Chapter 01: Introduction

1.1 Origin of the Report

Any academic course of study has a great value when it has practical application in real life. Only a lot of theoretical knowledge will be of little importance until & unless it is applicable in practical life. So we need proper application of our knowledge to get some benefit from our theoretical knowledge to make it more fruitful. As the classroom discussion alone cannot make a student perfect in handling the real business situation, therefore, it is an opportunity for the students to know about real life situation through this internship program. This program consists of three phases:

Orientation to Organization: To accustom the internee with the structure, functions, and performance of the organization. The Project Work: Pertaining to a particular problem matching with the internees capacity and organizations requirement. The Report writing: To demonstrate the internees analysis, findings and achievements, in the proceeding one phase.

In this connection, I was assigned to Prime Bank Ltd.(PBL) SBC Tower Branch, Credit & General Banking Department for my practical orientation. The topic Marketing of Financial Services and Market Extension & Retention Strategy of Prime Bank Limited was selected by the Human Resource Division of Prime Bank Limited. This report covers the details of Prime Banks practices about Marketing Activities emphasizing Marketing of Financial Services and Market extension & retention Strategy of prime bank limited.

1.2 Objective of the Report-General Objective: The general objective of the report is to know about the management system and Service marketing activities applied to extend & retain market of Prime Bank Limited as a private commercial bank as well as its formation, and its functional, operational, and financial aspects.

Specific Objective: The Specific objectives of this report are as follows: To relate the theoretical leanings with the real life situation. To get an overview of the bank. To provide an overview of various functions performed by the bank. To have a clear idea about the nature of the marketing activities performed by Prime Bank Limited. Current Market Performance. To Identify the Target Market. To understand the competitors position. To understand with day to day function of Credit Department & General banking Department. To gain in depth knowledge of credit policies, pricing and other rules and regulations regarding retail & Corporate credit of the Bank. To gain in depth knowledge of marketing of general banking product of the Bank. To know about various documents and procedures used for banking services. To identify the problems and prospects of service marketing of Prime Bank Limited. To recommend actions that may be necessary to solve the problems in applied market extension & retention strategy of Prime Bank Limited.

1.3 Scope of the Study-

This report covers the details of Prime Banks practices about Marketing Activities emphasizing Service Marketing and Market extension & retention Strategy of prime bank limited. This report is prepared based on my observations and job experiences during the internship period in the Credit & General Banking (GB) Department of SBC Tower Branch. This report emphasizes on different marketing activities involved and used by Prime Bank Ltd for market extension & retention. The report also focuses on the market performance of PBL and the competitors position. Finally, it incorporates identification of some problems or lacking and recommends some measures to overcome the lacking and further strengthen its operations.1.4 Methodology-

To write down the report, it required two sources of information: -

Primary: Interview with clients & Bankers, observation, 2-months work experience with different divisional in charge and suggestion of many executives.

Secondary: Annual reports of PBL, Instruction circular of Head Office, Brochures of different Banks, News Paper & Magazine regarding Banking issues, Seminar papers website of Prime Bank limited and so on.

1.5 Limitation

There were certain limitations regarding the study that is summarized below: The main hindrance behind preparing this report was time. The tenure of the Internship program is only two months. Since Credit department has a vast working area, it is not possible to go through in depth within this short span of time. Sometimes the information was found to be contradictory and inaccurate. The collected information needed to be studied more. Sometimes field practice deviates from the standard practice (policies) that also created difficulties.

1.6 Report Review

This report is divided into mainly three segments. These are: Segment-A: Introduction, Literature Review, and the Organization Part of Prime Bank Limited. Segment-B: The Job highlights of the Internship Program of a period of 3-months. Segment-C: The Project Part" Marketing of Financial Services and Market Extension & Retention Strategy of Prime Bank Limited (PBL)". Segment D:Comparison & Recommendation

Comparison & Recommendation Chapter 7Market Extension & RetentionMarketing of Financial Services of PBLChapter 4SBC Tower Branch Chapter 6Chapter 5

