A New Standard in Service

for Standard Chartered Bank

With the banking environment changing in Hong Kong
and its other key markets, Standard Chartered Bank
turned to a relationship-focused approach
to improve both the customer and staff experience
and to gain a critical competitive edge.

This has been an all-too-familiar scene in financial institutions

Beginning in the mid-1990s, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority

worldwide:

(HKMA) deregulated interest rates on short-term time and savings

accounts, as well as demand deposit (checking) accounts. Interest

A customer spends 20 minutes providing personal data required to

rates became highly competitive, but parity products made it much

apply for a loan, then a few weeks or months later wastes a similar

more difficult to attract or retain customers based on rates alone. At

amount of time providing the same personal data required for

roughly the same time, virtually all of Asia was impacted by the

another service provided by the same branch sales representative.

Asian Economic Crisis, a major economic downturn that sent

property values plummeting by up to 60 percent. Sales volumes

Customers with questions or requests are transferred from point

slowed to a trickle, creating fierce competition among banks for a

to pointor are shifted from email to call center service

smaller number of loans. This squeezed margins razor thin, as

representativesand are asked to repeat the same story over

financial institutions fought to retain their customers.

and over.
There was also a considerable amount of industry consolidation, as
The list of service snubs and sales snafus is long for many financial

financial institutions merged or acquired other banks that were a

institutions. Enjoying the benefits of markets and interest rates that

good fit. Even Standard Chartered got into the act, acquiring the

were artificially protected by regulatory policies, banks have been

assets of Chase Manhattan Banks Hong Kong-based retail banking

able to succeed without paying much attention to service.

business. The many mergers and acquisitions worldwide further

fueled competition from larger institutions with deeper resources.

But around the globe, that has been changing. As regulatory

In Standard Chartereds case, it also forced the bank to deal with

protections have been removed and market forces have come into

the staff issues that often arise as two corporate cultures are

play, margins have declined dramatically. Competition has increased

blended together.

as financial institutions have entered market segments and territories

where they had not been allowed previously. Successful banks have
had to find new ways to maintain their existing base, attract
prospects, and improve their wallet share. One of the more
rewarding strategies has been to build closer relationships with
customers, enabling banks to anticipate needs and provide a higher
level of personalized service.
A compelling illustration of this approach is offered by Standard
Chartered Bank. The 150-year-old bankwith more than $120
billion in assets and 30,000 employees in 50 countriesis one of the
largest to target emerging markets in Asia Pacific, South Asia, the
Middle East, the United Kingdom, and the Americas.

A Rapidly Changing Environment

In Hong Kong, where Standard Chartered Bank generates

approximately one-third of its revenues, the banking environment

Whats more, the economic decline that affected property values in

has changed rapidly in recent years. This has forced financial

Asia shook the confidence of investors. Many of these people sought

institutions to become more nimble and creative with customer

to diversify their holdings into a wider variety of wealth products,

offeringsor to pay a high price for failing to do so.

including bank-offered accounts and investment vehicles. To take

The bank recently moved swiftly and decisively to develop and

implement a sweeping change program called Customer One.
Designed to achieve market differentiation and enhance employee
satisfaction as well, the ambitious business transformation strategy
sought to strengthen the banks brand identity and help the bank
become more customer-focused and performance-oriented.
We wanted to make sure that whatever we did with Customer One
supported what was happening with the banks brand overall,
Parker notes. About a year into our effort, the bank launched a new
branding slogan. We refined our program initiatives to incorporate
and support our brand values and to stay properly aligned with how
the bank was seen by our customers.

advantage of this demand, bank sales staff had to be transformed

Fragmented View

from strictly order takers into financial planners or investment

One of the obstacles to delivering an extraordinary level of customer

consultants. Again, Standard Chartered had the added challenge of

service was not having the consolidated customer information that

integrating many disparate products and channels following its

the bank needed to respond to individual requirements. Although

acquisition of Chases retail business in Hong Kong.

