Striking Success

Photograph by Ashraf Uddin Apu

Usually bankers have a reputation of being unwelcoming and unhelpful. But Nazeem breaks that notion with his warm, friendly nature. Leading a team of 1700 and counting banking professionals across the country, his smiling persona and sense of humour will catch you off guard.

What marketing goals did you set out to conquer as the Head of Consumer Banking?
Retail Banking is detail banking. Understanding the customers’ needs, following lifestyle trends and providing banking solutions according to that are the key elements. EBL does retail and consumer banking differently. Service that delights the customer is our core objective. We are happy to go an extra mile to ensure that. We believe in this concept and harness this at every level of consumer banking. Each and every member of the team believes in this concept. Business is a logical sequence of this belief.

To be successful in a business, you need to find opportunities and gaps in the market, and fill those gaps. What gaps have you noticed in this sector and how are you bridging those gaps?
I would not say there are gaps in the market, especially in the consumer banking space. Over the years, banks have launched products and services that have covered the customer life cycle. Consumer Banking is just like shopping in a super store. You don’t want to go to multiple stores to complete your shopping list. It has to have all items under one roof – or else you will switch. EBL has its shelves full of financial products that caters to the needs of all customers from juniors to seniors, from borrowers to depositors, from corporate expense management through cards to lifestyle spenders through credit cards. We focus heavily on building alternate channels like ATMs, Cash Deposit Machines, Internet Banking, etc. These are the key success factors for us.

Are there any obstacles that have been deterring you?
‘Obstacles’ is not the right term. Challenges are there. But that is precisely why we are here – to overcome the challenges efficiently. From my point of view, I see two great challenges that every consumer banker faces everyday. First – the ever improving and changing technology; we need to catch up with the changes fast. With the improved technology, the second challenge evolves; the growing customer demands. Nowadays, customers are more knowledgeable and have a clear idea about their financial needs. The onus is on us to live up to the expectations and trust me, it is not an easy job. I am proud of my team particularly on this issue. Day and night, they are engaged in providing this service meticulously. Whatever stature EBL has earned till date is due to our customers and our team’s ability to transform that expectation into reality.

Do you think mobile banking will emerge as a strong opponent to the credit card business in the future?
Mobile banking is just another distribution channel. Due to its easy operating nature it has gained popularity and will thrive in future. I don’t see it as a threat to any particular product, like cards for example. Rather it has given us a new opportunity where we can take cards from its plastic form to a virtual form and use the channel. Cards have evolved as well. From traditional magstripe cards we have moved to chip based secured cards. Very soon, contactless cards will be there too. For high value transactions and travelling populations – cards will remain a strong product as ever. It may depend on mobiles as virtual cards for better penetration.

What stands out at EBL when it comes to connecting with consumers in a more efficient way? Would you like to share an insight about the team culture you have at the consumer banking department?
This has been a strong area for EBL. We regularly engage with our customers. Our Managing Director & CEO Ali Reza Iftekhar is an ardent advocate of this customer-centric culture and ensures that everyone at
EBL connects with them. We organise customer nights across the country where we invite select customers to hear about their expectations and rate our services. We do mystery shopping surveys at regular intervals. We call back our new and old customers consistently to take their feedback. We aim to improve on our shortfalls. In other words – we try to learn from our mistakes.

Credit cards are losing their hold in the country. The figures are said to be stuck within four lakhs in the past few years. What are the reasons behind this?
This has nothing to do with the product. Our law requires a person who wants to get a credit card to have an obligatory Tax Identification Number. Here lies the basic problem. As the number of tax payers have not increased in our country over the years – the number of credit cardholders have not increased either. From a credit point of view, Bangladesh has a market of around 10 million credit cards. But due to this regulation we could not cross even 5%. I am sure, in the future the law makers will have to look into this – as we are promoting digital money and want to move into a cashless society. Credit cards or in fact any form of cards – be it debit or prepaid – are better than cash as they have clear audit trail and helps anti money-laundering activities. It’s convenient to carry and secured as well.

How competitive are your cards in comparison to other banks?
I am not saying this because I work here but EBL Cards are in fact the best in market. We issue credit cards – both corporate and personal, prepaid cards and debit cards. We have all the variants like Infinite, Signature and Classic cards. Our interest rates are competitive and fees are minimal. We have over 100 merchant partners for various lifestyle benefits. Our lounge facility at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka is world class. EBL Skylounge hosted over 40,000 cardholders last year. We were the first bank in Bangladesh to offer full service Visa Platinum Cards and introduce Visa Signature and Visa Infinite in the market. We introduced corporate prepaid cards for managing corporate expenses. We are the only bank that has co-branded cards with three telecom giants. EBL, practically has shaped the card industry in Bangladesh. This is not the end; we are going to introduce more to the Bangladeshi card and related products.