Figure:-1 Report Review

Chapter 02: Literature reviewUsing an evolutionary metaphor as a framework, Fisk et al. (1993) traced the evolution of the service marketing literature from its embryonic beginnings in 1953 to its maturity in 1993. They identified three stages in this evolution: Crawling Out (19531979), Scurrying About (19801985), and Walking Erect (19861993).During the Crawling Out stage (19531979), scholars in the service marketing field first fought to assert the disciplines right to exist (Swartz et al. 1992; Fisk et al. 1993). This stage began in 1953 with the first service marketing scholars struggling to publish their work and culminated in the debate of how and why services were different from goods (e.g. Shostack 1977). This differentiated positioning contributed to the success of its fast development (Schneider 2000). From this early work came the identification of some of the distinctive characteristics of services, such as intangibility, heterogeneity, i inseparability, and perishability, which eventually became the IHIP dominant paradigm of service marketing (Lovelock and Gummesson 2004; Vargo and Lusch 2004b for a review of its development and recent critics).The Scurrying About stage (19801985) was a bridging period where the services versus the goods debate began to wane (Fisk et al. 1993). The attention of service scholars then shifted from Are services different from goods? to What are the implications of these differences? (Swartz et al. 1992) Lovelock (1983, p. 115) noticed that services marketing research puts too much emphasis on drawing distinctions between goods marketing and services marketing and not enough on developing good insights for marketing practices in the service sector. To solve this issue, he proposed several classifications of services with each type of services needing a different marketing treatment. Another important contribution to this issue was made by the study of Zeithaml et al. (1985) which provided a comprehensive conclusion on the effect of the four distinguishing services characteristics on marketing practices, problems, and strategies encountered by service firms. This stage also saw the first papers in new areas of investigation, such as service design and service mapping (Shostack 1984) and service encounter (Czepiel et al. 1985), which flourished in the next period. In the Walking Erect stage (19861993), scholars, achieved a respected stance as service marketing became an established field within the marketing discipline (Fisk et al. 1993). The publications on many of the primary topics matured considerably. These topics include managing quality given the heterogeneity of the service experience, designing and controlling intangible processes, managing supply and demand in capacity constrained services, and organizational issues resulting from the overlap in marketing and operations functions (Swartz et al. 1992; Fisk et al. 1993). This is also during this period that the debate about the pros and cons of alternative methodologies to measure service quality, which took so much importance in the field in the next time period, started (e.g. Parasuraman et al. 1988, 1991, 1993; Cronin and Taylor 1992; Brown et al. 1993).In their review, Fisk et al. (1993) also asked: what will the literature of the future be like? and tried to answer this question using the documentation of the past and their positions as active researchers and participants in the field. In their speculations, they predicted a broadening, deepening, and sharpening of the field and identified key research topics for the future. These topics were: service design and delivery, service encounters and service experience, service quality and customer satisfaction, as well as service recovery, reverse marketing, internal marketing and support services, modeling and measurement, and technology infusion.As already mentioned, Fisk et al. (2000) and Brown et al. (2003) asked ten service experts, Len Berry, Mary Jo Bitner, David Bowen, Steve Brown, Christian Gro nroos, Evert Gummesson, Christopher Lovelock, Parsu Paraguayan, Ben Schneider, and Valarie Zeithaml: What directions would you like to see the services marketing field take in the future? The wishes of these experts can be organized around five major research directions: (1) the role of technology in changing services marketing, (2) cultural differences in customers expectations for service and service marketing, (3) the importance of services in manufacturing industries, (4) the financial quantification of the impact of services marketing, and (5) services pricing (Furrer 2004). Most of the experts identified the role of technology in changing marketing as a direction that the service marketing field should take in the future. Len Berry, Ben Schneider, and Valarie Zeithaml see the implications of the Internet in particular and technology in general for services marketing and service quality as a fertile ground for future research. Steve Brown stresses that technology is the biggest factor that has and will affect the future of services marketing. More specifically, Mary Jo Bitner, Christopher Lovelock, and ParsuParasuraman also identify the study of service in the context of Internetdelivered services and related implication issues as an underresearched topic as well as the study of the role of technology in changing how services are delivered, communicated, sold, and supported. David Bowen and Christopher Lovelock acknowledge that e-commerce and virtual service encounter need to be better understood. Evert Gummesson would like to see more research on the high-tech high-touch concept. Global services marketing and the impact of cultural differences in customers expectations for service is the second research direction to be investigated in the future. Len Berry acknowledges that global marketing of services is under researched and that cultural differences in customers expectations for service and service performance are not well understood. Among the underresearched topics, Mary Jo Bitner identifies the different issues related to the design and delivering of international services. David Bowen also identifies the area of cross-country, cross-cultural differences in service quality expectations and perceptions as a topic that needs more attention. Steve Brown calls for more cross-cultural research, especially due to the fall of the trade barriers within the European Union and the emergence of global service firms. How are services defined and how can they best be delivered in different cultures throughout the world is one of the questions that, according to Ben Schneider, should usefully be asked to bring a new twist to the international issue of services marketing.A third area that needs more research is services in manufacturing industries. Mary Jo Bitner calls for more research on the importance of services and customer service in the manufacturing context. David Bowen would like to better understand how firms move from defining themselves as manufacturing organizations deriving most of their revenues from goods to defining themselves as service organizations deriving most of their revenues from services.Steve Brown and Ben Schneider would like to see scholars pay more attention to the transformation occurring, especially in business markets, with goodsdominant firms becoming solutions providers. Christian Gronroos argues that physical goods marketing and services marketing will converge and predicts that service-oriented principles will dominate. Valarie Zeithaml would like to see the services marketing field address the question of the role that different technologies will play in dealing with the various aspects of customer serviceon the Web.A fourth domain for future research is the financial quantification of the impact of services marketing. Mary Jo Bitner identifies the quantification of the impact of service initiatives on performance outcomes of organizations as a fertile ground for further research. In the same register, Steve Brown asks: what are the bottom-line implications of services marketing implementations? Recognizing that businesses are now demanding to know the outcomes of services initiatives, Parsu Parasuraman suggests that more scholarly research is needed to provide guidance to managers and researchers on the assessment of the financial benefits of investing in high-technology delivery systems. Valarie Zeithaml also asks for more research to show that service marketing is financially accountable. She also acknowledge that if some progress has been made in the past 10 years in investigating service quality, profitability, and the economic worth of customers, much research remains to be done to validate this early evidence and to build a coherent and integrated body of knowledge.Finally, services pricing is a fifth area needing more research. Mary Jo Bitner expresses the opinion that services pricing, particularly pricing of complex high-end services, is still under researched. Christopher Lovelock also recognizes that pricing and auctions are areas that deserve more emphasis.

