Internship Report on Laxmi Bank

Kathmandu University School of Management Nepal College of Management

Internship Report Title of the project: Customer Service As part of the requirement for BBA Programme Internship Programme Code: RIS 401

Internship Employer Laxmi Bank Ltd., Sukedhara and Lagankhel Branch Work Supervisor: Mrs. Amita Rayamajhi Mr. Sohan Tamrakar

Intern Mr. Madhu Sudan Koirala, KUSOM’s Redg No: A007231-06

31 May 2010

PREFACE As per the curricular of Nepal College of Management affiliated to Kathmandu University, I was assigned to undergo an internship report in an organization during the last semester of the program after a proper study in the required field. To conduct this study, I choose Laxmi Bank Limited (LXBL), earlier known as Hisef Finance. During the period of this study, I tried to discover as much as possible about customer services on Customer Service Department and conducted a research on “Customer Service Department at Laxmi Bank” and “Collaboration of Laxmi Bank of Sukedhara with Subisu Cable for its Bill Payment”. The purpose of this project work was to relate the theoretical knowledge acquired in our academic period in a real life situation and gain the practical knowledge as well as experience. The project also had an intension to help me understand, analyze and present the basic practices in the Nepalese commercial bank. It also helped me to gain an insight of various players in the banking sector and helped to analyze the industry as a whole.

SIGNATURE PAGE I/We certify that I/We have read this document and in my/our opinion, it is satisfactory in scope and quality as internship program in partial fulfillment for BBA Course held at Nepal College of Management, Kathmandu University during the spring of 2010.

(Signature) Project Evaluator Nepal College of Management

DECLARATION I, the undersigned declare that this project entitled is a result of my own study and research carried out in the year 2010. It has not been previously submitted to any other Universities or Examination.

Signature:

Mr. Madhu Sudan Koirala BBA 2006-2010 Nepal College of Management

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I express my immense feeling to those people and institutions that have throughout extended their help in various ways in order to complete this project. I am greatly obliged to thank and express my gratitude to Kathmandu University for designing such a curriculum which allows the student to acquire as well as enhance knowledge of real work setting through internship. I am even thankful to Laxmi Bank’s Head Office, Sukedhara, and Lagankhel Branch, for accepting me as intern and giving me the opportunity to learn more. My special thanks Head of Human Resource, Mr. Amit Sharma, for accepting my letter of request to work at LXBL. I am indebted to Mr. Amit Adhikari, Sukedhara Branch Manager and Euden Koirala, Lagankhel Branch Manager, who supervised me during the period of internship. I would also like to thank to personnel of different departments, especially Mr. Sabin Shakya, Mr. Bipin Karmacharya, Mrs. Surina Shakya, Mr. Rajan Shrestha, Ms. Isha Tamrakar, and Mrs. Abhilasha Bhandari. At the same time, I am also grateful to all those who guided me and helped me in getting an insight into the functioning of different departments. I would even like to specially thank Nepal College of Management. My, special thanks to Principal Mr. Rabi Man Shakya and Mr. Manoj Nepal for always guiding me. Last but not least; I would like to thank Ms. Poonam Pandey and Ms. Astika Karki and everyone who has directly or indirectly helped me in this project.

Executive Summary Laxmi bank was established in April 2002 as 16th commercial bank in Nepal. It was merged with HISEF Finance Limited as the first generation finance company. Its head office is in Birgunj and corporate office is in Hattisar, Kathmandu. Products offered by Laxmi Bank are: Loan, Credit cards, Savings, Bancassurence, and Microfinance. Laxmi Bank today offers the widest range of personal banking solutions and is a tough leader in the retail banking space. Apart from a strong technology that supports the Bank’s electronic service delivery systems such as the internet banking, mobile banking (mobile money) and ATMs. Laxmi Bank continues to increase its distribution network in a strategic manner and currently has 22 branches – 9 within Kathmandu valley. The mission statement of the company is stated as “Laxmi Bank is committed to excellence in delivery of entire gamut of financial services in order to achieve sound business growth and maximize stake holder values by embracing team spirit, progressive technology and good corporate governance.” With a view to providing safe, seamless, quick and advance banking services, the bank has been heavily investing in contemporary banking technologies. The bank is concerned with rendering quick and prompt banking services to the customers, to make a qualitative lending in the Nepalese market to support all kinds of businesses including personal needs of the Nepalese citizens. There are around four hundred staff members, who are working for LXBL. The bank focuses on providing customer service and extends personalized service to gain confidence of the customers who are still deprived of basic banking service. Throughout my Internship tenure, I had worked under Customer Service Department at Sukedhara and Lagankhel Branch. I choose to perform my internship at banking industry to better understand the role of banks in the economy. Through the environment analysis, banking industry is only one of the major industries, which is able to place as a strong investment sector despite of large competitor base. If we look after the current scenario and market then, about the banking scenario of Nepal there are all together around twenty seven, commercial banks in Nepal,

were all these commercial banks are running on profit compared to other industries such as textile, carpets, tire industry. Despite of the fact, that Nepal is developing nation with primitive market structure, every commercial bank are capable of turning profit out of every activities that they make. Internship at LXBL for 3 months has been one of the most significant internship experiences. Although it’s my first internship, it has helped me to analyze my internal strength and weakness and developed me professionally. During this internship I worked mainly on two projects one is on Customer Service Department and another is on Collaboration of Laxmi Bank of Sukedhara with Subisu Cable for its Bill Payment. This project helps me to mould myself with real world scenario. With continuous hard work and effort at CSD I was able to develop good relationship with LXBL staffs and management as well as with unknown faces. This experience taught me importance of personal relationship and consequently, helped to develop interpersonal relationship skills.

LIST OF ACRONYMS

LXBL - Laxmi Bank Limited NRB - Nepal Rastra Bank KU – Kathmandu University NCM – Nepal College of Management KUSOM – Kathmandu University School of Management CSD – Customer Service Department BOD – Board of Director ATM – Automated Teller Machine GM – General Manager BM – Branch Manager GSA – Green Saving Account SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats RBB – Rastriya Banijya Bank GDP – Gross Domestic Product CSR – Corporate Social Relationship IFAS – Internal Factor Analysis EFAS – External Factor Analysis SFAS – Strategic Factor Analysis SRB – Sunrise Bank Limited P/L – Profit and Loss

Table of Contents Part One

INTRODUCTION

Page No. 1. Background 2. Goal/Objectives of Internship 3. Roles/Jobs performed in the Internship 4. Roles/Jobs of departmental head/Intern’s Supervisor

Part Two

INTRODUCTION OF INDUSTRY & COMPANY Section I 1. Introduction of the Company 2. Mission/Purpose/Objectives/Goals of the Company 3. Organizational Strategies 4. Major products of the Company 5. Organizational structure

Section II 1. Organization’s General and Competitive Environment

Part Three

PRESENTATION OF MAJOR PROJECT/S UNDERTAKEN Section I: Introduction Project A 1. Introduction of the Project

2. Objectives of the Project 3. Scope and Limitations of the Project

Project B 1. Introduction of the Project 2. Objectives of the Project 3. Scope and Limitations of the Project

Section II: Conceptual Framework 1. Review of related Literature

Section III: Methodology 1. The Methodology and Procedure of Project/s

Section IV: Presentation and Analysis of the Project/s 1. Analysis of the Project 2. Findings from the Analysis of the Project

Section V: Conclusions 1. Project/s specific Conclusion 2. Suggestions

Part Four

REFLECTION OF INTERNSHIP References Appendix

List of Tables Table 1: Commercial Bank in Nepal Table 2: Competitive Analysis in terms of Product and Services offered Table 3: Methodology undertaken Table 4: Distribution of Questionnaire Table 5: Household Survey using Internet and different Service Provider

List of Figures Figure 1: Process of Deposit Figure 2: Process of Payment Figure 3: Credit Process Figure 4: Major Functions of Commercial Banks Figure 5: Ownership Structure Figure 6: Organizational Chart of Laxmi Bank Figure 7: Environmental Analysis Figure 8: Porter’s Analysis Figure 9: Conceptual Framework Figure 10: Classification According to Gender Figure 11: Classification According to Age Figure 12: Classification According to Occupation Figure 13: Ranking the Customer Service Figure 14: Satisfaction Level of Customers Figure 15: Requirement for Extra Facility Figure 16: Reason for using LXBL Service Figure 17: Selective Service Requirement Figure 18: Deposit Account Possessed to other bank by LXBL Customers Figure 19: Product mostly used

