Improving the quality of retail banking services in asia commercial joint stock bank,graduation thesis

Banking Academy Graduation Thesis STATE BANK OF VIETNAM BANKING ACADEMY Foreign Language Faculty  GRADUATION THESIS IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF RETAIL BANKING SERVICES IN ASIA COMMERCIAL JOINT-STOCK BANK Student : Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class : ATCA – K12 Lecturer : Mrs Can Thuy Lien (MA) Ha Noi – June, 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis After a long time of hard work, my thesis would not have been completed without the support of many people First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Mrs Can Thuy Lien who was abundantly helpful and offered me invaluable suggestions and contribution Moreover, her enthusiastic instructions and corrections helped my graduation thesis be better In addition, I wish to say sincere thanks to all the lecturers of Banking Academy in general and teachers of Foreign Language Faculty in detail for conveying precious knowledge to me to become a well-educated student Another appreciation is given to managers and staff of Asia Commercial Bank, Den Lu Transaction point who created me favorable conditions to fulfill my internship period Last but not least, I am very thankful to my friends and my beloved family members for their great support and understanding It is their encouragement during my research that give me a spiritual foundation and strength to complete this task and make it successful Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1: Rewards ACB received from 2006 to 2012 11 Table 3.2: ACB’s retail fund mobilization in the period 2009 – 2012 13 Table 3.3: ACB’s retail loans between 2009 and 2012 14 Table 3.4: Number of cards issued of ACB in 2011, 2012 16 Figure 3.1: ACB’s retail fund mobilization in the period 2009 – 2012 13 Figure 3.2: Structure of retail deposit by types of money in 2012 14 Figure 3.3: ACB’s retail loans in the period 2009 – 2012 15 Figure 3.4: The number of branches and transaction points from 2009 to 2012 19 Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACB : Asia Commercial Bank ASEAN : Association of South East Asian Nations ATM : Automatic Teller Machine Eximbank : Vietnam Export Import Bank GPRS : General Packet Radio Service ID card : Identity card ISO : International Standards Organization IT : Information technology POS : Point of sales R&D : Research and development RBS : Retail banking services Sacombank : Saigon Commercial Bank SBV : The State Bank of Vietnam SMEs : Small and medium enterprises SWIFT : Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication Techcombank : Vietnam Technological and Commercial Bank VIP : Very important person WTO : World Trade Organization Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1.2 Objectives 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope .2 1.5 Methodology 1.6 Disposition CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Definition of retail banking services 2.2 Characteristics of retail banking services 2.3 Roles of retail banking services 2.3.1 To the economy 2.3.2 To banks 2.3.3 To customers .4 2.4 Some main retail banking services 2.4.1 Fund mobilizing services .4 2.4.2 Lending services 2.4.3 Card services 2.4.4 Settlement services .5 2.4.5 E-banking services .6 2.4.6 Other retail banking services 2.5 The quality of retail banking services 2.5.1 Overview of the quality of RBS 2.5.2 The importance of enhancing the quality of RBS .7 CHAPTER 3: RETAIL BANKING SERIVES IN ASIA COMMERCIAL BANK 10 3.1 Introduction of ACB 10 3.1.1 Establishment .10 3.1.2 Business scope 10 3.1.3 Vision and Mission .11 3.1.4 Rewards 11 3.2 Analysis of ACB's the retail banking activity over the period 2009 – 2012 12 3.2.1 ACB’s performance of some main RBS 12 3.2.1.1 Fund mobilizing services 12 3.2.1.2 Lending services 14 3.2.1.3 Card services .16 Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis 3.2.1.4 Settlement services .17 3.2.1.5 E-banking services 18 3.2.2 Distribution network 18 3.2.3 Technology 20 3.2.5 Customer care policies .21 3.2.6 Marketing activities 22 3.3 Evaluating the quality of ACB’s RBS 22 3.3.1 Comparing the quality of RBS in ACB with that of some other banks 22 3.3.2 Some ACB’s achievements in the retail services section 23 3.3.3 Some ACB’s limitations in the retail services section .24 3.3.4 Causes resulting in limitations 25 CHAPTER 4: SOLUTIONS TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE QUALITY OF RETAIL BANKING SERVICES IN ASIA COMMERCIAL BANK 28 4.1 Promoting research and development of RBS .28 4.1.1 Strengthening and improving existing retail services: 28 4.1.3 Developing new RBS: 28 4.2 Expanding the distribution network .29 4.2.1 Developing traditional distribution channels 29 4.2.2 Developing modern distribution channels .30 4.2.3 Upgrading facilities and equipments 30 4.3 Investing in technology development 31 4.4 Enhancing the quality of human resources 32 4.4.1 Fulfilling the recruitment process 32 4.4.2 Raising the training quality 32 4.4.3 Maintaining suitable reward policies .33 4.4.4 Concentrating on professional style of retail staff 33 4.5 Strengthening the customers care 33 4.6 Promoting Marketing activities .34 4.7 Improving the quality of inspection of the service quality 35 4.8 Recommendations to the Government and the the State Bank .36 4.8.1 Recommendations to the Government .36 4.8.2 Recommendations to the State Bank .36 CONCLUSION 39 