Customer Service Department

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Master’s in business administration (MBA) is a professional degree offered by business

school which helps to gain a practical and deeper knowledge of business. Tribhuvan

University is the best and oldest university in Nepal. School of management under the

affiliation of Tribhuvan University offers this course. The core subjects offered during

the two years course are finance, marketing, human resource and entrepreneurship.

MBA helps to get refined knowledge about various areas of expertise. It helps in the

overall development of a business graduate. It guides a person to become a better

professional. Since practice makes man perfect. Internship provides a strong platform to

enhance the professional side of a person. It is a chance to get to interact with

professionals of field of interest, to learn the basic, to familiarize with the working

environment and to learn the etiquettes of workplace.

Internship is the on job training. It is an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate

students. It provides real world experience to those looking to explore or gain the relevant

knowledge and skills required to enter into a particular career field. The employer hires

the intern for a fixed period of time which could range from 1 month to one year. The

internship might or might not be paid internship.

The internship period is mandatory for third semester students at SOMTU and is to be

carried out for a duration of 10 weeks and the intern being a major in Finance had chosen

to do internship at Himalayan Bank Limited, Thamel Branch.

1.2 Objectives

to explore or gain the relevant knowledge and skills required in the banking sector

to explore and learn the basic of banking sector

to familiarize oneself with the work environment

to learn the work etiquette

to explore the operations carried out at HBL

to develop the interaction skill with the customers and seniors

CHAPTER II

COMPANY PROFILE

2.1 Introduction

Himalayan bank limited is one of the largest private banks of Nepal. Himalayan Bank

was established in 1993 in joint venture with Habib Bank Limited of Pakistan. In the

recent ratings, Bankers’ Almanac has rated Himalayan Bank Limited as country’s

number 1. The bank is also the biggest inward remittance handling Bank in Nepal. They

are leaders in the primary banking activities- Loans and Deposits. They are pioneers in

products such as Premium Savings Account, HBL Proprietary Card and Millionaire

Deposit Scheme and services like ATMs and Tele-banking.

‘Any Branch Banking Facility’ is being provided by the bank along with Internet

Banking and SMS Banking. HBL introduced several new products and services like

Millionaire Deposit Scheme, Small and Medium Enterprises Loan, Pre-paid Visa Card,

International Travel Quota Credit Card, Consumer Finance through Credit Card are some

of the products and services. The bank also has a dedicated offsite ‘Disaster Recovery

Management System’.

HBL has developed exclusive and proprietary online money transfer software-

HimalRemitTM. They have deputed their own staff with technical tie-ups with local

exchange houses and banks, in the Middle East and Gulf region.

The Bank’s Vision:

To become a Leading Bank of the country by providing premium products and services

to the customers, thus ensuring attractive and substantial returns to the stakeholders of the

Bank.

The Bank’s Mission:

To become preferred provider of quality financial services in the country. There are two

components in the mission of the Bank; Preferred Provider and Quality Financial

Services; HBL believes that the mission will be accomplished only by satisfying these

two important components with the Customer at focus. The Bank always strives

positioning itself in the hearts and minds of the customers.

The Bank’s Objective:

To become the Bank of first choice is the main objective of the Bank

2.2 Thamel branch

The thamel branch of Himalayan bank is situated in the Karmachari Sanchaya Kosh

Building, Tridevi Marg, Thamel. It is the biggest branch of Himalayan Bank Limited

which gives service to largest number of HBL customers. The Centralized Credit

Management Administratie Department and Trade Operation Centre is located at Thamel

Branch.

2.2.1. Departments

There are various departments at the bank. The various departments are:

Cash department

In this department, counters are available for deposits, cash withdrawal, cheque

to be cashed and payment of loan of Employees Provident Fund.

Bills and Remittance

In this department customers can collect money through himal remit, money gram

and domestic money transfer. Clearing work is also done in this department.

Fixed deposit accounts are opened in this department. Customers can collect their

salaries through salary account, pay college fees for universities abroad, collect

advice and deposit cheques of another bank which are to be cashed.

