Al-Falah Bank Limited (Executive Summary)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

An research is the prerequisite of M. Phil degree so it is compulsory for the students of M. Phil to spend huge period in an organization to have some practical implication of the theoretical knowledge. The importance of internship cannot be denied because it reflects the level of knowledge of the internee. I had my internship at Bank Alfalah, F/10 Islamabad Branch. This report gives an idea about banking functions being performed in the organization.

The main purpose of writing this report is to present a brief view of the bank with the help of all possible information being collected and my experience proved to be very educative in the sense that I got an idea about the business of financial institutions. Here an attempt has been made to present a view about the Bank Alfalah, F/10 Islamabad Branch. Research is the only mean with the help of which one can get the most up to date and latest information. Once the research problem is defined and clearly specified, then the research effort logically turns into data collection. The methodology for data collection in this report is of two means i.e. primary data collection and secondary data collection.

In primary data collection, I used the techniques of personal observation, briefing and discussions with bank staff and unstructured interviews while in secondary data collection, I got helped from working manuals, annual reports, brochures, pamphlets, banking journals and newspapers.

Reports finding are as follows:

Promotion is one of the motivational tools. Promotion policy of Bank Alfalah is increasing now a day. In BAF, training is provided on the basis of generalization rather than specialization. After completion of training, the employee is inducted into specific field. Due to lack of knowledge he faces difficulty to perform the assigned job. There is no separation of activity. For example, local remittances and account section work is performed by one person. It creates confusions and conflicts. In order to avoid mishaps, there should be complete separation of activities. It is observed that branches suffer from space shortage. The sitting arrangement is not sufficient as compared to the number of customers visits the bank.

Bank employees  come in daily contact with many people who happened to deal with the bank as casual remitter or beneficiaries of remittances, drawer of bills, safe custody service holders, travelers and variety of the people with whom that bank has no account or regular business relationship. The bank officers are doing very little on their own to expose the possibilities of selling banking services to them. The marketing opportunities are built into every dealing; a banker handles if he has the art and the urge to seize such opportunities.

A very useful mode of contact is through personal marketing visits. Such visits are important by products as gaining in formation about the customers financial and business position, about their market reputation and crafting a feeling of importance in the minds of clients. Such visits should be properly planned and undertaken with regularity and consistency. BAF assigns these tasks to its newly recruited workers and then rely on their reports. Market specialists should also be sent to market for analysis.

It has been observed that the training program of BAF is not adequate. Special marketing training should be given to employees who are concerned with marketing. They  should learn new methods for motivating customers. The training program of the bank should include scientific techniques to improve the decision making and inter personal as well as the individual needs of the employees. BAF is a new organization as compared to other banks. From marketing point of view every new organization must pay special attention to promotional activities. The management of BAF generally does not care much about this important issue. In order to increase its customers and add to its publicity, it is recommended that bank should advertise it and introduce its services in detail through media. The bank officers sometimes ignore their social responsibilities of improving the overall economic environment of the province. They sometime open account of those people to whom they does not know but just to achieve the deposits targets they open the account.

BAF seems more interest to increase its number of accounts irrespective to deposits. Efficient banking is one in which emphasis is not on number of accounts but on greater amounts of deposits. It is difficult to maintain and provide a personalized service to greater number of account holders BAF is a busy bank. Heavy workload is on the staff, which does not allow the staff to spear their time for proper public dealing. A prudent banker must exercise great care observe duty of secrecy of customer accounts but in BAF one can notice that it is not fully taken care of during the rush of routine business. They speak loudly about the position of account or while getting clearance of cheques the person can easily get the whole information from the computer screen. The cash officer must be careful while passing any cheque. He should be careful about this computer screen. In this regard another short fall is in giving the information about the balances on telephone. When account number is given on the phone they least bother to ask any other verification.

     

Report recommendations are as follows:

The satisfaction with convenient, secure and time saving way of banking. Just on phone call the customers can always remain in touch. This latest computer service which truly brings banking to home, offices and can ensure the security of account by providing with a user ID. With the help of this facility one can get the facilities of account balance, transaction history and foreign currency exchange rates, by just one call. This will enable the customers to use the Cheques facility at any of the bank branches in the country. This facility is useful for both the customer and the management. For customer it is a convenient, he can keep in touch with his account within the country. For management it will strengthen the banks information system which will have instant access to the financial and operational data of the country wide branch network.

The concept of management by objective should be introduced in the bank where the subordinates should be expected to formulate objectives for themselves. This will ensure the setting up of objectives according to the capabilities of individuals. In addition to this, it will also help in achieving the goals because they are involved in the process of goal setting. In BAF, no audit is carried out on the bank computer system. There should be Electronic Data Processing(EDP) audit so that any material discrepancies resulting from fraud or error can be deducted.

BAF realize heavily on personal banking, thus it gives no due and proper attention to the more sophisticated methods of promotion. Although billboards are displayed in different parts of the city, yet no proper advertisements have ever appeared in the daily newspapers. The website too does not provide complete information and unique features, which give its edge over the market. So they should adopt strong strategies for promotion and publicity of their services they offer.

A very useful mode of contact is through personal marketing visits. Such visits have other important by products such as information about the customer financial and business position, about his market reputation and creating a feeling of importance in the mind of client. Such visits should be properly planned with the regularity and consistency. The BAF assigns this task to its new recruited employees and rely on their reports. But market specialists should also be send to market for analysis.