REFERENCES Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background International integration has opened up many opportunities as well as challenges for organizations providing banking services in Vietnam They have to face with fierce competition with foreign banks who have not only strong financial ability but also experience in development of modern banking services Although Vietnam’s population is estimated to reach 89 million in 2012, the citizens’ income and educational level is increasing, only 20% of them use banking services Thus, Vietnam is considered as a potential market for retail banking services Under the pressure of competition of bank services and the rapid development of information technology, commercial banks are paying attention to modernization and application of scientific advances in exploiting the retail market It is understandable that Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) is not excluded from this indispensable trend Therefore, the strategy of ACB will focus mainly on providing diverse, professional and convenient retail products to suitable customers, with the aim of building up a high quality, safe and economically efficient retail banking services system To meet the increasing need of using banking services of customers, and to compete with other commercial banks, without doubt, ACB is expanding the network, diversifying retail products, improving their quality of services and enhancing the serving manner to customers to achieve the goal of being a top retail bank in Vietnam and developing the retail banking services system which has the same level with that of other banks in the area In addition, the bank is boosting its competitiveness, prestige and reputation gradually in international financial market For this above reality, the assessment of the quality of retail banking services in ACB as well as proposing some measures to improve the quality services help the bank gain the customers’ satisfaction Therefore, I decided to choose and research entitled “Improving the quality of retail banking services in Asia Commercial Bank” 1.2 Objectives The thesis aims at evaluating the actual quality of retail banking services and proposing some solutions to improve the quality of retail banking services in Asia Commercial bank Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis 1.3 Research questions The discussed problem will answer the following questions:  What are RBS and their roles?  Why the quality of RBS should be enhanced?  How was the performance of RBS in ACB from 2009 to 2012?  What were achievements an limitations of the bank over that period?  What solutions should be proposed to promote the quality of RBS of the bank? 1.4 Scope At present, commercial banks in general and ACB in detail offer a wide range of retail banking services However, due to limited time, the thesis will concentrate on five main retail services provided by ACB They are Fund mobilizing services, Lending services, Card services, Settlement services and E-banking services 1.5 Methodology To find out the performance of retail services in ACB over the period 2009 – 2012 , the secondary data (such as financial reports, annual reports, introduction of the bank and information from the Internet sources) was used After that, factors affecting the bank’s retail performance were analyzed and then, solutions for improvement will be suggested 1.6 Disposition Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Theoretical framework Chapter 3: Retail banking services in Asia Commercial Bank Chapter 4: Solutions to improve the quality of retail banking services in Asia Commercial Bank Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Definition of retail banking services Depending on different points of view and approaches, there are now some concepts of “Retail banking services” (RBS): According to economists of The Asian Institute of technology (AIT), RBS are to provide products and banking services for individuals, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through network of branches, telecommunications and modern technology As it stated by World Trade Organization (WTO), RBS are typical services of banks where retail customers can come to branches or transaction points to carry out transactions, such as depositing, checking accounts, mortgaging, borrowing money, and other services In summary, retail banking services can be defined as follow: “Retail banking services are banking services provided for personal customers, SMEs through network of branches or telecommunications” 2.2 Characteristics of retail banking services a Customers of RBS are individuals, households and SMEs b RBS are diverse and the value of each transaction is not high, so the level of risk is relatively low c RBS require the building of many distribution channels to provide services for customers on a large scale d RBS base mainly on modern information technology and professional staff in order to improve the quality of products and bring them to each customer e RBS are simple and easy to be implemented because the main services are deposits, payments, loans and card services f The business development base primarily on the quality of services, so high quality products will definitely be an important factor for boosting revenue and attracting customers g Average operating costs are quite high Although the customers quantity is considerable, they are widely dispersed which make the transactions not convenient