Designing a Client Centric Value Proposition and Delivery for Retail Banks

The banking industry is facing a shift in customer perception and behaviour. Customers are losing their loyalty to banks, for a variety of reasons. Banks are dealing with customer attrition and facing competition through consolidation, globalization, and new entrants and technology.

To win customers back, and to retain and increase the value of existing customers, banks must differentiate themselves with a clear value proposition for their target customer segments. Why should your customers bank with you and not with your competitor? How are you different? For banks that are used to managing for product or transaction profitability, managing to retain profitable customers requires different thinking and management systems.

At the same time banks are fighting to win customers, they must cut the costs and improve efficiency of their operations. Improving services and at the same time making them more efficient are not mutually-exclusive goals. Both can be achieved as part of an overall strategy to become a customer-focused or customer-centric bank.

The hard part is implementing customer centricity – that means getting people throughout the bank’s operations engaged in a new, customer-focused way of thinking, acting and working.

Developing a Profitable Regional Bank Branch Network

Despite the growing importance of remote channels, and despite the fact that most branch networks are too dense and require “rightsizing”, the physical branch network remains an important component of the distribution channel mix of most banks. Your strategy may be to expand in new regions, increase market penetration in existing regions, or optimize the costs of your existing network. But there are several critical elements to optimize business results and maximize the return on investment of the regional networks. These are: managing the branch footprint, developing innovative branch formats, optimizing service models and front staff capacity, and developing effective network steering mechanisms.

Markets are not uniform, and the differences are becoming increasingly important. This means banks must differentiate branch formats depending on the segments of customers served. A thorough network planning methodology is a key element to understand the market potential of segments, micro-segments, and products, the action radius of a branch and the sales target setting.

Outperforming on Bank Branch Sales Productivity and Service Delivery

Since the economic crisis, customers have diminished trust in their banks, and banks have seen a high level of customer attrition. A recent study shows that still more customers are planning to change their banks. The top reasons customers give for leaving their banks are: 1) dissatisfaction with the service they receive, especially person-to-person service and 2) dissatisfaction with fee increases with no visible improvement in products or services.

Can you win your customers back with the systems, processes, skill levels and habitual behaviours currently existing in your front service operations? “Good enough” is probably no longer good enough.

Building a Best-in-Class Multi-Channel Service Delivery for Banks

A fast-growing number of retail, SME and corporate customers regularly use PC banking services and remote channels (call centre, ATMs). A smaller, but faster-growing, share of customers uses mobile phone banking services. Meanwhile, personal service levels at the branch are perceived to be deteriorating and nobody has time to wait in line any more for transactions. Customers complain banks lack a connection between “virtual” and “physical” services.

To get ahead of your competitors, you can excel as the most convenient bank for your customer by offering seamless, high quality service and information across all channels and products. You can use remote channels for service transactions and sales processes.

Focusing on the Business Client and Developing Long-Term Profitable Relationships in Corporate and SME Banking

In an increasingly competitive environment, banks must differentiate themselves to stand out with their most valuable business clients. As capital and funding are scarce, growth cannot be based purely on asset growth. A business-as-usual, product push approach speeds up customer attrition, as business clients look for banks that can understand them and tailor advice and services to their needs.

For banks, building long term profitable relationships with key business clients brings high value in the medium and long term. But it is easier said than done. It requires a segmented approach, new structure, new skills, new behaviours, new communication channels, new performance metrics and many other changes for management and people if it is going to be successful. 

Competing for Banks in the New Mobile Banking and Payments World

Payments is one of the most profitable service lines for banks. Banks have applied a lot of innovation to make on-line payments a convenient reality for customers.

The next generation of payments is on the horizon. As competition between banks get tougher, there will be a next wave of innovation in payments to attract customers. At the same time, new entrants (e.g. Telecoms) are threatening the bank payments’ business model with mobile money.

This is happening mainly in emerging markets and to segments considered “unbankable”. But banks should pay attention. They are missing a growing market segment. Telecoms may encroach upon other types of payment and customer segment. Finally, telecoms may move into current account and savings accounts.

Banks cannot afford to stand still on innovation in mobile banking and payments.

