following are the internet banking features for UCBL’s retail and corporate customers:

• Customers are able to view the list of current, saving, term deposit and loan accounts with the current balance
• Able to see or print his transaction activity in a given account for a particular period
• Customer can transfer funds from one of his accounts to another of his accounts within the bank
• Can open a term deposit by transferring funds from one of his current or savings accounts with the bank. He can also modify the TD and redeem / part-redeem it
• Can make payment of the loan installment from his account
• The customer can make a request for account statement for a required period. The bank will manually service this request
• Also can make a request for a cheque book
• The customer can query on the interest rates, term deposit products, foreign exchange rates using this function
• The customer can change his internet banking password using this function

Foreign Remittance

Non- resident Bangladesh can enjoy instant fund transfer and other banking facilities trough UCBL internet banking for example.

• Non-resident Bangladeshi can open one account for himself and another account for his/her near and dear ones with UCBL and can transfer fund through SWIFT from any bank in the world.
• He/she can now enjoy full range of internet banking facilities from aboard; such as:
• Monitoring balance and transfers of his/her account
• Utility bill payments in Bangladesh
• Payment of loan installment due with any other
• Opening of FDR account debiting his/her savings/current account
• Issue standing instruction on his/her account with UCBL to transfer a fixed amount of money in a particular date of every month to other accounts of his/her near and dear ones with UCBL
• His/her near and dear ones can now enjoy full facilities of UCBL’s on-line branches, ATMs and internet banking

Local Remittance

In banking language money transmitted domestically are known as local remittance. For local remittance purpose UCBL purchases and sells some instruments for its customers. The instruments are Pay Order (PO), Telegraphic Transfer (TT), and Mail Transfer (MT).

Provide account information and statement to the clients

The customers can verify their account whenever they want from UCBL. From the statement clients get to know how much money they deposit and how much they withdraw. They can also take their transaction statement when they want to apply for loan or for apply for visa or to see their transaction at a glance and a receive seal of UCBL with signature have to give on the statement paper. UCBL charges three hundred taka for each statement if the client wants to take the statement for more than three months.

Nature of the jobs

In UCBL I have got a chance to work in only two different departments as this is a small branch and operates with few divisions. My working areas were general banking division and card division. In the following there is a description of each department.

General Banking Division

My internship report is mainly based on general banking of UCBL and I worked regularly on this division for completing my internship period. General Banking is the crucial part of any banking system. Here variety of works has to perform along with money collection procedure. Other services like cheque encashment, account transfer, account closing, bills and remittance are provided here. The activities perform through some procedures such as – dispatch ( inward and outward), deposit, account opening and closing, money transfer, cheque book issue, local remittance (payment order, TT, MT), foreign remittance, collections- transfer delivery, cash, etc.

Card Division

Card division is also a very important part of any bank because now this day’s people want to carry a card in the pocket instead of carrying cash with risk. Operations of this division are controlled and directed by the head office of UCBL. They provide different types of debit and credit cards. Also, debit or credit cards can meet any argent needs of the customers. Cards are valuable object for bank which the bank has to put in the vault until customers come to receive the card. Activities of card division are as follows:

• Issue new cards
• Renew of cards
• Give dispute solution of the cards
• Take initial steps for lost cards
• Collect capture cards from the ATM machine
• Maintain Register & ATM booth

Specific responsibilities of the job

As I worked mostly on general banking division so most of my works associated to this division. Also I did a small amount of things related to card division. Works I have done in these three months are given below:

Account Opening

My primary task was to help the customers to open an account and toke their interview before open that account. I mainly educate them with the whole procedure and also help them to fill up the form. Then I had to check whether the customers bring all their original documents with them or not, if not then I rejected them from open an account and told them to bring all the original copies of their documents.

Give cheque requisition

At the time of opening an account I had to take the signature from the customers in cheque requisition form and then I had to fill up that from and later had to give cheque requisition by the help of the software. After finished the work I just set all the requisition on a file. Also I had to receive those requisition which are given by the customers after finish all the leaf from old cheque book to get the new one.

Put seal on the account opening forms

After fill up all the information I just had to put different seals on the forms and the form requires six different seals like: (signature verification, photograph attached, photo copy attached and three others for high official’s verifications). Then I put all the updated forms to Assistant Vice Presidents (AVP) table for farther verifications.