Customer Service Department

This department has four counters namely accounts opening/closing, card service,

bank statement and cheque.

Customer Relation Department

The relationship managers who are the communicator between the bank and the

clients who take loan from the bank work in this department.

Credit Management Administrative Department

The forms that are needed to be filled by the customers to get loan from the bank.

The security deposits to be kept in the bank. The offer letters for the loan is

provided by this department. The paper works of the loan are carried out in this

department. The documents of the clients are kept in locker and also a soft copy

of all the documents are saved as back up.

Trade Finance

The bank guarantees, letter of credits are made in this department. The documents

that are required to release goods from the customs are also collected from this

department.

Locker

2.2.2 Services

Deposit

The bank provides services to open various deposit account namely Call Deposit

Account, Fixed Deposit Account,Structured Term Deposit Account, 3 Years

Recurring Deposit Account, Savings Deposit like Normal Savings Account

(NSA), Bishes Savings Account (BSA), Himal Savings Account (HAS), Premium

Savings Account (PSA), Super Premium Savings Account (SPSA), Himal Remit

Savings Account (HRSA), Shareholder's Savings Account (SSA) and Current

Account.

Loan

The bank helps to enhance the economic status of the people by providing them

loans for their work. The various loans provided by the bank are: Project /

Consortium Loan, Non Revolving Cash Credit, Working Capital, Overdraft

Facility, Demand Loan , Revolving Cash Credit, Import Credit for Telex Transfer

and Demand Draft Payment, Trust Receipt Loan, Export Credit Facilities, Pledge

Loan, Clean Bills purchased and discounted, Documentary Bills Purchased and

Discounted, Retail consumer loan like Hire Purchase Loan, Housing Loan,

Subidha Loan, Credit Card Loan, Loan against Fixed Deposit Receipt, Loan

against Government Bonds & Bonds of Bank, Loan against First Class Bank

Guarantees, Loan against Shares and SME loan.

Internaltional banking (LC)

HBL offers Letter of Credit (LC) facilities.

Bank guarantee

The bank issues various guarantees namely Custom guarantee, Bid-bond

guarantee, performance bond guarantee and Advance Payment guarantee.

Himal remit

HimalRemit, a premium online customer focused and technology oriented Money

Transfer product. HimalRemit is a web-based online money transfer system

which is featured with state-of-the-art technology. The system is highly secured

and can only be accessed through authorized/registered PCs. Once a PC is

registered/authorized, user can have easy access to the system ensuring prompt

execution of the remittance. The product is monitored and serviced 24/7 by our

Global FI & Remittance Center dedicated to deliver.

Safe Deposit Locker

The bank offers locker facilities with sizes.

Himalayan SMS

The bank offers SMS Banking which can be used to check balance, status of

cheque (encashed or not) and the Bank’s foreign exchange rate, all at a few clicks

of your cell.

Internet Banking

The bank offers internet banking service as well. The bank’s internet service is

known as Himal@net; it is a unique product of Himalayan Bank Ltd for internet

banking with the special feature of “Two Factor Authentication”. (First one is the

password generated by OTP device and next one is the static password set by

customer.

Evening counter and holiday counter

The bank provides evening counter from 3:30 PM - 7:00 PM in summer and 2:00

PM - 7:00 PM in winter during weekdays and holiday counter from 9:00 AM - 12

Noon on Saturday.

2.2.3 SWOT Analysis

Strength

Joint venture with Habib Bank

A branch in Malayasia

Being a category “A” financial institution, bank has high level of capital

base

365 days banking with extended hours services

High-tech technological infrastructure and innovative services such as

SMS banking and E-internet banking, remittance

Extended network throughout the country with branches all over the

country

Evening and holiday counter

Leaders in loans and deposits

Experienced, well trained and motivated human resources

Weakness

Centralized organizational structure

Poor customer service

Poor maintenance of ATM machine

Opportunities

Increasing customer base with extension in the number of branches

Expansion in other countries

Increasing awareness level of the bank among people.

