Banking Industry

Executive Summary

One would think that the main purpose for a bank besides managing one's money would be giving good customer service. Excellence in customer service is the most important tool for sustained business growth. Customer complaints are part of the business life of any corporate entity. This is more so for banks because banks are service organizations. As a service organization, customer service and customer satisfaction should be the prime concern of any bank. Banks believe that by providing prompt and efficient service to their customers, this is essential not only to attract new customers, but also to retain existing ones because customer dissatisfaction would spoil the bank's name and image (uco bank, n.d.).

There are several Research Design techniques that can be used to identify customer service problems such as debit card fraud and loan issues. A survey was implemented to find out how well customer service bankers function, and the studies have found that the exploratory research was used in order to identify all problems associated with customer service.

A casual research will identify the cause-and-effect relationship between the bank employees and its customers by sending out surveys to all customers in order to receive their input on their bank experience. A non-probability sampling method will be used to allow the sample to be selected on the basis of personal judgment, sample size will be determined by the research budget and the time set aside for the research. By completing this research, the expected results and analysis turned out to be the real gross domestic product grew by an average of 6.50% from 1957 to 2005. Then performance in banks peaked again in the mid 1990s as the economy began to have rapid growth peaking at 8% at that time.

Introduction

Banks safeguard money and valuables and provide loans, credit, and payment services, such as checking accounts, money orders, and cashier's checks. Banks also may offer investment and insurance products, which they were once prohibited from selling. As a variety of models for cooperation and integration among finance industries have emerged, some of the traditional distinctions between banks, insurance companies, and securities firms have diminished. Even though all these changes have occurred, banks continue to maintain and perform their primary role which is accepting deposits and lending funds from these deposits (US Dept. of Labor 2006).

There are several types of banks which differ in the number of services they provide and the clients that they serve. Although some of the differences between these types of banks have lessened as they begin to expand the range of products and services they offer, there are still key distinguishing traits. Commercial banks dominate the industry and they offer a full range of services for individuals, businesses, and governments. These banks come in a wide range of sizes from large global banks to regional and community banks. Global banks are involved in international lending and foreign currency trading in addition to the more typical banking services. Regional banks have numerous branches and automated teller machine (ATM) locations throughout a multi-state area that provide banking services to individuals. Banks have become more oriented toward marketing and sales. As a result, employees need to know about all types of products and services offered by banks. Community banks are based locally and offer more personal attention, which many individuals and small businesses prefer. In recent years, online banks have started which provide all services entirely over the Internet and have entered the market with some success. Many traditional banks have also expanded to offer online banking, and some formerly Internet-only banks have considered opening branches (2006).

Branch Managers are responsible for the resolution of complaints/grievances in respect of customers' service by the branch. He or she would be responsible for ensuring closure of all complaints received at the branches. It would be his/her foremost duty to ensure that the complaint gets resolved completely to the customer's satisfaction. If the customer is not satisfied, then he/she should be provided with alternate avenues to take care of the complaint.

Customer service representatives go by many different job titles and provide help in both general and specialized areas, but their goal is always the same: to establish and maintain good customer relations with bank clients. Some work in the very front of the bank as bank tellers, answering walk-in customers' and phone customers' questions, solving simple problems, and doing basic routine tasks like opening and closing accounts. Others often called sales associates or personal bankers work at desks on the bank floor or in small office or cubicles dealing with more complicated questions and problems. They might help a customer choose and apply for a loan, open multiple accounts, replace a stolen credit card, or purchase certificates of deposit (Career Prospects, 2007) .

Because today's banks compete with many other financial institutions, such as credit unions and brokerage firms for customers' business, customer service bankers must work hard to please customers by patiently answering questions, trouble-shooting problems, and offering sympathetic help. Customer service bankers can go a long way to win customer loyalty for their banks.

Statement of the Problem

Many bank customers are not always satisfied. Many of the complaints need to be seen in the right perspective because they indirectly reveal weak spots in the working of the bank. Complaints need to be analyzed from all possible angles. Some of the issues that most customers complain about are:

1. Having to deal with non-cashing of checks due to not being able to verify funds

2. Non-paying of checks that hit the account due to insufficient funds

3. Loan procedures and default on loans

4. Debit card malfunctioning

5. Having to go through 1-800 numbers to talk to someone about their accounts

6. Paying fees for withdrawing money and other banking transactions

7. Fluctuation interest rates

8. Money Market and CD accounts

Poor levels of customer service have led up to half of savings account customers switching their provider. A bad reputation can be equally harmful for banks when they wish to cling on to customer loyalty. These issues are a constant