Chapter 03: The Organization

3.1 A Brief Background

The significance of financial intermediaries in the progress of the overall economy of country cannot be described in short. From the inception of the civilization the banking sector dominate the economic development of a country by mobilizing the saving from the general people and channeling those saving for investment and thus economic development and growth. In ancient time the importance of commercial banks after the ravage of the liberation war to develop a better economy was severally needed and it is needed now and will be required in future also. In time to time Government of Bangladesh agreed to permit the private commercial banking in the country.

3.2 Prime Bank Limited

To satisfy the demand as well as to improve the commercial banking service in our country, The Prime Bank Limited, a scheduled bank, was incorporated under the Companies Act 1994, initiated its operation on April 17, 1995 with target to play the vital role on the socio-economic development of the country. It availed its registration as a banking company under the Banking Company Act, 1993 from the Bangladesh Bank dated February 12, 1995. It started to make profit from the inception year.

Aiming at offering commercial banking service to the customers door around the country, the Prime Bank Limited established 92 branches all over Bangladesh up to this year. It carries out all the banking activities through its branches in Bangladesh. Out of the above, five branches of the bank are run under Islamic Shariah, the mode of operation of which is substantially different from other branches run on commercial conventional basis. The Bank is listed with Dhaka Stock Exchange Limited and Chittagong Stock Exchange Limited as a Publicly Quoted Company for its general class of shares. This organization achieved customers confidence immediately after the establishment in domestic and international markets.

The bank has been successful in positioning itself as progressive and dynamic financial institution in the country within this short time. It is now widely acclaimed by the business community, from small entrepreneur to big merchant and conglomerates, including top rated corporate and foreign investors, for modern and innovative ideas and financial solution. Thus, within this short period of time, it has been able to create a unique image for itself and earned significant solution in the banking sector of the country as a bank with a difference.