Increasing number of management graduates in the country

Threats

Increasing number of commercial banks, development banks and other

cooperatives attracting majority of the deposits

Adoption of latest technologies and software

Increasing number of financial crime

CHAPTER III

EXPERIENCE

3.1 Works carried out in the bank

3.1.1 Customer service department

The customer service department at the bank has four sections namely: accounts

opening/closing, card service, bank statement and cheque. The intern worked in three

sections of the department.

Assistance at accounts opening/closing

A number of customers arrived every day at the bank to open personal as well as

current accounts. Along with this, many of them came to close their account, to

change their signature, start sms banking as well as internet banking. I prepared

the forms to be filled by customers for their respective work. Assistance was

provided to the customers while they filled the forms. The documents required as

per the respective forms were collected, photocopied and checked.

Assistance during EPS ticket distribution

The bank had undertaken the responsibility of distributing the tickets to the people

who had successfully passed in the EPS Korea exam. Those customers were

required to open an account in the bank so that they could send their salary to

Nepal. I prepared the set of forms to be filled by the customers and assisted them

in filling up the forms. I collected documents from them, photocopied, checked

and forwarded to be verified by the staff at the desk.

Bank statement entry

The bank statement that were as the request of the customers needed to be entered

in the registered, stamped, verified and signature by the head of Customer Service

department. I assembled the papers, registered them and handed over the

statement after it was d by the signature by the head of department.

Preparation of cheque book

I prepared the cheque books after they were printed. I tore, assembled the

cheques, put in the requisition slip and handed over the cheques books which

varied in numbers.

Registration of cheques and void cheques

The list of cheque books that were given out to the customers were registered

along with the void cheques. The requisition slips that were taken from the

customers who came to get new cheque books were checked, stamped and kept in

the locker after being stapled.

3.1.2 Credit Management Administration Department

Assistance in preparation of forms to be filled

The clients who came at the bank to take loan were required to fill forms as per

the type of loan that they were granted. Also, the papers of the collaterals that

they kept in the form of security needs to be photocopied. The forms to be filled

as per the requirements were prepared as per guidance. The necessary documents

were photocopied and prepared to be verified by the staff.

Record keeping of files and documents

The bank had been keeping a record of dorms and documents filled and presented

by the clients in the form of both hard and soft copy. The forms and documents

were photocopied, scanned and saved in the computer as back up of all the

necessary files.

Filling of documents and forms

A separate file was prepared for each client and was kept in the locker. I prepared

the file as per the instruction in the file and kept in the locker.

Sorting of the files

There were files of many clients which were misplaced and I sorted out the files

and kept them in their proper locker.

Storing the released loans

The loans of clients which had been released after the client paid up all the

amount that had been borrowed were placed in the truck for storage and

recordkeeping was done in the release register.

3.1.3 Trade finance

Filing of the guarantees

The filing of the offer letter of guarantee and transaction ticket were filled in the

files for guarantee and stored in the locker.

Preparation of approval sheet of guarantee

I prepared the approval sheet based on the information in the ticket which

contained the information about the requested and offered amount for guarantee.

Preparation of Bi. Bi. Ni 4 and Bi. Bi. Ni. 3(kha)

For the release of goods from the customers the customers required Bi. Bi. Ni

given by the bank. I prepared the Bi. Bi. Ni for both LC and DAP in Dollar

amount and Indian currency.

Preparation of cheque for Nepal Rastra Bank

As per the rue 10% of total amount of goods that had been purchased needed to

give deposited at Nepal Rastra Bank. I prepared the cheques for the deposit of the

cash.

Filing of papers of TR loan

The bank gave TR loan to the clients based upon which they release the goods

from the customs through Demand Draft was filed.

Preparation of import/export file

When customer’s opened letters of credit, every documents should me maintain

for the future purpose. Individual file are prepare for each Letter of Credit. Putting

required documents with in sequentially is another job carried out at the bank.