Standard Chartered Bank had invested substantial amounts of

money into building a data warehouse, the bank did not have a

The final major development over the past few yearsand one that

single platform for sharing this customer information, particularly

was unique to Hong Kongwas that in the period immediately

for front-line staff. Instead, data resided in information silos within

prior to Hong Kongs return to Chinese sovereignty, several hundred

product- and channel-specific databases, resulting in a fragmented

thousand wealthy customers left the city for a time to live in

view of customers. Because of this, Standard Chartered had difficulty

Australia or Canada, before deciding to return once things were

providing a consistent and fulfilling brand experience to customers.

stable. These individuals grew accustomed to some of the services

routinely provided to affluent customers in other countries, and

Replies to customer queries and service requests were often delayed,

their expectations were considerably elevated when they returned to

especially if the requests required bank officers to search for

Hong Kong, explains Steven Parker, Head of Customer Sales and

information across databases created and maintained by various

Service for Consumer Banking at Standard Chartered Bank.

bank departments or business units. More importantly, without a

360-degree view of customer information, Standard Chartereds

For all of these reasons, banks throughout Hong Kong began to

banking officers were unable to capitalize on day-to-day

emphasize higher service quality in their dealings with customers.

opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell additional products and

Standard Chartered Bank knew that to stay ahead of some of its

services based on unique needs or desires.

more agile competitors and retain its best customers, it needed to

reinvent itself in the area of service.

With rising customer expectations, we needed to have the means to

understand our customers better, Parker notes. We had to find a

In the past, it was fine to have relatively standard products and sell

way to provide more timely responses, to tailor advice to meet

them in standard waysand the ample margins would ensure a

individual requirements, and to help guide customers in considering

profit, remarks Parker. We decided that, strategically, the ground

various products that would suit their particular requirements.

that we needed to play on was brand assurance, customer focus, and

quality service.

Programmed for Change

managers also have instant access to automated sales performance

At the core of the banks Customer One change program was a

reporting, giving them visibility over how their staff is performing

sophisticated customer relationship management (CRM) solution

and what sales are in the pipeline. This information can be used to

developed by California-based Siebel Systems. Siebel Finance

better allocate human resources and

encapsulated best-practice CRM from a banking perspective, says

to improve sales and service.

Parker. It gave us the firepower we needed to reach our goal of

The bank also expected Customer

becoming the preferred partner of our customers.

One to help improve the daily work

Launched in 2002, Customer One involved no less than a complete

experience for its employees. The

reengineering of the banks sales and service processes within its

tremendous amount of manual

consumer banking segment. As Parker and his team saw it, the bank

processing required to open accounts

was starting from a position of a transaction handler, with staff

and meet service requests had

members being largely reactive, product-focused order takerswith

resulted in growing employee

a very short-term view. The goal of Customer One was to shift

dissatisfaction, underscored by an

the mindset, then shift the philosophyenhance the customer

attrition rate that peaked at 30 to 40

experience by becoming a proactive, customer-focused relationship

percent annually.

Siebel Finance
encapsulated bestpractice CRM from a
banking perspective,
says Parker. It gave
us the firepower we
needed to reach our
goal of becoming the
preferred partner of
our customers.

seller, ultimately transforming the bank into the right partner for
Our staff was not happy with the amount of manual work and

its customers.

Standard Chartered Banks Customer-Focused Approach

hours that daily business entailed and honestly felt that this
prevented them from doing their best in serving customers, explains
Parker. Whenever there were any big sales campaigns, the staff
had to work long hours manually processing the accounts. People
could end up working until ten or eleven at night inputting
specific information.
The implementation of this ambitious change program involved

several elements:

Deploying CRM
Siebel Finance was initially rolled out to more than 900 front-line
and back-office staff across 90 retail branches and two large call
center facilities in Hong Kong and Singapore. CRM provides
Staff members are expected to be responsive to the intentions of
each customerunderstanding and anticipating needs. Bank
representatives dont simply sell products and services, but rather are
in the business of providing financial solutions that facilitate a longterm view of customer requirements.
For example, using a CRM feature called micro marketing, the
professional staff or branch personnel could conduct a search to
determine which customers might have investments in Japanese unit
trusts. These individuals might then be contacted if the bank offered
a Japanese guaranteed fund or similar insured product. Branch

Standard Chartereds people with a 360-degree view of customers

across the primary consumer product lines and channels such
as branches or automated teller machines. This enables
employees to view a customers history, products and services
used, and preferences.
The powerful application also provides a solid platform for
analyzing data to use in customer management, lead and
opportunity management, targeted mail and phone campaigns
promoting specific products and services to precisely selected
groups of customers, sales tracking, and reporting.