Besides, banks’ investment in online trading is still costly Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis h Because customer networks are national wide, the management and marketing forms are diverse and complicated 2.3 Roles of retail banking services 2.3.1 To the economy RBS change a cash economy directly to a non-cash one, enhance the efficiency of State management as well as reduce the social costs of payment In addition, with RBS, cash cycle process is enhanced and more effective, the potentiality of capital was exploited to promote business, consumption and improve the people’s lives 2.3.2 To banks RBS take a part in diversifying of products, expanding the market, improving the competitiveness, creating medium and long-term capital for banks, altering the income structure of banks, minimizing risks and strengthening the national finance 2.3.3 To customers RBS bring convenience, safety and efficiency to customers in their payment process and in using their own income Currently, RBS creates a stable income, risk diversification and a solid foundation for banks Therefore, commercial banks have initially considered RBS as core activities in order to build up, consolidate and develop a good customer base; afterwards, they can enlarge other banking activities Commercial banks in Vietnam have been improving the quality of RBS as an inevitable trend, consistent with the common trend of banks in region and around the world 2.4 Some main retail banking services 2.4.1 Fund mobilizing services It is obvious that one of the most function of commercial banks is mobilizing fund for lending loans and investments They can raise capital from personal customers and SMEs in the forms of term deposits, issuing valuable papers (promissory notes, bank bonds…) and other forms of deposits Although idle capital of individual customers and SMEs is not much, banks can still mobilize a potential and plentiful fund because of large number of customers Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis Last, ACB’s staff training of retail customer relationship is initially researched and carried out Therefore, employees in retail section are lack of sales skills and marketing skills Tran Thi Hong Nhung 26 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis SUMMARY CHAPTER Along with the Vietnam’s integration into the global economy, in recent years, activities of financial and banking sector have become animated It is the fact that Vietnam joining to WTO has opened up opportunities, prospects of development as well as challenges for financial institutions, and this has been a motivation for them to improve their competitiveness, too ACB is possibly a typical effort of domestic commercial banks To become a leading retail and multifunctional bank in Vietnam, beside diversifying retail services and enhancing the quality of RBS, ACB has paid attention to utilities serving the customers’ needs Base on the theoretical framework of retail services quality provided in chapter 2, chapter introduces the results of retail activities in ACB during the recent years before analyzing its achievements, limitations and causes for those drawbacks Therefore, in the last chapter, solutions of R&D, distribution network, technology, human resources, customer care policies, marketing activities will be suggested Therefore, ACB’s limitations are hoped to be recovered and the quality of its RBS will be enhanced Tran Thi Hong Nhung 27 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis CHAPTER 4: SOLUTIONS TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE QUALITY OF RETAIL BANKING SERVICES IN ASIA COMMERCIAL BANK 4.1 Promoting research and development of RBS As it stated in chapter 3, one disadvantage of ACB’s service development policy was that services were still traditional and not really distinctive which affected the bank’s competitiveness Therefore, a necessary step put for ACB is to research and expanding retail services for diversifying, boosting utility and offering them to larger number of customers 4.1.1 Strengthening and improving existing retail services: ACB needs to evaluate the product position in order to take timely measures to enhance the quality of products having good potentiality of development (through better staff’s attitude, simple process and procedures) and remove products gaining little customers’ preference 4.1.2 Doing research on development of new RBS: a Strengthening the role and function of the R&D Department who conduct market research about customers’ needs, tastes and afterwards, develop new products according to different market segments of age or occupation b Building a diverse, multi-utility and attractive list of RBS to have ACB’s own differences in the competitive market c Focusing on strategic, high financial efficiency and safe services such as deposit services, card services, e-banking services, consumer loans and housing loans d Designing products and services on the principle of simple, accessible, simple, friendly processes and procedures to meet the needs of customers flexibly 4.1.3 Developing new RBS: a Individual deposits: ACB should have competitive deposit interest rates, launch as many promotions as possible and provide new products for new customer groups For example, ACB should provide saving accounts which have differences of interest rates, customer care policies and regular promotions for retired people b Retail loans: processes should be customer orientation (i.e