GANTT CHART

SN

Task

1

Reviewing bank profile, introduction with supervisor and various department, work on various department and did marketing Literature review, field visit and secondary data collection

2 3

Focus group discussion

4

Questionnaire preparation and review

5 6

Questionnaire distribution and data collection Data entry and analysis

7

Writing report and presenting it to BM

8

Report writing of overall internship

9

Finalizing internship report

March

April

Part One

INTRODUCTION 1. BACKGROUND Nepal College of Management affiliated to Kathmandu University have set up Internship Program under which the students are required to involve in one of the established organization as Interns and prepare internship report by working there. This report is a part of the undergraduate program under Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) which offers management internship to the students pursuing BBA in the eighth semester. The internship is an eight week program designed to provide students an opportunity for a meaningful career-related experience in a real organizational setting before they graduate. It gives the students an opportunity to practice and expand their skills and knowledge learned in the classroom in substantive work situation. In addition, it will help the students earn credit and increased marketability for the permanent job search while learning more about a specific field and applying classroom knowledge in a corporate environment. Bookish knowledge only is not as useful as the knowledge obtained in the real world. This internship program provides an opportunity to learn in the real work situation and an experience which can help the students to achieve their goals. Laxmi Bank Limited is a financial intermediary who is primarily responsible for the transfer of monetary resources from the net savers to the net users. It is committed to fulfill the financial requirements of the people from different walk of life. Laxmi bank has head office at Birgunj and corporate office at Hattisar, this bank provides modern banking facilities in safe and sound manner. This bank was chosen for the internship purpose because it was founded by the key economic players of Nepal and I had a keen interest on knowing how it worked from the very beginning of its establishment. I wanted to learn how the different department worked and how the employees communicated with the customers. Learning is a greatest experience one can ever have which can help

achieve the dreams of life. I wanted to learn as much as possible about the bank, and the system by which it works.

2. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF INTERNSHIP While joining Laxmi Bank, I wanted to learn as much as possible. I knew that an internship is an opportunity to learn which helps us put the theories we learnt in the books into practice. It will help us build our career. It is the period when we will be able to groom ourselves and become ready to join the real world. During the internship period, I had planned to achieve the following goals: 

To learn about the overall function of different departments of Laxmi Bank (LXBL) namely Customer Service Department (CSD), Credit Department and Operations in brief.



To learn as much as possible from the members of the bank through good and friendly relationship.



To learn about different products of the bank.



To increase communication skills and interpersonal skills by communicating with the customers in the CSD.



To increase the marketing skills by going for marketing with the seniors and selling the products.



To increase the PR by knowing different people.



To conduct a customer satisfaction survey related to the customers’ satisfaction in terms of different departments to which the customers are directly interacting.



To find out what the customers’ attitude towards the service provided by the bank.



To use the theoretical knowledge from the coursework to conduct survey and analyze the result.



To learn more about what happens in the banking sector and compare it to the theoretical knowledge obtained in the lectures.

3. ROLES/ JOBS PERFORMED IN INTERNSHIP I have spent majority of the time in Customer Service Department but the job performed by me was not limited to CSD. What I believe as an intern I should learn overall functions of the bank and I did the same. During the internship period, the intern was placed in various departments and was expected to do the general tasks that are carried out by the respective employees. In addition, the intern was assigned with various projects to learn the real work experience. The details of the jobs performed during the internship programs are as follows:

Customer Service Department This is the first point of contact between the employee and the customers. This department is responsible for handling the queries of the customers, selling the deposit products, issuing the cheque books, account statements, ATM cards, handling all the A/C opening forms, preparing the remittance form for the customers and all other general functions. Roles of the intern:  Handling the queries of the customers about their accounts and about the products.  Suggesting the customers about the bank products and services.  Helping the customers fill the account opening form and the remittance form.  Preparing the cheques and issuing them.  Issuing the ATM cards.  Filling the account closing form and destroying the old cheque books and the ATM cards.

Operations department The operations department included the clearing, the teller and the accounts section. There wasn’t separate department as the clearing department or the accounts department. Clearing section The clearing section is responsible to collect the cheques of the other banks which are presented by the customers and then present in the Nepal Rastra bank for the clearing process. They then collect the cheques of LXBL which are brought by other banks. Role of the intern: 

To enter manually the outward billing cheques (OBC) in the register.



To maintain the OBC to be taken to the NRB.

Teller The teller handled all the transactions involving the cash. It carried out the deposits, withdrawals and transferred the amount from one account to the other. Role of the intern:  To learn the general deposit and withdrawal transaction entry in the Flexcube software  To sort and bundle the cash.  To assist the teller when large transactions come.  To present the slips of the large transactions to the operation head to clear up the stacked transactions.

Accounts The accounts section is responsible for maintaining the various accounting records of the bank. It has to maintain the records of the income, expenses, cheques that goes for the clearing, the issue of manager’s cheque, etc. They have to maintain proper records of the accounts of the bank at the other banks and issue cheques whenever cash is required at the teller.

Roles of the intern:  To assist the accounts section member in entering the transactions of the salary account.  To prepare the journal vouchers of the expense. Credit Department This is the department which the customers approach when they are in need of loans. The department is responsible to analyze the customers who apply for the loans. They evaluate the income flows of the client and also their collateral. This is one of the main departments in any bank.

Roles of the intern: 

To learn the files of the different types of loan.



To learn the documentation requirements for the application of the loan and the procedure that is carried out in any loan process

Due to liquidity crunch in Nepal, NRB has passed a circular that restricts the process of lending and loan approval. So, to fight with such economy crisis all the commercial banks started creating new scheme and products to attract deposits. In align with this; I was approached with the project-“Collaboration of Laxmi Bank of Sukedhara with Subisu Cable for its Bill Payment”

4. ROLES OF DEPARTMENTAL HEADS AND THE INTERN SUPERVISOR Customer Service Officer CSD is one of the most important departments for reasons that they actually give the impression to the customers of how the overall company works. People judge a company looking at the customer service department. Mr. Sohan Tamrakar of Lagankhel Branch and Amita Rayamajhi of Sukedhara branch are responsible for the following tasks: 

To maintain good customer relations



To provide high quality and personalized services to customers



To entertain the queries of customers regarding various products and information



To provide prompt service to the external as well as internal customers efficiently maintaining harmonious relationship with them



Help the customers open the new accounts in the bank



Assist the customers through the cumbersome procedure of account opening



Answer the telephone queries



Check the account balance of customers



Provide customers with bank statements



Provide customers with the debit cards



Assist customers in the e-banking



To coordinate with operational staff to achieve specified target and overall objective of bank

The job purpose of the supervisor of CSD is: 

Provide efficient service to all the customers



Attract and record deposits from individual customers and companies

Thus, from the responsibilities and job purpose and personally working in the CSD for about two month, interns got a glimpse of how hectic and how demanding the work at this department is.

Clearing section This is the section which collects all the cheques received of the other banks and then goes to the clearing house for the exchange with the respective banks so that the customers get their payment amount on time. Mr. Bipin Karmacharya is responsible for following task: 

To collect and enter in the register the outward cheques coming in the bank.



To enter the outward cheques in the system.



To ensure that the cheques are properly stamped.



To go to the clearing house for the exchange.

Teller The teller is mainly responsible for taking deposits and payment of cash. They are also responsible for the transfer of funds from one account to another. The roles of the staff at the teller are as follows: 

Maintain the positive relationship with the customers.



Accept the cash deposits and make payment of cheques and self withdrawal slip after verifying the signatures.



Provide additional services such as payment of remittance, exchanging the foreign currency, etc.



Reconcile timely the amount in the teller with the amount in the cash flow of the system.



At the end of the day, list all the transactions for the day and present to the head for reconciliation.