Establishing New Business Processes

Introducing Customer One to the Staff

Standard Chartered Bank recognized that using its CRM system

With its complexity, the multilayer change program was not

properly would require additional work for its already overloaded

something that would be easy to integrate into the banks workflow,

staff. The bank addressed this by simplifying and automating a wide

nor to get employees to adopt. Here again, Standard Chartered Bank

variety of tasks to free up time for the staff to attract and serve

recognized the challengesand opportunitiesand moved to

customers better.

introduce Customer One with exceptionally intelligent and

imaginative training and support.

One of the innovations was adapting straight-through processing

that the bank already used for opening accounts to other tasks such

The first phase was called Customer Voice, where Standard

as issuing ATM cards or even handling loan applications. Previously,

Chartered helped its staff see what customers really thought about

if a customer requested a replacement ATM card, for instance, a

the bank. We showed our employees videospresented from our

form had to be completed and processed manually. In addition, the

customers perspectiveof how we were providing service at that

customer contact person often had to follow up with back-office

time, Parker remembers. Once wed done that, we presented a

processing staff to be sure that the card was sent.

series of workshops that we called Creating the Future. Here, we

demonstrated prototypes of how we would use Siebels CRM

Now, using CRM automation, once the service request is keyed into

solution to improve product delivery and service quality.

the computer, the order goes straight through to our legacy systems,
and the card is automatically mailed to the customer, Parker says.

The bank gave employees plenty of opportunity to gain hands-on

experience with the prototypes, so that people could learn how to be

Straight-through processing offers even bigger benefits in

a solutions provider rather than an order taker and appreciate the

streamlining loan applications and credit scoring. The way that it

productivity gains and work quality improvements made possible by

used to work was a customer would fill out a paper form, Parker

Customer One and the supporting CRM platform.

explains. The loan processor would do some credit scoring on the

spot, but more manual processing was required after the bank closed

One of the most impressive training tools that Standard Chartered

its doors for the day.

created was A Day in the Life of CRM. Used in the training

workshops and focus groups, A Day in the Life provided an outline

The most time-consuming, energy-draining phase of the process

of what a typical day would be like once the CRM solution was in

came once the scoring was completed. If a customer was rejected

when applying for, say, a $50,000 personal loan, continues Parker,
the procedure typically involved adjusting one or more
parametersloan amounts or termsto see at what level the
customer could qualify. It was always a puzzle$40,000, $30,000,
$25,000, or a longer repayment period; what would be needed to get
the customer to qualify?
With straight-through processing, the loan officer simply types the
data onto the screen and inputs the customers criteria, and the
system does the restscoring the loan and calculating counter-offers
as needed, remarks Parker. With existing customers, many of the
screens are prefilled with name, address, and so on. This has reduced
the personal loan application process from 30 to 40 minutes down to
about 5 minutes.

place. Employees learned how easy it would be to maintain customer

efficiency of processes (some tasks were streamlined by as much as

contact diaries, review calendars and the latest internal and external

60 percent), their use of technology, and the ability to be more

news developments, generate progress reports on sales in the

professional in doing their jobs. The rise in staff satisfaction helped

pipeline, and maintain organized lists of leads and opportunities.

drive down costly and disruptive turnover by more than 50 percent.

All of the banks branch managers thought that the change program

The scenarios that we created gave employees a realistic view of

was a success.

how they could use the CRM system in their various activities
whether glancing through their diary first thing in the morning,

On the customer side, the bank has seen dramatic improvements.

talking face-to-face with customers, or searching customer portfolios

Sales conversion rates have soared by 56 percent. In addition, the

to identify future opportunities after the close of business, says

cross-sell rate among the highly desirable, affluent customer

Parker. It was clear that effectiveness would be greatly enhanced and

segmentwhich is critical for increasing customer retention within

personal satisfaction would rise.

this key groupclimbed by 18 percent. Not surprisingly, Standard

Chartered Bank has seen its retention rate among its best customers

Once the change program was implemented, in-branch coaching was

increase by 6.5 percent.

supplied to all employees using the system, and refresher classroom

training and Web-based instruction was available for those who

To this point, our return on

needed it.

