Banks must focus on service - Standard Chartered CEO tells

"Customers are no longer interested in basic products. They are demanding and much more concerned about the quality of service, Standard Chartered CEO, Clive Haswell says.

In a recent interview with business magazine LMD, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, Clive Haswell says that meeting customer needs is now amongst the top priorities in the banking industry in Sri Lanka.

Claiming that there's been rapid growth in the banking industry, Haswell speaks of contemporary customers being more interested in levels of service than in basic banking products, thereby compelling banks to innovate in order to attract more customers.

"The differentiator between banks is becoming less about products and more about the quality of service," Haswell emphasises, while also citing several surveys that have shown service to be rated highly amongst current customer needs.

With services such as the provision of accurate information, offering simple banking executions, ATMs being in working order and hotlines being answered promptly top the list of customer needs, the industry has had to take simple yet straightforward steps to revamp its services.

With more services such as Internet banking coming to the fore, Haswell claims that Sri Lanka's banking sector is fast improving, especially with people becoming more affluent.

And Haswell speaks of SMS banking becoming more popular than Internet banking, "because people now buy mobile phones before they acquire computers!"

Talking about the credit-card market, Haswell states that to a great extent credit drives the economy.

But he warns that if this is not controlled, Sri Lanka could end up in a tight spot. He adds: "Today, we understand that credit is good if it is managed properly and customers are educated in the use of credit cards."

And Haswell adds that the personal-banking sector is set to bloom in Sri Lanka, asserting that at present, most people are looking at ways to make their money work for them - this, he says, is where personal banking comes into play.

With many new products being introduced to this market segment, personal banking has tremendous scope for growth, the Standard Chartered CEO says.