Figure 1: Process of Deposit

Figure 2: Process of Payment

As the name implies, credit or loan department is responsible for giving different types of loans to the needy customers. Giving loans is the most risky function of the bank, as there is no cent percent gurantee that the loan taker repays the loan. So the loan officer needs to do their homework thoroughly. Mrs. Surina Shakya is the loan officer. The major responsibilities of Mrs. Shakya are: 

Check and verify the collateral



Inspect whether the loan will be recovered within time



Authenticate if the loan is taken for the actual purpose



In order to verify if the loan is for actual purpose, site visits are done in different places



Progress report is prepared regularly

The credit process is an extensive process which needs a lot of documentation and evaluation. The credit officers have to do a lot of work and have to be extra careful while analyzing the credibility of the probable client. The loan process is carried out by the credit department is shown in the following diagram:

Figure 3: Credit Process Application for loan Internal memo for disbursement

Valuation of property

Property hault

Credit memorandum

Debit authority and Promissory note

Credit committee approval

Offer letter

In general, we usually see the tendency of building a house for personal use from the money that is taken as loan from the bank for the purpose of building a grocery store. This is just one example of the fraudulent activity that people indulge them into. Thus, the officers of the loan department need to be alert all the time to see where the money is channeling.

Part Two

INTRODUCTION OF COMPANY 1. Introduction to Commercial Banks The commercial banks are those banks that pool together the saving of community and arrange for their productive use. They activate the idle money to the different productive areas. They supply the financial needs of modern business by various means. Most of the banks in the world are found established with a view to finance and help in developing trade, industry and commerce; In fact, commercial banks can be defined according to the function they perform, like acceptance of deposits, advancing loan, agents, etc.

Figure 4: Major Functions of Commercial Banks

Credit Function Insurance Function

Brokerage Function

Trust Function

THE MODERN BANK

Cash Manageme nt Function

Investment/ planning Function

Payment Function Thrift or Saving Function

Commercial Bank in Nepal The first organized institution to carry out the function of borrowing and lending was established in 1994 B.S. (Nepal Bank Limited) was established as the first commercial bank in Nepal. Later Rastriya Banijya Bank was established on 2002 B.S. to give access to banking to as much individual as possible. The establishment of RBB helped to enhance the domestic banking services and also helped to deal in foreign trade with move ease. After that many commercial banks were established, this helped in enhancing the banking knowledge to almost every individual of the country. Today, several commercial as well development banks that have been and are working smoothly in Nepal since many years now, some are newly established and some have been promoted to commercial banks from other class of bank. The list of commercial banks that exist in Nepal till 2067 B.S. along with their establishment date, head office and their joint venture partner are as follows:

Table 1: Commercial Banks in Nepal S. No

Commercial Banks

Established (BS)

Head Office

Joint Venture Partner

1.

Nepal Bank Ltd.

1994/07/03

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

2.

Rastriya Banijya Bank

2022/10/10

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

3.

Agriculture Development Bank

2024/11/07

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

4.

Nabil/Nepal Arab Bank Ltd.

2041/03/29

Kathmandu

Dubai Bank

5.

Nepal Investment Bank Ltd.

2042/11/16

Kathmandu

Indo Suez Bank

6.

Standard Chartered Bank

2043/1016

Kathmandu

Grindlay’s Bank

7.

Himalayan Bank Ltd.

2049/10/05

Kathmandu

Habib Bank of Pakistan

8.

Nepal Bangladesh Bank Ltd.

2050/02/23

Kathmandu

IFIC Bank, Bangladesh

9.

Nepal SBI Bank

2050/03/23

Kathmandu

State Bank of India

10.

Everest Bank Ltd.

2051/07/01

Kathmandu

Punjab National Bank

11

Bank of Kathmandu Ltd.

2051/11/28

Kathmandu

Siam Commercial Bank

12.

Nepal Credit & Commerce Bank Ltd.

2053/06/28

13.

Lumbini Bank Ltd.

2055/04/01

Narayanghat

Sole Operation

14.

Nepal Industrial & Commercial Bank Ltd.

2055/04/05

Biratnagar

Sole Operation

15.

Kumari Bank Ltd.

2056/06/24

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

16.

Machapuchhure Bank

2057

Pokhara

Sole Operation

17.

Laxmi Bank Ltd.

2058/06/11

Birgunj

Sole Operation

18.

Siddhartha Bank Ltd.

2058/06/12

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

19.

Global Bank Ltd.

2063

Birgunj

Sole Operation

20.

Citizen Intl Bank

2063

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

21.

Prime Bank

2064

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

22.

Sunrise Bank

2064

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

23.

Bank of Asia Nepal

2064

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

24.

Development Credit Bank

2065

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

25.

Nepal Merchant Bank

2065

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

26.

KIST Bank Ltd.

2066

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

27.

Janata Bank Nepal Ltd.

2067

Kathmandu

Sole Operation

Siddharthanagar Bank of Ceylon

Introduction of Laxmi Bank Limited Laxmi Bank, one of the leading commercial bank of Nepal, was incorporated in April 2002 as the 16th commercial bank in the country with Rs. 15 billion from Birgunj. After merged with HISEF finance company at 2004, bank has widened its services and operation. Its corporate office is located at Hattisar, Kathmandu.

Laxmi bank, as a pioneer in introducing many innovative products and marketing concepts in the domestic banking sector, represents a milestone in the banking history of Nepal as it started an era in modern with customer satisfaction measured as a focal objective while doing business.

Laxmi Bank today offers the widest range of personal banking solutions and is a tough leader in the retail banking space. Apart from a strong technology that supports the Bank’s electronic service delivery systems such as the internet banking, mobile banking (mobile money) and ATMs. Laxmi Bank continues to increase its distribution network in a strategic manner and currently has 22 branches – 9 within Kathmandu valley. Due to strong information technology, high standards of corporate governance, innovation and prudential risk management Laxmi Bank have proven its superiority amongst other.

Please refer Appendix 1, 2 and 3 to know more about Balance Sheet, P/L Account and Principle Indicators that has key influence on Laxmi Bank’s performance.

Ownership Structure 

Promoter Group representing the county’s leading business groups – 55.42%



Citizen Investment Trust, a government of Nepal undertaking – 9.02%



General Public comprising of more than 10,000 shareholders – 35.56%

Figure 5: Ownership Structure

General Public 35.56% Citizen Investment Trust 55.42% 9.02%

Promoter Group

Mission Statement “Committed to excellence in delivery of entire gamut of financial services in order to achieve sound business growth and maximize stakeholder values by embracing team spirit, progressive technology and good corporate governance.”LXBL is committed to execute this mission while ensuring the highest levels of ethical standards, professional integrity, corporate governance and regulatory compliance.

Vision Statement 

A bank with the best asset book



Provider of most integrated financial services



Key player and a thought leader in the financial services



Best IT capability



Preferred employer in the financial sector

Core Values and Ethical Principles The core values lets the institute, customers and the communities know what they serve, who they really are and the principles by which they pledged to conduct business. In essence, the bank believes that the success can only be reaped by living their core values and principles they are- customer focus, quality, honesty and integrity, belief in staff, good corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and teamwork.

Organizational Objectives 

To explore new avenues for growth and profitability



To continue to develop products and services that would reduce cost of funds



To develop a customer oriented service culture with special emphasis on customer care and convenience



To increase the market share by following a disciplined growth strategy



To leverage the technology platform and open scalable systems to achieve costeffective operations, efficient MIS, improve delivery capability and high service standards



To develop innovative product and service that would attract targeted customers and market segments



To maintain a high quality asset portfolio to achieve strong and sustainable returns and to continuously build shareholders value

Product and Services of Laxmi Bank 1. On the basis of Deposits

Deposit services

Current Account

Green Saving Account

Orange Saving

Saving Account

Super Women Saving

Laxmi Saving

Normal Saving Account

Shakti Saving

Money Market Account

Minor Saving Call Account Regular Saving

Personal Reserve Account

Fixed Deposit Manokamana Saving

Pay Roll Saving Investor Saving

Super Women Gold Deposit

2. On the basis of Loans and Advances Loans and Advances

Overdraft

Term Loan

Personal Loan

Small Business Loan

Auto Loan

Supply Finance

Working Capital Loan

Home Loan

Bill Purchases or Negotiation

4. On the basis of Remittance Products Remittance Products

Express Money Transfer

SWIFT Transfer

Traveler’s Cheque

Fund Transfer

Clearing/Collection

ABBS

Demand Drafts Remittance InwardOutward

4. On the basis of Card Products Card Services

ATM/Debit Card

Visa Credit Card

5. On the basis of Auxiliary Services

Auxiliary Services

Bancassurance

Internet Banking

Treasury Services

Financial Advisory

Mobile Money

Travel Related Services

Safe Deposit Locker

SMS Alert and Banking

Portfolio Management Services

Organizational Structure The main body of LXBL is centered in the Board of Directors (BOD) which consists of one chairman and 9 directors. This body makes the strategic decisions and also develops various policies and strategies to materialize its vision and mission. These decisions are communicated to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who with the support of GM and other Officer executes the plans and responsibilities in various departments. The organizational structure of Laxmi Bank is as follows:

Figure 6: Organizational Chart of Laxmi Bank

Board & Board Director Board of Director

Credit committee

Planning Performance & Personal Committee

IT Committee

Chairman and CEO

Audit

Audit & inspection

General Manager

Assistant GM

Head Retail

Deputy GM (Credit/Retail)

Deputy GM (Operations)

Head Corporate Head HR

Customer Service

Head General

Head Trade Head Loan

Consumer Finance

Head Credit Head Remittance

Deposit Marketing

Branch Coordinator

Assistant GM

Head R&D Head R&D

Branches Credit

Assistant GM

2. Organization’s General and Competitive Environment No organization exists in isolation. It is affected in one way or the other by the various forces that occur in the environment. These forces are made up of opportunities and threats. The environment can be divided into two main parts namely the internal environment and the external environment.

Internal Environment The internal environment includes the forces within the organization which affects the success of the organization. An organization can be analyzed based on its resources, culture, and structure. Laxmi Bank Limited has adequate resources adding value to the company. These resources define the company distinctly in the market. The company’s corporate culture and how the organization is structured determine the strength or the weakness of the company.

External Environment It includes the general forces of the society that do not affect the short-run activities of the organization but might affect the long-run activities of the organization. Such forces are:

1. Economic Environment These are the forces of the society such as GDP trends, interest rate, money supply, unemployment level, inflation rate, disposable and discretionary income etc. that regulate the economic variables of banking industry.

2. Technological Environment These are the forces such as: new products, total government spending on R&D, internal availability, telecommunication infrastructure etc. generate problem solving inventions.

3. Political-legal Environment These are the forces such as: stability of government, law of hiring and firing, attitude toward foreign companies, tax law, government regulation etc. which is beyond industry control.

4. Socio-cultural Environment These are the forces such as: family composition, workforce culture, lifestyle, demographics etc. that regulates the norms, values, mores and customs of the society.

Figure 7: Environmental Analysis

Task Environment: Porter’s Analysis of Industry Michael Porter’s analysis is an important analysis when it comes to analysis of the environment. According to Porter, there are 5 forces which affect the working of any industry. The 6th force analyzed here was added later. These forces are as follows: 

Threat of new entrants: Due to the entry of new banks which come up with competitive products, the existing banks have to come up with better products so that they can survive in the market. The new banks come up with new ideas and new technology. This makes the bank to take some action. Similar is the case with LXBL. Many new banks have been commenced and many are in the pipeline. Every now and then, LXBL has to analyze the environment and try hard to come up with new products and satisfy their customers.

 Rivalry among existing firms: The competition in the banking sector is very high. As mentioned earlier, there are many banks on the pipeline, there’s a cutthroat competition. The existing banks are always analyzing each others’ footstep. They have to make sure that they do not lag behind. The banks try to differentiate themselves in terms of the services they provide. They also choose some moves such as changing the prices, improving product differentiation, etc.

 Bargaining power of the buyers: In case of the banks, the buyers are the customers. The banking sector is becoming customer dictated. With many banks providing the same services, the customers have choice and the service providers just have to be the best. The bank has to think of the customers whenever they want to make some actions. The bank has to be customer oriented in order to attract the customers.

 Bargaining power of the suppliers: By suppliers, we mean the depositors. They are the ones who provide the bank with the deposits which the bank intermediates to the borrowers. The higher the volume of the deposits, the more the bank provides them priority and has a high say in the services they receive. The bank to think of their welfare and provide them with cash whenever they want it. They have a high bargaining power.

 Threat of substitute products: All the banks are targeting the same groups be it in terms of the sectors or in terms of the distribution of the customers. The banks are now coming up with similar products. For example saving accounts for the elderly and for the females. Due to this there has been a high competition and the banks have to try to differentiate their product from those of the competitors. They need to have a better offer in order to beat the competition.

 Relative power of other stakeholders (addition to Porter’s Theory): The shareholders, government, local community, unions, interest groups, etc. are the stakeholders. These people are affected by the decision of the bank. Therefore, they have their say in the bank. Whenever the bank takes any action, these stakeholders should be considered. The decisions made should be in the mutual understanding of all the stakeholders and the bank.

Figure 8: Porter’s Analysis

Competitive Analysis In this part of the report, a brief comparison of the competitors of LXBL is being done. Among the many banks in Kathmandu, 2 among them are chosen as the major competitors of LXBL. These banks are chosen because they are located in similar place and their products are competitive. This makes the comparison more relevant as they have similar customers. The following banks including LXBL have been selected for the analysis which is as follows: 

Laxmi Bank (LXBL)



Nabil Bank (NABIL)



Sunrise Bank (SRB)

The products and services offered by the above mentioned banks are compared for this analysis which is as follows:

Table 2: Competitive analysis in terms of Products and Services offered LXBL

NABIL

SRB

Interest Rate on Saving (Highest % offered on daily basis)

8.00 %

6.00 %

8.50%

Fixed deposit (Maximum interest offered)

11.75 %

11.00 %

11.50 %

Overdraft (Maximum interest charged)

11-14 %

8-12%

10-12.5%

Term loan (Maximum interest offered)

11-14 %

8-12 %

10-12.5%

Housing loan (Minimum interest charged)

11-14 %

8-12 %

10-12.5 %

From the above table, it is clear that LXBL offers more interest than its competitor in average.

Part Three

PRESENTATION OF MAJOR PROJECT/S UNDERTAKEN Section I: Introduction Project A: Research on Customer Service Department 1. Introduction of the Project In internship the best way to learn is from front desk. The starting phase in internship for most interns always begins from interaction with customers. It is the service that may either attract more number of customers or lessen their numbers. As I have done internship both at Sukedhara and Lagankhel branch, I mainly focus on Customer Service Department. Within the time interval of internship, the expectation of customers always seemed to be increasing, whereas the department lacks to meet their demands this might be because of lack in resources, numbers of staff, space problem and intense competition. Due to this, management of LXBL is always interested about the reasons behind the gap and way to mould the organization. CSD mainly focuses on complaints and queries of actual and potential customers. Complaints might vary from poor services to late responses and queries might be regarding way to improve gray areas. In my internship I mostly spend times on counseling the customers regarding products and their benefits. As a result, the attention always seemed to be moving towards the role and actual service the CSD was rendering. Thus, I was provided with the project of analyzing the current positioning of the CSD, problems and way to improve. I have to submit this project within 15 days to the BM. 2. Aims and Objectives of Project The major aim of conducting the research regarding CSD was to provide the management with the information regarding current level of positioning CSD holds. This was

particularly aimed at customer’s perception and to some extent even to the staff of the institute. LXBL has always tried to formulate ways to provide with overall customer satisfaction. For this not just for LXBL, but every CSD is the primary stoppage point, which in terms of the responses it provides, can judge and fulfill the customers with their expectation. So does LXBL, for which the research was conducted. With the arousing complaints from the CSD, LXBL management was much concerned about the performance and ways to bring about remedies to improve their level. The major aim of Interns was not just limited to provide the management with the result, but also to personally and professionally learn out of it. Focusing on the future career path, benefiting out the observation and learning made, this research was performed. So, paying attention to the concern of the management, and to gain more insight of CSD, the major Objectives of conducting the research are as follows: 

Find out the response of customers towards CSD



Comparison of LXBL and other banks CSD



Satisfaction as per the services provided by the department



Leveling of the department as per the customers experience while dealing personally



Expectation of customers from the department



Internal/External factors affecting CSD

3. Scope and limitation of Project The research undertaken for Customer Service Department represents with the response from only one section of LXBL. The management was concerned with the problems within CSD and ways to fight with it. The project has been done both at Sukedhara and Lagankhel branch in 15 days which was quite difficult.