Check balance and account numbers

If the customers want to know their balance I had to tell them the exact amount with the help of their account number. Some time if any customer forgot his/her account number then I had to search the number by asking their name.

Give transaction statement

I also some time had to give transaction statement to the customers and if they asked for attachment then I had to put a seal with a signature given by any respective officer on that paper.

Fill up deposit slips

Some time I helped to write deposit slips of behalf of the customers with their name, initial amount, account number and date.

Give inwards register

Every day I had to maintain this inward register which means each and every papers or letter come from outside by courier, I received those on behalf of the bank and had to note down those in a register book to keep record. After that I gave it to the manager sir for his inquiry.

Works with cheque clearing

I also had to maintain register book for inward and outward cheque and put details of the cheques. Also, I had to separate high and regular value cheque for scan those because these cheques have to send in the head office within an allocated time. Then also I had to check the date on the top of the cheque because any cheque is required six months of validity.

Keep records for cheque books

I also deal with new cheuqe book coming into the bank which I had to put on a cabinet for security purpose and had to note down those cheque books with a serial number, name and date. This also requires signature from the customers at the time of delivery.

Fill up debit card forms

When customers came for open an account at that time I asked them whether they want to take debit card along with cheque book and what are the facilities they will get from this card. Then I filled up the form by asking all the details from the customers and put them on a file so that later the respective officer can get the form to put details to make the card.

Maintain debit and credit card register

I had to keep record for debit and credit cards according to the difference of the products/accounts with account number, name and date. Then I need to take the signature from the customers at the time of delivery.

Keep records for capture cards

Here I need to maintain a book where I wrote about the card which found inside the machine for any occurrence at the time of transaction. In that book I wrote the card number, card holders name and banks name which represent the card. When the owner came for delivery they have to give their signature on that book and I had to get that signature from them.

Other works

Few other works I had to perform those are:

• Scan important papers and send those to the respective addresses
• Receive phone calls
• Get copies from the printer
• Give necessary information and papers to the customers & did other few things

Different aspects of job performance

The workplace was very sociable and the people around me were very friendly and welcoming. I had no issues with the people around me or the department I had work for. The thing I would like to mention is that as my working department is not sufficient, so employees are always busy with their own work and could not get enough time to guide me properly. For this reason I could not manage to know about every department they are serving. Then they don’t give me any separate place to sit and I always had to sit between two other officers. So sometime I felt bit uncomfortable to work. Also there is no separate computer for an intern to work for, so whenever I need to use the computer I have to ask for permission to use the computer. Beside these I had no other issues with this bank.

Critical observations and recommendations

• Most important observation of mine is that this branch has no young talent with them. They can promote some fresh talent so that will help them gear up their services in more innovative ways.
• This branch is small so they only operate few divisions with few employees. Sometime it causes dissatisfaction for the customers as they do not get desired services. Like: this branch do not have foreign exchange department so customers can not get any service related to this department. So they can introduce needed divisions to serve the customers properly.
• The numbers of employees are not sufficient enough to perform task effectively in Narayanganj branch. For that reason sometime employees face difficulties to deliver proper service to the customers. So this branch should recruit some more employees to provide quality services.
• Computer they are using is back dated in this bank. In such computers it became difficult to work for and sometimes it hanged. So they should update their computers or buy new ones as we are no longer exists in 90’s.
• Employees who are working in this branch most of them do not have enough knowledge about proper use of computers. They merely have the basic idea about it and only can perform their allocated work with the computer. Other than that they do not know any further extra work on computer. In this case bank can educate their employees more on this area by give them practical knowledge.
• They have many attractive product/ services but they do not always promote those products. They work only with only few and common products like as: savings, FDR, DPS etc. They can do advertise of their product/ services so that more people get more attracted to this bank.
• This branch is lack of necessary equipments like: printer, scanners, computers and others important things. They can increase the quantity of their equipments and provide those according to the demands of their employees.
• Management should arrange appropriate training facilities to their staff to be always helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.

Project summary

Customers Perceptions of general banking activities is essential for any bank and if their personnel are work hard to give something innovative then consumers will be more satisfied by them. In the analysis part I tried to gather a number of imperative judgments from the customers by focusing some major areas of general banking. Also I gave some basic comparison among two other banks including UCBL. After that I try to get the accurate result from the questioner fill up by the customers to know what customers feel about the services of UCBL which, they usually provides. Lastly, I gave some suggestions and conclude my report with an evocative conclusion.