investment is already two to three

times the amount we spent on the
entire change program, declares

Banking on Measurable Results

Parker. From the start, we never

The transformation of the consumer banking sales and service

focused on reducing staff or

environment at Standard Chartered Bank branches in Hong Kong

cutting costs. Our objective was to

and Singapore has been remarkably successful. From the beginning,

improve customer interactions and

the bank made it a priority to establish a number of quantifiable

increase revenue, and we have

measures of the programs impact within the bank.

managed to do a great deal in

To this point, our

return on investment
is already two to
three times the
amount we spent
on the entire
change program.

that regard.
Our key goals included improving the customer experience,
improving the staff experience, and making channel distribution

Throughout the change program, the CRM solution provided by

more effective, Parker comments. Weve seen very good increases in

Siebel has played a key role for Standard Chartered Bank, deployed

all three areas.

in both the banks branches and call centers. The staff has a great
tool in Siebel, Parker says. In the call center, weve been able to

ROI Achieved

make things much more efficient and provide a more streamlined

customer experience. In the branches, the environment is completely
+ 60%

+ 56%

be more proactive. Leads or service requests can be processed

+ 39%
+ 18%

different today. The staff has a single view of the customer and can
seamlessly across all channels.

+ 6.5%

Improved sales
conversion rates

Improved retention rate

of affluent segment
Increased cross-sell
Increased staff
rate of affluent segment
satisfaction

Improved process
efficiencies

- 52%

Reduced staff turnover

The bank is clearly sold on what CRM can accomplish in elevating

service levels above those of its competitors. Weve come an
enormous way, and we are delighted that weve been able to
transform the way that our staff serves customers, notes Parker. We

For example, staff satisfaction, which once languished at 56 percent,

can be much more professionalbuild real relationships and assist

increased to 78 percent within two years, a solid gain of 39 percent.

our customers in ways that we didnt even dream about in the past.

Standard Chartereds staff saw considerable improvement in the

Start with a strong business strategy and benefits focus, Parker

says. We designed our program around clear business issues and
rigorously benchmarked and tracked benefits. In addition, banks
must really listen to their staff. We conducted surveys before and
after launching Customer One in the branches. This allowed us to
literally adjust the change management program day by day,
depending on the feedback. Being very conscious of what the staff
thought was key.
At Standard Chartered Bank, the Customer One change program is
viewed as an essential part of a journey to make the bank more

Continuous Improvement
Although the formal change management program has now run its
course at Standard Chartered, the bank has grown it into an ongoing

customer-oriented and relationship-focusedresulting in a higher

standard of service and a winning strategy in a challenging
marketplace. To Parker and other top managers at the bank, that
journey has just begun.

operational process, with the goal of out-serving the competition.

To support continuous improvement, the bank has established a
Customer Experience organization, which consolidates all of the
process and design teams focused on improving customer sales and
service that implemented the Customer One program. In addition,

Steven Parker
Head, Customer Sales & Service, Consumer Banking
Standard Chartered Bank

Standard Chartered has established its own customer council, which

is tasked with helping front-line staff continue to streamline

Steven led the major change program

processes, improve customer management, and further develop the

to improve the customer experience for

extensive capabilities offered by the CRM platform.

Standard Chartered Banks retail

customers, through transformation of its

Among the near-term focuses for enhancements are:

customer management processes and

enhancement of its distribution channels.

Installation of more triggersAdding pre-approval and

pre-attrition indicators that alert the staff to opportunities or

Stevens previous responsibilities within

potential problems raised by significant declines in customer

Standard Chartered included e-commerce

satisfaction

and marketing for wealth management,

Better-aligned incentivesOffering staff members larger bonuses

as well as creation of the banks business intelligence capabilities.

and other rewards that motivate them to push their service

performance higher, maintain their training, and improve their

Steven has worked across Europe and Asia Pacific in marketing, sales,

interactions with customers

strategy, and business development roles, with Intercontinental Hotels,

Improved technical performanceFine-tuning of the

Booz-Allen & Hamilton, and HSBC.

application to speed response times and make the solution even

more usable by bank staff

Steven has a degree from Oxford University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Parker has some advice for other financial institutions that might
wish to undertake a comprehensive change program like Standard
Chartered Banks.

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