simple, short time, hi-tech application in customer management) should be built to serve current clients Tran Thi Hong Nhung 28 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis better and satisfy their new demands In addition, ACB should issue a credit policy to staff of enterprises who hold salary account in ACB, so when they borrow money, after that, their salary account would be automatically debited Thus, ACB has opportunity to provide a full packaged services for them: issuing ATM cards, raising capital from companies and lending to them Lastly, ACB should also have policies that increase access to borrowers, give them advice and consult them about loan procedures at home c Card products: more features of cards and ATM should be added like allowing users to recharge money to their cards at ATM or limiting withdrawal problems At the same time, the bank should issue cards applying high technology, being more outstanding than current cards in the market, which ensure card holders’ safety, decrease risks and help ACB to be a formidable competitor Furthermore, cobranded cards with universities, supermarkets or transport companies should be focused more because with these cards, ACB can utilize existing customers of the cooperators to lift up its market share, serve more customers and enhance the reputation d Other services: Personal financial service should be paid greater attention as customers coming to the bank for not only transacting traditional services (borrowing, depositing) but also for being fully served With this service, ACB’s staff suggest clients of effective use of fund or optimal financial solution to preserve the sources and develop them more feasibly Together with, asset keeping and managing services which comprise valuable papers keeping, real-estate broker, stock trading as customers’ authorization and so on need to be developed more 4.2 Expanding the distribution network 4.2.1 Developing traditional distribution channels It is undeniable that network is a bridge bringing customers to the banks, and with a widespread network, a stable infrastructure, banks can account a large market share Thus, ACB should pay attention to building up a suitable working network Retail traditional distribution channels include branches, transaction points where all customers' financial needs are satisfied Currently, ACB’s transaction points not cover all provinces or cities nationwide which cause difficulties for dealers and disadvantages of approaching for Tran Thi Hong Nhung 29 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis the bank That is the reason why ACB need to develop branches, trading rooms, retail service centers at key areas, densely populated cities, agricultural areas and establish foreign distribution channels like representative offices, branches, subsidiaries to promote the supply of retail products 4.2.2 Developing modern distribution channels Beside the traditional distribution network, it is necessary for the bank to develop a modern one and strengthen distribution management to maximize the roles of each channel First, ACB should improve the efficiency and convenience of ATM, strengthen the links of Banknet, Smartlink systems to provide different types of services with lower costs, and upgrade ATMs into " shrunk banks" spreading throughout provinces and cities Then, the bank should continue the implementation of e-banking services (Phone banking, Mobile banking, Internet banking ) to save time and costs for both customers and the bank 4.2.3 Upgrading facilities and equipments At present, most business place of ACB are rented from residential houses which cannot ensure the best facilities for retail services To achieve an attractive, professional and convenient retail space, ACB should extend the leased premises or rent ones in office buildings that have appropriate parking place, are wide-open, easy for poster display, and large enough for the entire departments serving retail customers Moreover, some other images such as a flower vase on the table, magazines about the bank’s operations on the shelves and a few small services during customers’ waiting will obviously be a plus The interior design of equipment, color, furniture or space can also make a friendly atmosphere and remove barriers between clients and the employees Basically, workspaces can be divided into two main areas A region for highspeed transactions like cash withdrawal and money depositing in accounts should be designed suitably to conduct transactions quickly and minimize the waiting time In addition, another area for introducing and consulting retail products (such as credit Tran Thi Hong Nhung 30 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis cards, payment accounts and loan application) need to be discreet, luxury to encourage customers’ attention and their care of suggested products Last but not least, there should be a separate room for VIP clients to make important deals and professional staff ready to serve their requirements Besides, ACB need to have a receptionist at the entrance to guide customers Their duty is welcoming comers friendly, asking their needs, explaining, providing pamphlets, guiding them to complete the needed forms, chatting with them in case of long wait, and thanking them before they leave The small arrangement seems to impress customers and contribute greatly to the rise of service quality 4.3 Investing in technology development It is a common knowledge that developing