The emergence of the Prime Bank Limited is an important event in the countrys financial sector at the inception of financial sector reform. The authorized capital of PBL is Tk. 4,000 million and paid up capital of the same bank is Tk. 1,400 million. The First Chairman of the Bank was Mr. Abdul Gani and the present Chairman is Mr. Quazi Saleemul Huq. Now the Managing Director of Prime Bank Limited is M. Shahjahan Bhuiyan. The bank has made a reasonable progress due to its visionary management people and its appropriate policy and implementation. The bank holds jointly the first position with Mutual Trust Bank in the CAMEL rating published by Bangladesh Bank.

3.3 About the Bank

Vision: To be the best Private Commercial Bank in Bangladesh in terms of efficiency, capital adequacy, asset quality, sound management and profitability having strong liquidity

Mission:To build Prime Bank Limited into an efficient, market driven, customer focused institution with good corporate governance structure. Continuous improvement in our business policies, procedure and efficiency through integration of technology at all levels

Efforts are focused on: Design and introduction of new products and services Shaping and developing the system to face new challenges and emerging need of the market. Full implementation and utilization of the Banks excellence program which aims to provide service to customers. Delivery of quality service in all areas of banking activities.

Strategic Priorities:To have sustained growth, broaden and improve range of products and services. The company believes that communication with, and feedbacks from its clients help it to achieve its goal of providing world-class products and services. Prime Bank has engaged a relationship officer for each individual customer to address the requirements of the customer. It also constantly monitors its standards, and strives to exceed clients expectations.

Corporate Philosophy For Customers To provide the most courteous and efficient services in every aspect of its business & to be innovative in the development of new banking products and services. For Employees By promoting their well-being through attractive remuneration and fringe benefits & by promoting good staff morale through proper staff training and development, and provision of opportunities for career development. For Shareholders By forging ahead and consolidating its position as a stable and progressive financial institution & by generating profits and fair return on their investment. For Community By assuming our role as a socially responsible corporate citizen in a tangible manner & by adhering closely to national policies and objectives thereby contributing towards the progress of the nation and upholding ethical values and best practices.

Business strategy Prefers short-term loan to long-term loan. Presently focusing on SME and retail credit loans. Maintaining quality and consistent management and services in each of its departments. Compliance with regulatory requirements of Bangladesh Bank and central audit. Commitment to society and community. Continuous search for new product and service improvement. Maintain higher ethical standards in every aspect.

Operating Strategy Each operational unit among head office and all the branches will be integrated. Taking responsibility in each operational unit so that any sort of lacking does not occur. Giving full emphasis on professionalism because of taking disciplinary actions in case of lack of effort or compliance with rule and regulation. Bank to perform its activities effectively.

Financial Strategy Distributing the overall banks profit among the branches properly Providing dividends in time. Continuously monitoring classified loans and its causing to overcome the risky investments.

Financial Objectives To achieve budgetary targets fixed in each area of business. To have rising stock price. Diversified portfolio Stable earnings during market recession

Corporate Information of Prime Bank Limited

Significant Dates

* Memorandum and Articles of Association signed by the Sponsors05-02-1995* Incorporation of the Company12-02-1995* Certificate of Commencement of Business12-02-1995* License issued by Bangladesh Bank20-02-1995* License issued for opening the first Branch, Motijheel Branch08-04-1995 * Initial Public Offering IPO Prospectus29-08-1999 - Subscription opened09-09-1999- Subscription closed22-09-1999* Listed with Dhaka Stock Exchange Limited27-03-2000* Listed with Chittagong Stock Exchange Limited15-11-1999* Trading of Shares on Dhaka Stock Exchange Limited29-03-2000* Trading of Shares on Chittagong Stock Exchange Limited29-03-2000* Dividend declared in the 5th AGM (First after the IPO)14-03-2000* Registered as Merchant Banker with Securities & Exchange Commission29-03-2001* License issued from Bangladesh Bank as Primary Dealer 11-12-2003* Registered as Depository Participant of CDBL 29-03-2004* Trading of Shares started15-06-2004* Completion of 11 years of service 17-04-2006*Agreement with Temenos for Core Banking Software T24 30-06-2005