However, from the study undertaken, interns would be able to provide with the actual figure of response of their current customers as well as view from the internal staffs. With the presented results out of the study made, the institute could go ahead in formulating and implementing necessary steps for the improvement of the department. In brief the scope of the study focuses on: 

Understand the response of customers toward CSD



Recognize the expectation and preference of the customers from the respective department



Improvement to be made in the department

During this project major constraint is information. Information plays an important role in CSD. Both management and customers hesitate to share information which makes somewhat difficult.

Project B: Collaboration of Laxmi Bank of Sukedhara with Subisu Cable for its Bill Payment 1. Introduction of the Project Sukedhara branch is the newly launched branch of Laxmi bank though there are various services provided by Laxmi Bank. This might be the unique which basically deal with benefits to Laxmi Bank and Subisu Cable from collaboration. Keeping customer satisfaction on mind this project would be advantageous and help to keep touch with the customers. Due to huge demand and success from other branches, Sukedhara branch also felt the necessity and BM provided me and two of my friends (Ms. Poonam Pandey and Ms. Astika Karki) to study the feasibility of the project in that locality. For this project we visited Subisu Cable at Baluwatar and talked to the related person and they were cooperative and responded positively. They even provided us some suggestions and guidelines required to carry out the project. Thereafter, we manage to talk to the existing customers who regularly visit to the bank, and the potential customer nearby Sukedhara area. The need for carrying out this project was to provide more and better

service to retain the existing customers and attract the potential customers, to save the time and burden of customer. Due to the increase in financial institution there is cut throat competition, in order to cope with this situation LXBL has chosen to generate money through various innovative services. This project is also a way to generate money. We are required to present this project within 1 week with background of Subisu, operating procedure and flow chart, benefits with collaboration to all i.e. bank, Subisu and customers, promotional measures, SWOT of Laxmi Bank with suggestion. 2. Aims and Objectives of the Project The objectives of the project are given below: 

To satisfy existing customers and to attract potential customers



To generate income



To launch innovative and easy service that is always desire by customers



To beat competition



For widening the range of products and services



To increase goodwill



To market LXBL through collaboration



To recommend management how the project can be successful



To benefit LXBL, Subisu as well as customers through this collaboration



To have practical knowledge in real world situation to interns



For studying feasibility of the project and suggesting the management



How to widen this service throughout Laxmi Bank branches

3. Scope and limitations of Project Banking industry is highly service oriented. So its overall success depends on the customers’ satisfaction regarding its service and their expectations. Project must always focus on how to retain actual and potential customers through value added services. Not only bank should focus on gaining profit but also prove to be social being i.e. win-win situation. Therefore this study extent how LXBL will be benefited through collaboration and provide necessary recommendation and feedback to introduce this service at Sukedhara as well as other branches. This can help the bank to make the necessary improvements to meet the overall objectives for all three parties i.e. LXBL, Subisu and the customers.

Limitations The limitations and constraints of the project caused by the uncontrollable forces are as follows: 

During research cost, time, resources and information are major constraints. The time frame for the research was very limited.



The customers were not available most of the time when the survey was conducted outdoor.



The customers were reluctant and skeptic to answer the questions.



Large scale research was not possible due to the constraints and the restrictions posed by the organization.



Kapan area is too big for research.

This research is raw material for LXBL growth and helps to be more competitive and advance, as we know that if banks are able to utilize their raw material, they could be more productive and competitive in market in terms of their product and other financial services. It is quite significant to clearly segment the market, identify the potential customers and promotion of financial products and services is also equally important.

Section II: Conceptual Framework The most important asset of an organization is its customer. Increasingly service organizations are using customer satisfaction as major of its success. The importance of customer service is not only due to national competition but also to the global level. An organization success depends on: 

how many customer it has



how often they use the product and services of organization



how satisfied they are by using product and services



to what level the organization is able to fulfill and satisfy the customer need, wants and desire



how the service organization are able to create the value proposition with their existing as well as potential prospects



how the organization are consistent toward satisfying and retaining their valuable customers

According to Wikipedia “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.” The CSD is responsible for handling, order processing, product and service questions, pricing information, system transfers, and other general inquiries. Like every organization, LXBL is also highly concerned regarding customer satisfaction, where increase customer satisfaction relates to increase in the productivity of the LXBL. In order to increase its customer service, the bank has applied and experiment the concept of Total Quality Management and Kaizen. It's a well known fact that no business can exist without customers. The customers have become one of the key issues for the companies in their effort to improve quality. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction

is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. Some of the scholars focus CSD in various ways: According to Kevin Cacioppo (1998), “The gulf between satisfied customers and completely satisfied customers can swallow a business.” According to Jones and Sesser (1995), “Complete customer satisfaction is the key to securing customer loyalty and generating superior long term financial performance.” According to Wikipedia, “Customer satisfaction, in a business term is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation.” As per my project CSD research and Collaboration of LXBL with Subisu for its bill payment, customer service and their satisfaction is the major ingredients that has to do with succession of the organization. For this purpose various studies, research, data analysis have been made within the boundary of project criteria. Figure 9: Conceptual Framework Feedback + Identification of Problem

CSD

Customers

Interns/Research Team Identification of Problem Collection of Data Data Collection Tools Data Collection and Analysis Presentation of Data Finding and Suggestion

After developing the conceptual framework of the project that is undertaken, now it’s necessary to measure the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organization which would be based on customer care performance, customer retention, training and development, HR management, benchmarking, its product and services, technology, quality system, CSR, promotional activities that can be analyzed as well as summarized as IFAS, EFAS, SFAS matrix which is shown in Appendix 4, 5 and 6. The IFAS, EFAS and SFAS matrix have been developed to deal with environmental scanning of an organization. When used together, they are a powerful set of analytical tool for strategic analysis (Strategic Management and Business Policy, Wheelen et al., 9th edition, Pearson Education) I also went through TQM book by Besterfield et al, 3rd edition, Pearson Education which has the description of Teboul Model. It describes the degree to which the customer experience of a service or product matches experience. I have also gone through 4Ps of Marketing i.e. product, price, place and promotion which to directly deal with the customer by satisfying their need, wants and demands and creating the value proposition (Principle of Marketing, Philip Kotler et al, 6th Edition, TATA McGraw Hill). According to Kano Model, it represents 3 major areas of Customer Satisfaction i.e. explicit requirement, innovation and unstated or unspoken requirements (Besterfield et al, 3rd edition, Pearson Education). Using customers compliant and the service quality plus customer retention has been given a keen interest while on going through this project which illustrates that “although complaints are reactive they are very vital in gathering data on customer perception, a dissatisfied customer can easily become a lost customer so many organization use customer dissatisfaction as the primary measure to access their process improvement effort.” Customer service is the set of activities an organization uses to win and retain customer satisfaction, customer retention is more powerful and effective than customer satisfaction

so, improved service frequently carries a cost but organization must determine its return that significantly improve revenue and market share. Frontline people are the value able source of information and deals with customer which make them the best employee worthy for the company’s customer.

Section III. Methodology The research methodology is the framework of how the research will be carried out. It refers to the various sequential steps that are adopted in the study. It guides the research process which helps the research to have a standard and also help to measure how much have been achieved. It includes various research methods that were used as a part for “Customer Service Research” and “Collaboration of Laxmi Bank of Sukedhara with Subisu Cable for its Bill Payment”.

Research Background Proper research design being a major aspect for gathering the relevant information regarding LXBL was considered to be an important work. Due to security, privacy and confidentiality of certain information, the attempt was little led back in order to know about the exact number of customer holding LXBL account in different branches. Following task was undertaken for CSD research and Subisu project: 

Cross-questioned the staff, especially from CSD and Subisu to know about the responses they came across regarding LXBL service



Designed questionnaire to gain understanding of the customers



Visited other banks like NABIL, Sunrise, and Machapuchhure and Subisu office to collect the information regarding services provided by them

Study Approach Majorly, the study was conducted for gathering different sort of information using Observation, Exploratory and Descriptive research. The research was conducted through three different stages, presented in the table below:

Table 3: Methodology Undertaken

Stage

Research Conducted

I

Observation and Adaptation Research

II

Exploratory Research

III

Descriptive Research  

Qualitative Research Quantitative Research

I. Observation and Adaptation Research In the beginning of first stage, observation was made during the internship program at LXBL. My internship period is only for 2 months, so it is impossible to know exact about all functioning of the job. I focused mainly on my CSD and my project. But I have learned as much as possible about other department. During internship I spent most of time in learning and thereafter adopting, which proved to be quite beneficiary for the completion of the project.