Preparation of debit advice

Debit advice of the client Accounts for the margin, commission and other charges

along with a copy of swift Letter of Credit will be forwarded or handed over to

the applicant. I prepared debit advice as per the bank statement.

Indexing and filling of DAP and DD files

Some customers chose to do trade through DAP and DD. The files that were

obtained from the customers were filled, indexed and stored.

Preparation of different set of documents

After the documents were obtained from the beneficiaries, call was made to the

clients that their documents were received by the bank. Different set of documents

for trade finance department, Trade operation centre, Customs, clients and

sometimes when the good were imported via Kolkata customs, documents for

Kolkata Customs also needed to be prepared. I assisted in preparation of the

documents upon guidance.

Data entry of released bank guarantees

The bank guarantees that were released in the year 2005 were entered in the

computer for record keeping.

3.1.4 Bills and remittance

Assistance at remittance

Customers came to collect the money that was sent to them through himal remit,

money gram and domestic money transfer. I took the forms from the customers,

entered the data, verified their identity and printed the information of sender and

beneficiary. I forwarded the print along with the photocopy of their citizenship or

driver’s license and forwarded to the staff senior at the remittance so that the cash

could be provided to the customers.

Preparation of cheques

As per the recent rule of Nepal Rastra bank, it was necessary that the remitted

amount of more than one lakh needed to be transferred to the customer’s account

at Himalayan bank Limited. Since the rule was put into action only recently i.e.

Falgun 14, 2071, most of the customers were unaware and those who didn’t have

an account at the bank were given money through cheque in case of their first

transaction after the rule was implemented. I prepare the cheque and registered

the cheques in the register.

Checking the cheques that were scanned

Many customers gave cheques that were in the name of people who held accounts

in another bank. As per the technical checking, the entered amount in the software

and the amount in the scanned cheques were matched, the presentment date and

account payee was checked and the cheques which could not fulfill any of these

criteria was returned and handed over to the senior staff.

Confirmation of cheques with amount more than 10 lakh

As per the rule of Nepal Rastra bank, the cheques which amounted to 10 lakh and

more than 10 lakh needed to be confirmed with the accountholder themselves. I

made calls to the accountholders to confirm the amount in the cheques.

CHAPTER IV

IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYS OF ISSUE

4.1 Issue

Frequent failure of ATM service

Himalayan bank limited which has been known in the private banking sector for

its innovative customer service and fine services. It promises to deliver best to its

customers. Despite all these commitments, the lack of attention to the

improvement of ATM service hampers the reputation of the bank.

Thamel branch welcomes large number of customers of HBL bank. Also, the atm

machine located at this branch is a hotspot for the customers of HBL because of

its location. Thamel area welcomes many local as well as foreigners. Inter-

banking is possible through ATM machines, the ATM service is supposed to be

available 24/7 for its customers.

During my placement, I had observed that the ATM machine was out of function

several times. It is quite worrisome to mention that the ATM machine didn’t work

for most of the working days. A lot of customers had to suffer inconvenience due

to the failure. the complains varied from machine not working to machine out of

service due to lack of cash in the machine.

It is sad to say that the problem is not seriously taken by the staff at the bank. The

ATM booth is located outside of entry gate of the bank within the premise of the

bank. The staff is found to be ignorant towards this problem and giving priority to

other works. The problems are not found to be addressed as quickly as it is

supposed to be. Also, the technicians who are supposed to help with the

maintenance work are observed to not been fulfilling their duty. Frequent

maintenance is required for machines; the technicians could check the machine at

the early hours. The staff that stays for evening counters and the ones responsible

to put cash in the ATM machine could check the cash in the machine from time to

time. At least, they could offer help when the complaint was first reported to the

staff at the bank.

To live up to the expectations of the customers, the bank needs to upgrade its

services, carry out regular maintenance work and provide quick solutions to the

problems.

4.2 Other issues

Lack of employees at customer service department

One of the most crowded counters after cash department was of accounts

opening/closing counter. There are only two staff at work; but on hectic days like

on Sundays/ Monday, problems due to lack of employees could be seen. A

number of customers were found to be waiting for long time. Lack of support

among the staff was also observed as a problem in the counter.