3.4 Organizational Hierarchy of Prime Bank Limited

Managing Director (MD)Deputy Managing Director (DMD)Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP)Executive Vice President (EVP)Senior Vice President (SVP)Vice President (VP)Senior Assistant Vice President (SAVP)Assistant Vice President (AVP)First Assistant Vice President (FAVP)Senior Executive Officer (SEO)Executive Officer (EO)Principal Officer (PO)Senior Officer (SO)Management Trainee Officer (MTO)Trainee Assistant (TA)Junior Officer (JO)

Figure:-2 Organizational Hierarchy of PBL3.5 Management of Prime Bank Limited

As a fully licensed professional bank, Prime Bank Limited is being managed by a highly professional and dedicated team with long experience in banking. They constantly focus on understanding and anticipating customer needs. As the banking scenario undergoes changes so the bank and its responsibilities itself changed in the market condition.

In the bank, board of directors has the sole authority to take decision about the affairs of the business. Now there are 14 directors in the management of the bank. All the directors have the good academic background and have huge experience in business. Capt. Imran Anwar Hossain is the chairman of the Bank. The board of directors holds meetings on a regular basis. There are different committees in the bank for the efficient management of the bank. All these committees meet on a regular basis for discussing various issues and proposals submitted for decisions. The committees are given below: Board of Directors Policy committee: This committee deals with any policy matters related to the banks new products, new business development as well as any sort of policy related to Prime Bank Limited. It seats fortnightly. Executive Committee: It seats weekly. Credit committee

3.6 Departments of Prime Bank Limited

It would be very difficult to control the system effectively, if the jobs are not organized considering their interrelationship and are not allocated in a particular department. If the departments are not fitted for the particular works there would be haphazard situation and the performance of a particular department would not be measured. Prime Bank Limited has done this work very well. The departments are -

1. Human resource Department.2. Financial and Administration Department.3. Monitoring and Inspection Department.4. Marketing.5. Personal Relation Department.6. Merchant Banking and Investment banking.7. Treasury Division8. International Division.9. General Services Division.10. Computer and Information Technology Department.11. Credit Division.12. Corporate Affairs Division.13. Card division.14. Board Audit Cell.

3.7 Values Considered as Guiding Factors

All the activities and decisions of Prime Bank Limited are based on, and guided by, the following values: -

Placing the interests of clients and customers first A continuous quest for quality in everything the company does Treating everyone with respect and dignity Conduct that reflects the highest standards of integrity Teamwork- from the smallest unit to the enterprise as a whole Being good citizens in the communities, in which they live and work

3.8 Principal Activities of Prime Bank Limited

The principal activities of the Bank are banking and related businesses. The banking businesses include deposits taking, extending credit to corporate organization, retail and small & medium enterprises, trade financing, project financing, lease & hire purchase financing, issuance of local & international credit cards etc.

The mode of banking included conventional & Islamic Banking. It also performs merchant banking function under the license issued by Securities & Exchange Commission, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Maintain satisfactory capital to support growth and remain compliant Continue to strive for profit and sound growth by doing the business that we do well, expanding into areas underserved, entering new sectors and exploring innovative ideas. Have a strong customer focus and build relationships based on integrity, superior service and mutual benefit. Continue to provide new services to customers with support of superior information technology platform. Establishment of good Corporate Governance by remaining efficient, transparent, professional and accountable to the society and environment Ensure effective risk management for sustainable growth in shareholders value Diversification of loan portfolio through structured finance and expansion of Retail and SME financing. Value and respect people and make decisions based on merit.

3.9 Performance of the Bank

The highlights of financial position for the last 5 years are given below:

Particulars20102011201220132014

Interest income 344651997170909610831

Interest expenses22713698526771268426

Net interest income11751500190319702405

Non-interest income12321732291338085790

Non-interest Expenses8861101155919312907

Net Non-interest income346631135418772883

Profit before provision and tax15202131325738475289

Provision for loans and assets3203909101384700

Profit after provision before tax12011741234724634589

Tax including deferred tax63368994612321805

Profit after tax5681052140112322784

Balance Sheet

Authorized Capital 4000400040001000010000

Paid-up Capital 14001750227528443555

Total Shareholder's equity280838605273669711745

Deposits36022547247051288021106956

Long-term liabilities114061687715267 3104438209

Loans and advances3191645010576837515689252

Investments39407844126982310319934

Property, Plant and Equipment37241266013751573

Earning Assets3743955458 72798100261109905

Net current assets31 5286133899623435

Total assets415066089979588110437124806

Current ratio1.000.880.970.880.96

Equity Debt ratio7.00%7.00%7.10%6.45%10.39%

Other Business

Import4030352639706179142496452

Export2888241801513166855076097

Remittance368815050159052266926447

Guarantee Business5303538670331001013673

Capital Measures

Total risk weighted assets3189044324554857225382710

Core capital (Tier-I) 28083860526162659057

Supplementary capital (Tier-II)369549112215943112

Total Capital317744096383785912168

Tier-I capital ratio8.80%8.71%9.50%8.67%10.95%

Tier-II capital ratio1.16%1.24%2.00%2.21%3.76%

Total capital ratio9.96%9.95%11.50%10.88%14.71%

Credit Quality

Non performing loans (NPLs)30836777713231149

NPLs to total loans and advances(%)0.96%0.82%1.35%1.76%1.29%

Provision for unclassified loans36554589510401303

Provision for classified loans127309478734631

Share Information

Market price per share (Taka)682529924540653

No. of shares outstanding(Million) 1417.5022.7528.4435.55

No. of shareholders (actual)446752627368918010339

Earnings per share (Taka)40.5960.1161.5743.3278.33

Dividend25.00%30%35%25%40%

Cash0.00% 0.00%10.00%0.00%10%

Bonus25%30%25%25%30%

Effective dividend ratio29.17%33.33%40.00%27.78%44.44%

Market capitalization 95419253210211534923212

Net asset value per share (Taka)201221232235330

Price earning ratio (times)16.798.8015.0112.468.34

Key Financial Ratios

Operating Performance Ratio

Net interest margin on average earning assets3.64%3.23%2.97%2.28%2.29%

Net non-interest margin on average earning assets1.07%1.36%2.11%2.17%2.74%

Earning base in assets (average)87.41%90.71%91.29%91.07%89.34%

Cost income ratio36.82%34.07%32.37%33.42%35.47%

Credit deposit ratio88.60%82.25%81.81%85.38%83.45%

Cost of funds on average deposits7.09%8.15%8.41%8.55%8.41%

Yield on average advance12.50%13.52%13.96%13.69%13.18%

Return on average assets1.54%2.05%1.99%1.30%2.37%

Return on average equity22.51%31.55%30.68%20.58%30.19%

Other information

No of Branches4150 617084

No of SME-- --5

No of employees10241172140015511844

No of foreign correspondents517517 553518602

Average earning assets32285464486412886530105083

Average total assets36934512037024495013117622

Average depostis 3204645373626187926697488

Average advance 2756838463513476642082204

Average equity 25243334456659859221

Table:-1 Financial Position at a glance

3.10 Some important ratios of Prime bank limited -

Figure:-3 Some Important Ratios of Prime Bank Limited

3.11 SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis enables an organization to have a comprehensive insight about its current position in the industry compared to the competitors. It provides the organization a scope to strategically improve its position in the market. Here, the internal strengths and weaknesses of Prime Bank Limited as well as the external opportunities and threats are discussed:

Strength: Good Customer Service: PBL provides quality services to the clients compared to its other contemporary competitors. The bank has a very good relationship with its customers. The bank believes in maintaining personal relationship with the clients. One of the major goals of the bank is to build long term relationship with the customer and to create value for them. To maintain this relationship, PBL sometimes waive high charges for those valued clients who are linked with the bank for a long period of time. The bank recently has approximately more than 1,50,000 clients, highest in the private sector commercial banks of our country. Innovative Products:Prime bank has been offering various kinds of deposit schemes by which people have got opportunity to save their small money and bank is also able to earn more for themselves for their clients. Most of the private banks are offering three to four number of deposit schemes. Comparatively Prime Bank offers maximum number of deposit schemes by which the bank is successful to capture and retain large number of customers. Efficient Administration:Prime Bank Ltd. has an efficient administration. The work is done in a timely and systematic manner for which the efficient administration is responsible. There is close relationship between the employees and management though the chain of command is maintained strictly. Overall, there is a good balance between the administration and the employees.