II. Exploratory Research The second stage was exploratory research which basically included the unstructured questions (informal interview with the staffs) asked to understand about CSD, banking environment, various product and their innovation, etc. This is not only for LXBL staffs but with other banks staffs i.e. NABIL, SBL, Machapuchhure and Subisu cable.

III. Descriptive Research At the final stage descriptive research was used. This research was carried out to understand CSD and Collaboration between LXBL and Subisu and also to know about the likeliness of its growth in future. Within descriptive research, there are two categories of research:

a. Qualitative Research Under qualitative research we look upon literature review which deals upon various publication and literature related to CSD and Subisu. Various site visit, deposit forms, flyers, and brochures are considered to be important while preparing report. Along with this Unstructured Interview was also taken with customers, staffs of various bank and Subisu.

b. Quantitative Research Under quantitative research, a set of questionnaire was prepared in order to know about the preference of the customers about CSD and Subisu bill payment. The focus was not only made on actual customers, but also to the potential customers. The research aimed out to find out the improvement in CSD and the feasibility of LXBL collaboration with Subisu.

Variables Measured The variables measured for Project A are: gender, age group, occupation, importance of CSD, satisfaction level of customers, demand for new services, reasons behind using LXBL services, required services under CSD, different bank account hold by LXBL customers and services mostly used by LXBL customers. The variables measured for Project B are: household using cable and internet, Subisu competitors, LXBL customers using Subisu cable also in terms of potential customers and customer’s preference towards this service.

Section IV: Presentation and Analysis Presentation and Analysis of Project A Since there is huge flow and the hurdle of customers at LXBL, I have taken 50 customers for research purpose. I have also taken consideration of 18 LXBL staff of Sukedhara and Lagankhel branch. I have found more difficult to conduct research on the basis of Observation or Exploratory research so as per analysis of working environment Descriptive research methodology was considered to be appropriate for the conduction.

Distribution of Questionnaire The research contains 20 questions for each respondent and on the basis of their responses conclusion was drawn up. The form of questionnaire distribution was Structured Questionnaire. Instead of 50 customers, 5 customers were provided with incomplete questionnaire. The distribution of questionnaire was made on the following basis: Please refer Appendix 7 and 8 for structured and unstructured questionnaire. Table 4: Distribution of Questionnaire Respondent

Distribution

Completed Responses

Staffs

18

18

Current customers

50

45

From the research undertaken, looking at the responses provided, the Data Analysis for CSD research made is presented below:

ANALYSIS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT ON THE BASIS OF GENDER

>> Current Customers

Respondent

Total Numbers

Male

18

Female

27

>> Banking Staffs

Respondent

Total Numbers

Male

8

Female

10

Figure 10: Classification according to Gender

41%

Female(37) Male(26) 59%

Above figure depicts that among the total respondent of 63, that is 100%, 26 of them were male and the rest 37 were female. That sums up to 59% female respondent and 41% of male respondents. This might be amazing fact to know about. At LXBL there are more female customers because here the products are more attractive for female rather than male. So, this might be reason for more female staffs.

AGE GROUP >> No. of respondents according to Age group

Age group

18-25

No. of 24 Respondents

26-35

36-45

46 and over

17

12

10

Figure 11: Classification according to Age group

16%

38%

18-25(24) 26-35(17)

19%

36-45(12) 46 and over(10)

27%

Among the total respondents, a total number of 24 out of 63 (that sums to 38%) of the respondents were between the age group of 18-25, this shows how many young people are opening bank accounts. There is one thing to understand from this figure that 25 to above age groups the respondents are lesser in numbers that of less than 25 because this might be lack of banking knowledge, bank’s effort and peoples preference. One of the credits for LXBL success is deposit scheme of “Super Women Saving” and “Green Saving Account” which yields higher interest rate.

OCCUPATION >> No. of Respondents according to their Occupation Occupation

Service Holder

No. of 23 Respondents

Students Business Person

House Hold

Others

15

7

4

14

Figure 12: Classification according to Occupation

7% 11% 36%

Service Holder(23) Students(15) Business Person(14)

22%

Household(7) Others(4)

24%

Service holders have large account in LXBL. In case of Lagankhel branch most of account is of District Development Committee (DDC) staff, Patan Hospital staff and security officers. This might be due to highest yield than other normal saving accounts provided to general public. Staff account is getting much popularity in LXBL due to free ATM services, free cheque book and no account opening fee. Other reason might be due to compulsion of salary purpose and contract. As compare to this, student also has greater existence in LXBL account (24%).

IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT Figure 13: Ranking the Customer Service 2% 11%

48% 39%

Very Important(30) Important(25) Not Important(7) Not Known(1)

Firstly the most important thing for the researchers was to verify whether or not the customers find the customer service as an important aspect in a banking environment. The responses that the customers gave were overwhelmingly positive. Nearly half (48%) of the total respondents believed that it is a very important aspect and that it should not be neglected. The rest 39% believed that it is important and 11% thought it is not important. But interesting fact is that about 2% doesn’t know about CSD. So, we can also conclude that there are some customers who by necessarily have an account but doesn’t know what bank is all about.

SATISFACTION LEVEL WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE Figure 14: Satisfaction level of Customers

35%

Satisfied(41) Not Satisfied(22) 65%

Customers are the driving force of any business. The business exists because of the customers. From the research, among some of internal and mostly external customers, it is shown that the customers are satisfy (65%) with the services offered by LXBL. Whereas 35% of customers seemed to be dissatisfied with the present services and want corrective action as soon as possible. DEMAND OF NEW SERVICES

Figure 15: Requirement for Extra Facilities 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Quich Response & Adding ATMs Problem Solving(34) Outside Valley(10)

Spacious Service Areas(8)

Old Aged Saving(7)

Others(4)

Among these who responded that they are not satisfied with the services of the bank specified that they if some extra services were added, they would be contented. A greater part of 54% of customers responded that they would be happy if there was quick problem solving and response. This suggests that, LXBL management must be focus toward grey areas which was before neglected. Management must listen the voice for other services too like ATMs outside valley, old aged saving and others (private banking, etc.)

REASONS BEHIND USING LXBL SERVICE Figure 16: Reason for Using LXBL Service 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Higher interest rate Well located (15) (22)

Wide range of product (11)

Mobile money (8)

Others (7)

From this bar diagram we come to know that about 35% of customers prefer Laxmi bank because of high interest rate. As per research, location of Laxmi bank branches and its ATM services are other core areas where it is gaining popularity. Others are wide range of products, mobile money and good market share, friendly environment, well capable management and many more are also reasons behind customer attraction towards Laxmi bank products.

REQUIRED SERVICES UNDER CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT Figure 17: Selective Services Requirement 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Proper Customer Response (24)

Friendly Environment (6)

Quick Problem Solving (15)

24/7 Services (11)

Others (7)

Among the 63 respondent, a total of 24 customers believe that proper customer responses are the most important thing when it comes to CSD. This means that most of the customers want proper response by those behind the customer service desk. The next issue that is given priority is quick problem solving. 15 out of 63 people believe that their problems need to be solved immediately as they are addressed. Others also have opinion to provide service throughout the week, even some complain for unfriendly environment, frequent ATM failure and unskilled personnel at CSD.

DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS TO OTHER BANKS Figure 18: Deposit Account Possessed to Other Banks

22%

Yes(49) No(14) 78%

The bank culture of our country is such that people have bank accounts in many banks. They generally have fixed deposits accounts in Finance companies which offer highest interests, and savings account in those banks which offer most convenient services. Thus, most of the customers i.e. 78% have deposit accounts in other banks also. I have found one fact more interesting that people open account on other banks only to have an account and ATM because it is free of cost.

SEVICES MOSTLY USED BY LXBL CUSTOMERS Figure 19: Products Mostly Used 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%

Deposits(23)

Loans and Advances(4)

Treasury Services(2)

Remittance Services(9)

Mobile Money(6)

Others(19)

In this figure, deposit holds the maximum percentage (36%) this might be due to higher interest rate and efficient marketing. Due to less commission and better business transaction in foreign country remittance services at LXBL is at good position. While dealing with Loans and Advances it is less in used due to NRB act and liquidity crunch. Others services like e-banking, locker facilities, etc.