Poor interaction skill with customers

Customer service is one of the busiest departments in the bank. One of the biggest

problems that can be observed at the counters was poor interactions skill. The

staff members were found to be irritated by the queries of the customers. In

certain occasions lack of empathy was also observed. Many of the customers were

observed to be unhappy with the service at the department.

Conflicts among the employees

There were a lot of conflicts among the employees due to their professional and

personal goals.

Lack of cafeteria

The bank does not have a proper cafeteria of its own; because of this the staff

members eat their lunch at a meeting room in the bank or an empty desk in the

department. Though the building has a unused room with table and chairs (which

are in bad condition) as staff cafeteria, because of its condition the cafeteria is not

used by the staff. Also, on rainy days it becomes difficult for the staff to go out

and eat. And since the bank doesn’t have its own cafeteria, they have to rely on

food delivery.

Inconvenient lunch timing

The two departments: customer service department and bills/remittance have

lunch time at 3 o’clock. The staff members arrive at the bank at 10 o’clock and

they have to work till 3 o’clock with two cup of tea served at 11 a.m and 2 p.m.

because of inconvenient lunch hour, many of the staff members are found to be

suffering from gastric problems.

Lack of motivation

Most of the employees were found to be working solely because of the salary. It

was observed that lack of opportunity and professional growth was the cause of

unhappiness among employees.

Unprofessional behavior towards interns

The employees were observed to get interns do all the manual and physical works.

More than the work, lack of human affection was the main cause of unhappiness

among the interns. Lack of empathy when interns could be observed being

overloaded with work was observed. Lack of enthusiasm and reluctance in

teaching the interns useful works and operations. The interns were found to be

pushed to be limited to task of photocopying papers. Sometimes, they would be

found to be irritated upon questioning by interns. There was lack of respect for

interns at some departments.

Use of old version of Microsoft word and Microsoft excel

The Microsoft office package used in the bank is 2003. The system used by the

people belongs to Microsoft 2010 and 2013. The bank needs to upgrade their

Microsoft package.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion

Internship is on job training which helps to learn to adapt to the work environment

before doing a full time job after completion of studies. The internship brings

about substantial change in the outlook of the graduates who are soon to enter the

professional life.

The internship opportunity at Himalayan bank limited has provided the intern an

opportunity to grow professionally. It has helped the intern to learn the work

etiquettes. The day to day life at workplace has helped the intern to observe and

learn how the professionals strive to achieve excellence at job as well as manage

their personal priorities. It has been a great opportunity to learn how to

communication with the customer. It helped to learn how to handle a large

number of customers who are growing impatient with every passing minute.

Other than the communication skills, the internship helped to understand the

operation at the bank. The various procedures that are involved in acquiring a loan

by the clients, various paper works required by the clients, measures that are

used by the bank for the safety of client’s important papers and the record

keeping. The intern got to learn about the role of banking in the field of trade.

The intern learned about the bank guarantees and letter of credit which are

essential for the organizations to conduct their business. The intern also had the

chance to learn about the remittance and observed the role that remittance is

playing in improving the economy of the country.

The internship has been a great experience for the intern who has helped her to

grow as an individual and an aspirant MBA.

5.2 Recommendation

Himalayan Bank Limited is an established name in the field of private banking in

Nepal. It services and products are undoubtedly popular in the country. The bank

being pioneer in a number of products and service has a lot of loyal customers.

But despite all there are a few areas which can be improved to maintain its ratings

in the banking sector. The few recommendation for the bank are:-

o Timely maintenance of ATM machine

o Addressing the problem of the customers.

o Providing team building programs to strengthen the bond between the

employees

o To provide a proper eating place of the employees

o To maintain the chairs and table for the employees and the clients

o To fix the lunch hour for the interns.

o To make a proper internship program which involves work according to

the qualification of the interns.

o The staff need to change their attitude towards the intern.