Balancing Credit Risk, Debt Management and Business Performance in Banks

The natural reaction to a crisis is to put in place a lot of controls to ensure that the crisis cannot happen again. But over-control can harm business and carries risks of its own. If banks take no credit risk, they do not lend money. If they are too demanding with debt management, they lose the value of the loan in the short term, and damage the lifetime value of customers they might otherwise enjoy in the long term.

We have seen the effects of imbalance – loan officers driven by sales incentives taking on too much risk for the bank to handle.

Counterparty Risk Management for Banks: Building the Capability across Functions

Banks have to be very competent in counter-party risk management. Counter-party risk management, is so important that it is not enough to leave the whole activity to those who work in the function. Those who work in relationship management, risk management, and product sales must also master a certain level of competence.

If counter-party risk management touches your job, this workshop will give you the basic knowledge needed to be able to deal with the counterparty risk related to banks. You will not only obtain the necessary theoretical framework but also be able to apply this in your day to day business. There will be a special focus on emerging markets.  Read more

Treasury, ALM and Balance Sheet Management

The financial and business decisions in banks are strongly interrelated with the scarcity, diversity and cost of liquidity. Understanding liquidity means understanding your bank’s Treasury, Asset and Liability Management (ALM), and broader Balance Sheet Management. They have changed and become much more important in recent years. What is their role today, how do they work, and most importantly, what do you need to understand about treasury in order to make the right decisions in your own area of responsibility?

This workshop helps bank managers outside the treasury department understand how Treasury, Asset and Liability Management, and Balance Sheet Management influence commercial strategies and profitability in the new banking environment. It will allow you to understand the effect on profitability of your own specific activity and help you make decisions with better financial outcomes.

Working with Treasury and Investment Products for non-Treasury Functions: Sales, Accounting, Risk

Why would you need to understand treasury management, when you don’t work in the treasury department? This workshop explains to middle and senior managers in the banking industry the different types of products and when and how to use them to balance the portfolio and diversify risk. Read more

Interest Rate Derivatives: Structuring, Use, Valuation, Control and Risk Management

This workshop provides a technical overview of interest rate derivatives for the people who must price, use, market, manage or evaluate them. Read more

Credit Derivatives: Instruments, Valuation and Risk Methodologies, Contractual Standards

This workshop provides senior managers who work with technical knowledge of credit derivatives. It provides an overview of the market and instruments, but also valuation and risk management, and contractual standards. Read more

Fixed Income and Debt Instruments: Characteristics, Risks, Trading, Valuation, Hedging Risks

This workshop provides senior bank managers with knowledge they need on fixed income and debt market instruments. It covers the various types of bond market instruments, their characteristics, and how to value and price the instruments. Read more

Advanced Treasury Management: Strategic Treasury, Risk Management, Value at Risk, Liquidity, ALM, Solvency

This workshop provides a comprehensive approach to Treasury Management, its activities, the risks managed, and the strategic aspects of Treasury. It is intended specifically for those bank managers who work in Treasury and associated functions. Read more

Investment Portfolio Management and Effective Asset Allocation for Institutional and Private Banking Clients

To provide an overview of modern active portfolio management approaches and methodologies to develop effective asset allocations for private clients. Read more

Interest, FX, Equity, Commodity and Exotic Options: Mechanics and Use, Valuation, Risks and Strategies

Options are a versatile, yet complex and risky security. Bank managers who work with options whether internally or with clients need a deep understanding of how they function, the risks involved, how to value them, and how to devise appropriate options strategies.
This workshop gives senior managers in the banking industry who deal with options a deep understanding of these securities, and tools and methods to manage them.
 

Financial Modelling in Excel: Design, Testing and Auditing, Risk Scenarios, Simulation and Reporting

Good financial modelling, incorporating risk management, is a vital competence in ensuring the financial health of the bank. Are your financial modelling skills the best they can be? How about your people, or those who are just moving into your function?

This workshop will give you methodology and lots of practical exercises to help you build, test, and automate robust financial models in Excel.

Relationship Banking for Private Banking Clients: Building and Maintaining a Client Portfolio

Customers are vital to the existence of banks. As a fallout of the financial crisis, and with competition intensifying in the banking industry, customers are less loyal. Banking products resemble each other closely and customers don’t see much difference. The critical factor for customers choosing a bank is how they are treated.
A key differentiator in the banking industry is the ability to build and manage close customer relationships. The bank whose sales and relationship managers can do this better than the others wins more customers, and build customer loyalty. Loyal customers buy more, and are more likey to buy across product line.
This workshop builds customer relationship management capabilities in bank sales and customer relationship managers. 