information technology is a key strategy of retail banks With growing application of advanced science, technology is the foundation of business development and expansion of new types of services that allow online trading systems and catching up international banks in all fields Therefore, in the trend of the global integration and the fierce competition, ACB need to enhance investment in modern technology to promote retail banking systems a Improving the collaboration with domestic or overseas banks, economic institutions so as to take advantage of financial and technical support Hence, ACB will modernize banking technology, innovate the security technology and ensure the data safety b Completing Core-banking program to upgrade the transmission line with large capacity, high speed, and a strong host system which processes transactions quickly and precisely Subsequently, e-banking services via Internet, telephones, non-cash payment services at ATM and POS will face with little congestion, transaction time will be improved, the most effective and safe products will be provided to users c Raising the level and knowledge of technology for the whole labor force, from leaders to inferior staff through regular and continuous training campaigns ACB should ensure personnel of all levels to gain a professional qualification of technology to be capable of accessing new technology and meeting the demand of network expansion and services development Tran Thi Hong Nhung 31 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis The application of modern information technology will help ACB improve the quality of retail products, safety of operations, capacity of management, competitiveness in the market, and prove that it is a leading retailers in Vietnam having enough confidence to participate in the global and regional economic integration 4.4 Enhancing the quality of human resources Human resource is considered as the most important part of the retail banking operation and reasonable recruitment, training and treatment policies are basis for banks to exploit employees effectively Consequently, improving the quality of personnel is a strategic mission in order to meet the long-term development need of banks 4.4.1 Fulfilling the recruitment process It is suggested that ACB build a full and professional recruitment process Before recruiting, the bank should consider each empty position carefully At present, candidates must involve two rounds The first one is a multiple choice test of IQ, English and specialized knowledge and the remainder is an interview However, additional indicators of practical skills such as computer skills, customer care skill and communication skill should be taken into consideration The quality of each recruitment is dependent on the potentiality of attracting many good candidates involved Thus, propaganda and advertising of recruitment are really essential 4.4.2 Raising the training quality ACB comprehends that training will definitely equip staff with professionalism and provide them new skills as well as specialized knowledge Although the bank has established a Training Center to perform short-term training courses, it should consider the some essential issues a Opening training sessions for new employees to understand the organizational structure, retail strategies, business processes, designing and development skills of services, management skills, communication skills, serving skills, negotiation skills, corporate culture, basic benefits and obligations Tran Thi Hong Nhung 32 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis b Evaluating training results of learners’ progress and efficiency of their works scientifically and seriously Afterwards, the bank can set a better training policy c Maintaining the assessment of employees annually to discover the talents and develop them into leaders 4.4.3 Maintaining suitable reward policies ACB should maintain an attractive reward policy linked to business performance and customer service, consisting of a thirteenth month salary, rewards for employees who exhibit excellence in technical skills, customer service, sales, and for those who demonstrate useful initiatives for the improvement of customer service ACB need to keep competitive compensation policies to the senior officers (following the units’ effectiveness and achievements) by providing welfares (such as bonus shares, company cars, accident insurance, health care programs) for managers and their relatives, offering periodic medical examinations, rewards and abroad travelling to leaders with outstanding achievements in the year, and other benefits 4.4.4 Concentrating on professional style of retail staff It is believed that clients always want bank staff dealing with them are goodlooking, beautifully dressed, graceful, agile, polite, and attentive to their needs Therefore, ACB should standardize the uniform and make-up regulations to create a nice, friendly and professional external image ACB need also to innovate the staff’s behavior of retail transactions from implementing the requirements passively to trading actively for meeting a maximum clients’ demand of financial service and bringing the highest satisfaction to them 4.5 Strengthening the customers care Customers’ satisfaction plays a crucial role in the survival of a bank In the context of fierce and intense competition as today, that role becomes much more important than ever If customers are satisfied, they will come back to