Presentation and Analysis of Project B For the research regarding Subisu, 100 sample sizes were randomly chosen within an approximate population of about 20000 at Kapan area (Source: Ministry of Health and Population). The research was based on knowing about the internet user for different service providers within theses household of Kapan so, a questionnaire was prepared and presented them on a random basis. The following result was found:

Table 5: Household Survey Using Internet of Different Service Provider Respondents

Internet Service Providers(ISP)

13%

Subisu

25%

Nepal Telecom(NTC)

20%

World Link

42%

Others

From the above research, we found that NTC has the highest number of customers followed by World Link and Subisu i.e. 25, 20, 13 households per 100 respectively. Others network like G-Link, Broad Link, UTL, Ncell, etc covers 42% of the market share for Kapan. After this analysis we are able to find out the competitors for Subisu as well as the potential customers for Subisu through competitor analysis. While regarding LXBL customers using Subisu Cable we found out that 10% of total population of Kapan are the customers of Laxmi Bank where 5% of the total customers are the user of Subisu Cable.(Source: Internal database of Laxmi bank)

Subisu offers a suite of fully-managed network services developed specifically to address the rapidly evolving network performance requirements of medium businesses and large enterprise organizations as well as households. Subisu with its efficient operational task can help Laxmi bank and its customer, and also has the potential to increase the customer of Laxmi Bank for the efficient performance of BILL PAYMENT. The operation takes place for bill payment at LXBL is as follows: 

Advice people using Subisu Cable of Sukedhara locality to open accounts in this branch.



Bank will directly pay their bills to Subisu Cable from their accounts after every three months.



Bank will use a separate database to keep records of their customers regarding their bill payments.



Bank will charge Rs. 5 for each payment as a service charge.



Bank can use mobile money and SMS alert to enhance this service. (Whenever the customer lacks deposit to pay the bills, he/she can transfer deposits using mobile money from their relatives account to their account. The bank can then make timely payments to Subisu Company. With the help of SMS alert the bank can also inform the customers immediately after paying the bill.)

Please refer to Appendix 9 for the Operational Flow Chart of Bill of Payment of Subisu at LXBL.

Major Findings From the observation made on both the staffs and the current customers, analysis was conducted as per of their reactions. Total number of sample was 63 out of which 18 was internal whereas 50 were external of which 5 respondents was not involved due to incomplete questionnaire. So, out of that, some important and useful findings gathered are as follows:

In CSD Research 

Analyzing the customer by their age group we found that 18-25 age group was the highest followed by 26-35 aged customers.



Analyzing the customer by their occupation service holders accounts highest followed by students and business persons.



While analyzing the importance of CSD 48% found it very important but surprisingly 39% found it unimportant.



While measuring the satisfaction level of customer of LXBL 65% of the customers are satisfied.



In regardance to demand of new services majority of customers demanded quick response and problem solving at LXBL.



Maximum number of people rated high interest rate (saving) for using LXBL services while compare to other services.



About 80% of the LXBL customers possess account in other banks too.



Deposit service account holds 36% of the customers as compare to other services.

In Subisu Project 

We found that NTC has the highest number of customers followed by World Link and Subisu i.e. 25, 20, 13 households per 100 respectively.



Laxmi Bank has 5% of its customers Subisu and has prospect to increase through promotional activities in Kapan.



The major competitors for Subisu were NTC and World Link.

Section V: Conclusions From this research, several issues are found which needs to be emphasized for LXBL’s greater success. Most of the information was gained from the formation of the structured questionnaire, interview as well as internal database of LXBL. It was seen that though the bank has been catering generic services to its customers, the expectations of the customers still have not been met to ensure complete customer satisfaction. In regard to the CSD survey as an assignment we had been taken into consideration for the feedback of both internal and external customers for the greater accuracy. There were frequent complaints that the department was not functioning up to the mark thus, to reveal the truth about the aspects of department are the customer disliking, a survey was carried out. The result of the CSD was lacking on various area mostly on customer response. To achieve its mission of establishing itself as one of the potential national development banks, LXBL should meet the customers’ expectation at any cost and delight them always. For a banking sector to lead ahead from its competition, it needs to capture the potential segment of customers by offering them more than what they expect. Together with that, the CSD could work on the minor flaws that it has and work on it to make itself as good as the other departments of the bank. The CSD is a very important department which gives an impression to the outsiders about the bank, so it needs to be good in order to attract and retain.

Project undertaken for Subisu following benefits were found for LXBL, Subisu as well as Customers. Benefits to Laxmi Bank: 

Increases the use of mobile money and SMS alert.



Buzz marketing through customers.



Increases the probability for the customers to take other services (like: Mobile Money, Remittance, locker system, etc)



By providing this service, Laxmi Bank will be engaged in its corporate social responsibility.



This will increase Laxmi Banks goodwill.



Laxmi Bank will get a certain amount of commission from Subisu.



After the success of this project in Sukedhara branch similar project can later be implemented in other branches as well.

Benefits to Subisu Cable: 

Use of capital incentive rather than labor incentive.



Subisu cable itself will get promoted by collaborating with highly reputed organization like Laxmi Bank.



Cut down of expenses (e.g. salary, stationery, transportation, etc)

Benefits to Customers: 

Saving of travelling cost and time.



Increase in banking knowledge.



Networking and relationship is built among customers and bank.



Increases the customer’s saving habit.

Suggestions Nothing in the world is build up as perfect. Certain flaws, weaknesses are possessed by everything, so does banking institutes. In similar sense, LXBL, in its way of performing and dealing with the customers, consists of some drawbacks. As per this, certain General as well as Specific recommendation are provided to the institute, which are as follows:

I. General Suggestions 

The banks should come up with wide variety of products and services and focus on service proliferation



Proficiency in interdepartmental communication should be given more priority



The customer portfolio if diversified, a wide array of customers can be attracted plus the risk factor can be minimized



The different schemes that the bank comes up with needs to be marketed in a proper manner



The internal customers of the bank, the employees need to be motivated and appraised in a handsome manner



The human resource can be improvised and harnessed by the in house trainings and workshops



The physical facilities of the bank can be improved e.g. spacious area, couches and chairs for the customers to sit and relax

II. Specific Suggestions a. Higher Interest rate: According to the specific research conducted, the response to the needs of higher interest rate is maximum. This is particularly because many financial institutions are providing around 5-8% interest on deposit account which implies that customer are not satisfied with the current interest rate of the bank. The other competitors are providing similar services at a higher interest rate which is far more attractive than that of LXBL. b. Better customer service: Stable, healthy growth is built on the profitability of the customer, not on their raw no, of loyalty. The two researches that were carried out had some part of service department`s issue involved.

c. Employee Lounge: A banker’s job is very monotonous and tedious process. It demands utmost attention and makes them exhausted, if there was some kind of recreation area for the employees where they could go and relax for a while, it would be much helpful. The employee recreation lounge would act as a refresher for the employees and recharge them for the next difficult shift. d. Specialized service for “Special” customers: The special customers with various accounts in the bank, taking occasional loans, owing the locker facilities should be properly treated by the bank. They are the sources of a lot of earnings for the banks. Therefore, the bank can devise a specialized service whereby, special clients can be offered loan as a subsidized rate or extended credit, gift vouchers etc.

Part Four

REFLECTION OF INTERNSHIP

When everyone is thinking that I am living a laid back life, I actually am passing through one of the most important phases of my life, the phase where I decide what decisions I will take to mould my career as per my requirements, qualifications and interests. This phase has various dimensions to my life at this moment like anxiety, nervousness, confusions, dilemmas, decisions about priorities, fighting with the limit of time. The anxiety of what is next in the experience of the other departments I will be recruited is very exciting as I am getting the opportunity to get into the type of working place I want to work in. This is a very important thing as I will be able to let go of all the complexities that would inadvertently stop me from fulfilling my dream and my career. During this internship, I will also be able to let go of all the dilemmas that I have related to my career decisions like whether to enter into a job as my goal persists or to start up or continue my family business or to go for a Masters degree right after the completion of my BBA course. Taking this decision would be a lot easier after the completion of the internship period as I will be able to decide what is right and what is not for my future ahead. In our day to day life we have to prioritize many issues over other so as to give ample attention and time for the important ones. This requirement of my punctuality in my work has made me able to prioritize my career and studies over other issues like friends, parties etc. Now, I suddenly am realizing that we are bound by the limit of time whereas previously I thought I have ample time for everything. This limit of time has made me realize the value of time and how to organize every activity so as to give my time to other issues as well. This realization of importance of time will no doubt help me in anything I do in the future as for every professional, time is the one of the rarest and important assets he has. Finally, my dream of being a professional seems to be a possibility and getting an experience even before I finished my studies is an important experience. The things I will learn will help in my career and also in my studies ahead. I pursue further to gain the maximum knowledge from the experience and enrich in my life and career ahead.

