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SUCCESS STORY: TRADE SERVICES
CLIENT:
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Major Multi-National Bank |
DIVISION:
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Corporate Operations |
CONTACT:
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Head, Corporate Operations |
LOCATION:
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Asia |
MAJOR FUNCTIONS:
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Trade Services |
SITUATION
The client was experiencing problems due to a lack of
organizational structure. For example, there was:
- No formal receipt or registration upon receipt of work via
mail, messenger or from the customer.
- No method of formal distribution of work to the various
processors.
- No order of dispatch of work back to customers upon
completion.
- No MIS tracking of daily work received or completed.
- A lack of line balancing and work distribution, with
managers doing 80% of the work.
- A low staff skill level, particularly in key processing
areas.
- A poorly organized workplace.
- No differentiation in processing of high revenue customers'
work.
LOBUE RECOMMENDATIONS
Restructure organization and redesign processes to improve
customer service and increase operating efficiency. Greatly
reduce hand-offs, redundant processes and low risk verification
procedures. For example:
- All incoming documents currently received by officers only
are to be received and date and time stamped at the counter by
the customer service representative.
- Empower clerks to call customers concerning document
checking issues and verify customer balances and process
transactions, if within the limit; Trade Manager to authorize
debit to refunds/reversals up to a specified amount; and Support
to verify customer confirmation.
- Eliminate preparation of manual proposal form and accept
customer offering sheet as working document.
- For non-finance payment bills, phone all ordinary customers
if amount of payment exceeds US$25,000. Initiate program to
obtain blanket guarantee from as many customers as possible to
eliminate individual indemnity requirement.
- No checking of documents relating to drawings valued at less
than US$1 million, which have been negotiated and checked by
Group Officer.
- When client bank advises L/C's issued by another branch,
client is required to verify the signatures on the L/C if the
amount exceeds US$15,000. Raise the amount to US$50,000.
- Empower Signature Verification clerks to verify customer
signatures up to US$100,000. Those transactions over US$100,000
and transactions to debit the customer's account will be dual
checked and initialed by an officer.
- Elimination of Signature Verification for amounts below
US$50,000, on export bill collection orders unless proceeds are
being credited to a third party account, and on various other
items.
- Against a suitable indemnity, accept fax instructions for:
Import L/C, L/C amendment, guarantee application, guarantee
amendment and request for drawdown under pre-shipment finance.
- Release Authority: empower designated clerks to check and
initial import transactions which fall within staff officers
authorized limits and to check and release LC Advising
transactions up to US$10,000.
- Amendment/Cancellation Authority: empower designated clerks
to amend transactions for correction and empower team heads to
sign/initial telex correspondence.
REAL RESULTS
- Rationalization of all trade process flows, streamlining
operations and improving timeliness and cost effectiveness of
service delivery.
- Creation, approval and implementation of all process
recommendations developed as "best practices".
- Creation of a new organization structure reflecting market
requirements and customer service demands.
- Identification of the requisite skills for each new position
within the restructured organization and completion of a skills
inventory of the current staff to match current skills to skills
required; training of all staff accordingly.
- Determination of management information needs, including
review and evaluation of existing MIS and enhancement of reports.
- Development of capacity/resource utilization plans and
production standards based on product volumes and processing
standards.
- Creation of bank and customer service delivery standards.
- Creation of "priority" services for high revenue "gold card"
customers.
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