the bank and recommend it to other users Therefore, they are those who help the bank to increase sales, market share, profit and build a fame in people’s eyes ACB, as other commercial banks, should be clear that bringing satisfaction to users means retaining them and expanding the revenue Tran Thi Hong Nhung 33 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis When banks not satisfy a customer, they will lose not only that customer but also many potential ones Hence, to build a strong and sustainable brand, ACB need to strengthen the customers care a Classifying customers or service sectors to have appropriate policies:  Designing a room for VIP customers and a counter for those who want to open new accounts  Giving bonus deposit interest rates and reducing lending rates for customers having a great amount of transactions or using the products frequently  Giving flowers, gifts or cards for customers on holidays, November 20th, March 8th (for female customers), on July 27th (for military customers), on February 27th (for those who are doctors, nurses) and on their birthdays… A minor attention of the bank can unexpectedly promote customers’ loyalty  For potential clients, staff can serve them directly at home or at their offices b Establishing a Customer care Department: this room is responsible for conducting a variety of functions in order to retain customers attaching with the bank for a long time  Setting a specific time for processing retail products like lending, account opening, card opening, complaint solving…  Collecting feedback from users and evaluating their opinions timely, sending thankful letters and gifts to those contributing valuable comments  Organizing conferences and promotions for customers 4.6 Promoting Marketing activities Beside solutions for improving products, distribution network, technology and personnel, another measure needed for retail services development is promoting marketing activities First, ACB should develop the brand name by: a Creating a firm trust of service quality in customers’ hearts and raising the competitiveness of ACB’s offered services, especially retail ones b Making a budget plan for brand development, particularly a budget for the media Tran Thi Hong Nhung 34 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis c Building a complete and professional system of ACB’s brand identification through: graphic systems, publication, posters, forms, helmets, rain-coats and through staff’s uniform Next, promotional activities need strengthening by: a Emphasizing advertisements on the media including TV commercials, newspapers, radio and the Internet more In addition to charity, sponsoring for social activities (like exhibitions or competitions), game shows and big events can be effective b Organizing regular periods of fee reducing, free ATM issuing, lucky draw and presents giving programs c Developing advertising to each customer via emails, telephones or fax; updating new information of the bank about services, special events, promotions or any changes to customers will make them understand their importance d Conducting the market segments by jobs, geographical areas, ages,… then the bank will launch suitable retail products and price policies e Training the marketing staff basically and carefully about retail products and selling skills Annually, the bank should hold meetings among employees of branches and transaction points to learn experiences one another 4.7 Improving the quality of inspection of the service quality The bank can enhance the quality of inspection of the service quality by: a Establishing a group of inspectors acting as customers dealing in sales points Through transactions, they can evaluate the knowledge, attitude, skills of the staff and the facilities there b Conducting surveys of customers’ satisfaction of RBS periodically by questionnaires, emails, phone calls, interviews which give them chances to express their opinion, thoughts, comments and evaluation Moreover, handling complaints timely and giving them the best solutions will also allow the bank to analyze the root causes before taking action to improve the products, network, procedures, policies and employees c Keeping track of indicators relating to customers regularly and comparing them with the benchmark, for example: processing time of card opening, depositing, Tran Thi Hong Nhung 35 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis lending…, staff’s attitude and friendliness, promptness in answering the phones (when pick up the phones and how long needed to make a call through) 4.8 Recommendations to the Government and the the State Bank To enhance the quality of retail services in ACB, along with its own efforts, radical support of the State bank and the Government is really important 4.8.1 Recommendations to the Government The interest and attention of the Government play a crucial role to all sectors because it can create a great support through tax, laws and socio-economic policies To allow the development of RBS of commercial banks in general and of ACB in particular, the Government should: a Complete a mechanism supporting banks operation including: regulations of banking transactions for enterprises and individuals and tax incentives for business having frequent banking transactions Moreover, local authorities should facilitate banks in hiring (or buying) premises in good positions and lower the costs of public marketing activities of new products or services