Description of the project

Objective

The main objective of the report is to give the reader a brief understanding of customer’s perception on quality of general banking activities. In addition this report holds some other details about basic general banking of United Commercial Bank.

Methodology

The following sources have been used for the purpose of gathering data as required.

Primary Sources:

• Questionner Analysis
• Practical deskwork
• Information gathered from the officers

 Secondary Sources:

• Annual report
• Working papers
• Office files
• Websites etc
• Published Documents

Sample Design

• Target population: The customers of UCBL, Chashara branch Narayanganj.
• Sample size: 40
• Sampling Technique: Judgmental sampling

Findings

• Customer’s perception on quality of general banking activities of UCBL are found excellent and are more or less pleased with the bank
• For open an account sometime customer might found it time consuming but they found the procedure easier than others
• Mostly customers do not get their desire servicers which they suppose get from a private bank because of insufficient employees and undersized space. That is why customers feeling about service are quite moderate
• This bank and the employees always try to appreciate customer’s requirement at their level best and try to give the service according to the demand
• Modern technical equipment such as new software’s are using in general banking department, which are very quick in service. So customers found it pretty much satisfactory
• Locker service in quite cheap and much secured than other banks
• Charges on various services are not competitive enough those are almost similar to others
• Customers feeling about interest rate provided by the bank is varies and most of them found it attractive
• This bank is quite accepted from the customers and customers deeply believe on them as they are serving since 27 years
• Quality of money transfer facilities is satisfactory to the customers of UCBL
• Customer’s opinions about employee’s attitude are acceptable and most of them are quite friendly

Also while comparing whit the banks I have identified some sort of basic answer and those are:

• For open and closing a saving and current account A/C customers need to deposit a minimum balance. This amount is very low in UCBL that belongs to a positive sign.
• Maintenance charge on saving A/C is lower in compare to Prime Bank and Dhaka Bank.
• Saving interest rate is lower in compare to PBL and DBL but in case of current account on ones take any charge.
• UCBL ATM card charges are low that is a quite to attractive
• Locker service charge at UCBL is low but their service providing quality is high
• UCBL impose on lowest charge on PO/TT service followed by Dhaka Bank and prime Bank.

Suggestions

• Banking is a service-oriented business and it business profit depends on its service quality. So, it should increase service quality by increasing the number of branches and first track services and also improve the professional skill
• Charges on various services should be flexible and exclusive
• UCBL can work more on account opening procedure and make it simpler for betterment of the customers
• Money transfer procedure should be improved by using more advanced technology and imposing easy terms and condition
• Some rule is followed in case of minimum balance of opening and closing account but those are not properly handled for new customer which might discourse them in opening and closing an account in the bank. So, I think management should be more emphasis behind this
• Charges of UCBL are comparatively low than other banks. My suggestion is to keep up this charges and fees only for sustain the competitive banking business
• Though ATM card charges are low comparatively but ATM booths are not capable enough to provide ample service to the customer. So, it should properly monitor by appointing more qualified employee and also trained up of the existing employee
• Theoretically any person can purchase pay order and telegraph transfer by depositing money and commission. But the person who wants to purchase these should have account in the bank branch. These will discourage customers to transact with bank. So my suggestion is to withdraw this rule
• UCBL always charge lowest amount in every service in compared with the Dhaka Bank and Prime Bank. But quality of service is not up to the mark of UCBL. So in these case UCBL can implement so innovative way of proving services

Conclusion

United Commercial Bank Limited has well status being satisfying their customer all the way through providing different service and now this is one of the most promising private commercial bank in the country compare to other privately growing banks. They are devoted to provide high quality financial service by contributing in the growth of GDP in the country. Beside with the growth of GDP they also emphasis on industrialization, boosting up export, creating employment opportunity, raising standard of living and overall sustainable socioeconomic development of the country. UCBL always tried its level best to perform financially well. In spite of trying to do well in some aspects UCBL faced some financial problems as well.

UCBL is regarded as a very consistent bank and the growing number of its customers indicates its increasing acceptance among clients. Since UCBL has been able to rapidly increase the total number of Account-holders, it now should focus the on the level of customer satisfaction and their perceptions. This is extremely important if UCBL wants to avoid loss of customers from several competing banks. By implementing new technology and innovation they have to walk with the time for sustainable growth of the bank. Also, in the purpose of holding the current position they have to identify their strength and need to recover their weak sides too.