Investment Portfolio Management Techniques for Fixed Income, Equity and Alternative Investments

Managing an investment portfolio successfully requires a good combination of knowledge and skill. Applying the right methodologies, tools and techniques is even more important in today’s competitive markets which are characterized by risk and uncertainty.
This workshop will give you the skills you need to build a portfolio, customized to needs, manage risks, and manage the portfolio profitably. Read more

Equity Derivatives and Structured Products: Markets, Applications, Trading, Portfolio and Risk Management

This banking industry workshop focuses on equity derivative instruments and structured notes using such derivatives. It provides participants with a good understanding of the market, its dynamic and applications in trading, portfolio management and risk management.

Investment Fund Operations and Administration: Managing and Controlling Mutual Funds, Hedge Funds, Pension Funds and Unit Trusts

Traditional mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, unit trusts and all types of collective investment schemes in between need to be well-managed in order to satisfy investors. That is more difficult to do in today’s climate of risk and uncertainty. This workshop provides you with the tools and techniques necessary to manage collective investment funds effectively.

Overview of Treasury and Investment Products: Money Markets and Bonds, FX, Derivatives, Forwards and Futures, Swaps, Structured Products

What are Treasury Products? This workshop gives senior bank managers a technical overview of the various treasury products and their characteristics, to aid in better decision-making. Read more

Advanced Project Finance and Public Private Partnerships

If you are involved with public project finance, how do you perform the bank’s function of financing development, without exposing the bank to bad risks? The adverse effect of the financial crisis on public finances increases the motivation for infrastructure investment to be implemented through PPP formats. Simultaneously, the growing appetite for commodities will create strong activity in the development of energy and mining.

This workshop helps senior bank managers to better structure finance projects and to manage risks.

Building, Implementing and Managing Scorecards for Financial Institutions

Banks and financial institutions, like every other kind of business, need performance management systems and scorecards to measure the strategy implementation. You can only manage what you measure. This workshop is for any senior bank managers who are involved with translating strategy into implementable action, setting goals and key performance indicators, and tracking results. This workshop is specifically tailored to the banking industry. Read more

Oil and Energy Trading: Markets, Commodities Hedging, Accounting and Risk

Banks that are looking to expand their Commodity business, particularly with regard to Oil and Energy trading, need knowledgeable and skilled Treasurers who understand the inherent behaviour and risks. This workshop is specifically targeted to senior banking industry managers working with Treasury. It gives them a solid understanding of oil and energy markets, commodities hedging, how the accounting works, and how to manage risks. Read more

Mergers & Acquisitions: Strategic Goals, Valuation, Deal Negotiation and Structuring

Mergers and Acquisitions offers senior bank managers an in-depth overview of successful M&A processes including strategy, tactics, due diligence issues, valuation, deal structuring and negotiations. This workshop is intended exclusively for participants from the banking industry. 

Participants will build a solid M&A understanding and skill base, through a combination of theory and practice in the form of case studies, group work and negotiation exercises. Read more

Commodities, Commodity Derivatives and Hedging Techniques: Energy, Base Metals, Agriculture

Banks that are looking to expand their Commodity Derivatives business need knowledgeable and skilled Treasurers who understand the inherent behaviour and risks. This workshop is specifically targeted to senior banking industry managers working with Treasury. It gives them a solid understanding of commodities and their derivatives today, impacts on the cash position, and the changing role of Treasury and Finance, in terms of greater transparency and risk management. Read more

5-Day Mini MBA for the Banking Industry

MCE’s 5-Day Mini MBA for the Banking Industry prepares participants to move into more senior positions on a career track in the banking and industry. Participants are exposed to the core disciplines of general management and how different functional disciplines work together to achieve the strategy. Read more

Financial Analysis of Corporations: Financial Ratios and Credit Risk

How do you analyze the financial statements of your corporate clients? How do you use financial ratios to determine financial health? How do you dig “beyond the numbers” to understand the real situation? How do you evaluate financial health for credit risk?
This workshop is for middle managers in the banking industry who deal with corporate clients. You will learn everything about financial analysis through extensive hands-on practice. Read more