b Have policies to boost the non-cash payment like paying salary through bank accounts and developing automatic selling machines… which create a habit of transacting with machines for people c Focus on the improvement of technical and technological infrastructure because in general, the technological level of Vietnam is still lower than that of other countries around the world Some suggestions are strengthening technological transfer from developed countries and having training policies for experts in technical or information technology fields d In terms of customers, due to the fact that costs of the Internet usage or phone calls are still high, e-banking services are not encouraged to become popular Thus, the development of the Posts and Telecommunications needed to be taken into consideration 4.8.2 Recommendations to the State Bank Undoubtedly, the State bank of Vietnam (SBV) is the leader of Vietnamese commercial banks To make retail banking services in ACB (and in others) take off, SBV should conduct some solutions as follow: Tran Thi Hong Nhung 36 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis a Co-ordinate with commercial banks and The general statistics office in building a RBS list in accordance with international standards and it will be the basis of making periodical reports about specific services, contributing to the effectiveness of management and operation b Be active in allocating credit institutions or branches suitably with the socioeconomic development and should ensure the effectiveness of RBS Except for enlarging the network in developed areas, SBV need to have policies encouraging service access in other parts of the country c Motivate and assist commercial banks to invest, co-operate and borrow money for improving infrastructure and modernizing the banks’ technology Tran Thi Hong Nhung 37 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis SUMMARY CHAPTER It is believed that retail banking services in commercial banks nowadays go on a rise and develop in depth The presence of big and experienced foreign banks increases the competitive pressure for domestic ones in general and for ACB in particular This is not only a challenge but also necessary pressure for them to expand the scale, learn experience of administration and improve the quality of retail services to meet the growing demand of customers ACB has been strengthened and enhanced the quality of services, used them as a competitive tool to form a firm foundation, development, meet the urgent requirements of the world economic integration On the basis of analyzing the actual situation of ACB’s RBS, chapter of the thesis suggests solutions to new RBS development, distribution channels, technological improvement, human resources, customer care policies, marketing activities and inspection These measures will help the bank to get over disadvantages, have opportunities to develop the retail services and raise its competitiveness in the fierce market Tran Thi Hong Nhung 38 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis CONCLUSION The commercial banks have developed RBS as an evitable trend, consistent with the general trend of banks in the region and in the world RBS serve individual customers mainly, provide high services quality and satisfy the customers’ needs It is clear that these services will be beneficial for banks in risk management and achieving the optimal business performance In fact, the provision of RBS generate an increasing revenue for commercial banks According to economic experts, this service sector will grow continuously, tense the competition more and lead to differentiation among banks Therefore, improving the quality of banking services is a vital matter of banks struggle ACB is also aware of the importance of the retail market and emphasizes on improving the quality of RBS To achieving the goal of becoming a top multifunctional retail bank, ACB need to have a comprehensive strategy for the retail service quality The thesis topic entitled "Improving the quality of retail banking services in Asia Commercial Bank” aims to analyze the actual retail services quality in ACB, factors affecting it, causes of limitations before setting out the measures to improve the services quality in the near future During the research process, the thesis still has some certain restrictions I look forward to the contributions and comments of teachers, lecturers and other readers to help the content be better and more complete Thank you! Tran Thi Hong Nhung 39 Class: ATCA – K12 Banking Academy Graduation Thesis REFERENCES Books and articles  Nguyen Dao To (2007) “Develop retail banking services – A opportunity for Vietnamese commercial banks”, Financial and Monetary Market Magazine 23, pages 23-31  Vu Thi Ngoc Dung (MA) “Strengthen retail banking services – An evitable trend”, Bank Magazine 7, pages 16, 17  Tran Thi Tram Anh (2009), “Improving the retail services in Eximbank”, Dissertation, University of Economics HoChiMinh City  Bachelet, D (1995), “Customer Satisfaction Reasearch”, European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research  Groonroos, Christian (1984), “A Service Quality Model And Its Marketing Implications”, European Journal Of Marketing 18, pages 36-44  ACB’s annual reports from 2009 to 2012 Websites:  www.acb.com.vn  www.vietinbank.vn  www.tailieu.vn  www.4share.vn  www.eximbank.com.vn  www.taichinhnganhang.edu.vn  www.vietbao.vn  www.saga.vn Tran Thi Hong Nhung Class: ATCA – K12