Achieved Goals/Objectives 

Knew about the importance of fragmentation in the works



Knew about the market positioning of Laxmi Bank



Knew about the daily transaction carried out



Knew about the structuring of the institute and their functions



To learn about the overall function of different departments of Laxmi Bank (LXBL) namely Customer Service Department (CSD), other department in brief.



To learn as much as possible from the members of the bank through good and friendly relationship.



To learn about different products of the bank.



To increase communication skills and interpersonal skills by communicating with the customers in the CSD.

Not Achieved Goals 

Found less matchup with theoretical and practical learning during work



Less array of knowledge regarding remote area branching of bank



Less reflection regarding coping with sudden changes by the institute

REFERANCES Print Sources-Books Rose Peter S.’s Commercial Bank Management, 4th and 5th Edition Philip Kotler et al’s Principle of Marketing, 12th Edition Besterfield et al’s Total Quality of Management, 3rd Edition Harvey Maylor’s Project Management, 3rd Edition Thomas L. Wheelen et al’s Strategic Management and Business Policy, 9th Edition Article in a Monthly magazine BOSS, February 2010 Harvard Business Review, April 2010 Article in Journal Kathmandu Post, March 2010 Abhiyan, April 2010 Others Sources  

Brochures of other banks like Nabil, Sunrise Bank and Machhapuchure Bank Account opening forms of Nabil, Sunrise Bank and Machhapuchure Bank

Electronic Sources       

www.laxmibank.com www.nrb.org.np www.nabilbank.com www.sunrisebank.com www.google.com www.wikipedia.com www.machbank.com

Annual Report  Annual Report of Laxmi Bank 2007/08, 2008/09  Annual Report of Nabil, Sunrise Bank and Machhapuchure Bank

APPENDIXES Appendix 4: Internal Factor Analysis Summary (IFAS): Laxmi Bank Limited Internal Strategic Factors

Weight

Rating Weighted Score

Comments

Brand Equity

0.15

4.5

0.675

Large amount of loyal customer

Advanced Technology

0.10

4

0.4

Advanced Flexcube technology

Benchmarking

0.10

5

0.5

Maintain global standard(paperless product)

Quality Customer Service 0.10 and Innovative product

4.5

0.45

Customer focused

Training and Development

0.05

4

0.2

Skilled and professional training team

Stringent policy

0.10

2

0.2

Tight control

Centralized Management

0.10

2

0.2

Time consuming

Limited product and services in branch

0.05

3

0.15

No comment

Lesser no. of staff in branch

0.20

2

0.4

Slow service

Branches and ATM service

0.05

1.5

0.075

Fewer ATMs outside the valley

Total score

1

Strength

Weakness

3.25

Appendix 5: External Factor Analysis Summary (EFAS): Laxmi Bank Limited External Strategic Factors

Weight

Rating

Weighted Score

Comments

0.10

3

0.30

Growth of urbanization

Increase in customer 0.10 knowledge in banking Increase in single 0.15 family formation

5

0.5

Awareness of banking knowledge

3

0.45

More customer base

Increase women workforce

0.05

3

0.15

Increase in diversity

Changing lifestyle

0.10

5

0.5

More demand for service

Decrease in GDP

0.10

2

0.2

Lower banking transaction

Intense competition Stringent labor law

0.15 0.05

3 3

0.45 0.15

Increase in no. of bank No comment

Unstable government

0.10

3

0.3

Unstable rules and regulation

Threats of new entrants

0.10

3

0.3

New entrants for local as well as international arena

Total Score

1

Opportunities Increasing urban population

Threats

3.3

Appendix 6: Strategic Factor Analysis Summary (SFAS) Matrix Strategic Factor

Weight Rating

Weighted Score

S*

I* L*

Brand Equity

0.20

4

0.8

*

Loyal Customer

Quality customer service innovative product(S)

0.10

4

0.4

*

Customer focused

Benchmarking(S)

0.05

4

0.2

*

Limited products and services in the branches(w)

0.10

2

0.2

*

Lesser staff in the branches(W)

0.10

2

0.2

*

Branches and ATM service(W)

0.05

2

0.1

Increasing customer knowledge(O)

0.10

4

0.4

Changing lifestyle(O)

0.15

4

0.6

*

Intense competition(T)

0.10

5

0.5

*

Threats of new entrants(t)

0.05

4

0.2

Total

1

Maintain global standard(paperless product) *

Note: S*-Short term, I*-Intermediate term, L*-Long term

No comment

Slow service

*

3.6

Comments(S)

*

Fewer ATMs outside the valley

*

Awareness on banking product and service

More demand for product and service *

*

*

Variety of service offered by other bank New entrants from local and international arena.

Appendix 7: Structured Questionnaire for Research on CSD

Namaste, I am the student of Nepal College of Management (NCM) currently in the 8th semester. Following is a research based questionnaire for Customer Service Department of Laxmi Bank (LXBL) as a fulfillment of course offered by Kathmandu University (KU) under Internship program at LXBL. Your cooperation will be highly appreciated in this regard. I assure that the information provided will be kept confidential and shall be used only for the academic purpose.

Name: Name of Organization (if involved): Hometown: Gender Male

Female

Age 18-25

26-35

36-45

46 and over

Occupation (Please tick the most appropriate option) Service Holder

Student

Business Person

Household

1. Do you hold account in the other bank? Yes

No

2. In which bank you hold your account? LXBL

Other (Please specify)…………………………………..

3. Are you satisfied with the services provided by LXBL? Satisfied

Not Satisfied

Others

4. If, YES, which service you most satisfied with? Deposits

Loan and Advances

Treasury Services

Remittance Services

Mobile Money

Others

5. Why did you like the LXBL service? High Interest Rate

Well Located

Mobile Money

Others

Wide Range of Products

6. Services needed to be upgraded at LXBL? Adding ATMs Outside Valley

Spacious Service Areas

Old

Aged

Others

Quick Response and Problem Solving

Saving

6. Is there any importance of CSD at Laxmi Bank? Very Important

Important

Not Important

Not Known

7. Areas needed to be improved? Proper Customer Response

Friendly Environment

Quick Problem Solving

Others

24/7 Service

8. Are you planning to continue your relationship with LXBL? Can’t Say

Yes

No

9. If NO, please state the reason ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 10. Your suggestion/recommendation to bank (if any) ………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thank You Have a Nice Day!!! *************************

Appendix 8: Questionnaire for Unstructured Interview



Who are the target customers or who are the potential customers for Laxmi Bank?



How well the Laxmi bank is established in the market?



What is the main mission and vision of LXBL?



Did Subisu have customers around Nepal, how many numbers might be there in Kapan area?



Did this type of collaboration is done before? With whom? Is it profitable?



What is the main objective and strategy of whole CSD and Laxmi bank?



Who might be the most responsible for satisfying customer?



Is LXBL thinking any way to improve its services? How?



As other banks are coming with similar products and services how Laxmi bank will keep it differently?



What type of response or feedback LXBL has come across? Is LXBL preparing for it?



What fee did Subisu Charges to you? Is there any difficulty for payment? Is there any late charge on cable?



Did Subisu have any contract with other financial institution for bill payment?



How much does it cost for only receiving and handling all billing procedure of Subisu cable annually?

Appendix 9: Operational Flow Chart Start Subisu opens an account in Laxmi Bank

Subisu tells its customers to open an account in Laxmi Bank

Is the customer willing to subscribe to the service?

No

Customers will go to Subisu’s office to make the quarterly payment

Yes

Does the customer already have an account in Laxmi Bank?

No

Customer will open an account

Yes Customer will subscribe to the service

Is there sufficient balance in customers account? Yes After every three months, bank will debit customers account and credit Subisu's account Subisu will check its account statement online or through SMS alert

END

No

Laxmi Bank will post their names in their web site and Subisu will take the necessary action