Capital Adequacy:Prime Bank Ltd. is maintaining a strong capital base. By the end of March 2008, capital adequacy ratio of the bank was 10.74% that is well above the stipulated requirements of 9%. The bank had a target to have tk. 1000 million of capital fund by the year 2006, whereas it already reached capital fund of almost tk. 2000 million by 2008, positioning the bank as one of the strong capital based bank of Bangladesh. The bank has now also increased its authorized capital to 4000 million to its expansion programs. Experienced Senior Management:The senior management of the bank is responsible for promoting the highest level of business ethics and integrity. Their aim is to create and foster a culture throughout the bank that emphasizes and demonstrates the importance of maintaining high business ethics and close relationship with customers.

Weakness: Technology:One of the major weaknesses of Prime Bank Ltd. is the technology used by the bank. With the change of time, technological advancement is essential to survive in the competition. Hence, PBL is lagging far behind in this area. PBL was the pioneer in online banking but the online facility which the bank is providing currently is not up to the standard. Promotion:When an employee gets a promotion to the next level, he/she gets more compensation. PBL is regular in giving promotion, but the employees get late effect of this promotion. Often there is a long gap, for example a six month gap in getting the effect. Training: PBL has its own training institute PBTI (Prime Bank Training Institute) to strengthen the capabilities of human resources. However, there is a lack of specific training for specific jobs. As a result, the employee has to learn things from the job by doing it practically.

Opportunity: ATM Facility: Currently Prime Bank Ltd. does not have ATM facility. Many other leading competitors have ATM service that provides 24 hours cash transaction to their clients. This service is highly preferred by the clients. So, PBL has a good opportunity

to provide their own ATM facility to the customers in near future and survive in the competition. Branch Expansion: Prime Bank is growing quickly all over the country. Besides expanding in the urban areas, PBL has prospects to open more branches in sub-urban areas, which will eventually enhance the governments effort at reviving the rural economy as well as reaching more people by better service. Training Facility: Prime Bank Training institute (PBTI) is supporting the bank by offering in house training courses, workshops and seminars. As the bank has its own training institute to enhance the capability of human resources, PBL can use this opportunity to train their employees in specific areas and create specialized and expert people for the bank. Banking Software: Providing quality service is one of the major goals of PBL. Though Prime Bank is still lagging behind in upgrading their software system, the bank has the prospect to select high quality banking software which will make the banking operations easier and smooth.

Threats: Level of Competition: Competition is always a major threat for any organization. In recent years, the number of private bank is increasing. These banks always pose a threat for others by coming up with new product line, innovative technology, quality services, etc. thus the level of competition rises and create threat for prime bank limited. Technological Advancement: With time, technology is getting advanced and most of the private banks are upgrading their operating system to survive in the industry. PBL is lagging behind in this department and still mostly dependent on manual work rather than technology. Advancement of technology is posing great threat for PBL.

Chapter 04: An Overview of SBC Tower BranchThis Branch was opened at 37/A, Dilkusha, Dhaka on September 03, 2006 as the 48th Branch of Prime Bank Limited. It has a total number of 17 employees and 3 office staffs. Also the bank has a supervisor and two security guards. The workforce is very much co-operative both to each other and to the clients. SBC Tower Branch is one of the branches of the Prime Bank Limited that has authorization to deal with Foreign Exchange. As other authorized dealers, it is licensed by Bangladesh Bank to transact all types of foreign exchange business. Though it is a small branch, its growth is increasing year by year in terms of profitability and operational efficiency.

4.1 Departments within SBC Tower Branch

This branch has four departments as the following.1. General Banking (GB) Department2. Credit Department3. Foreign Exchange DepartmentAlso the bank has a Computer section where one Trainee Assistant and one Senior Officer are responsible for maintaining PC banks and the server, and other day to day computer related activities. One of them work under General Banking Department another works under Foreign Exchange Department. These two employees are also responsible for making salary statements, checking and maintaining vouchers and accounts, etc.

SBC Tower BranchCredit & Trade Finance Dept.General Banking Dept.Foreign Exchange Dept.Cash Section

Figure:-4 Departments of SBC Tower Branch

4.2 Hierarchy of SBC Tower Branch

Senior Vice President & Head of BranchSenior Asstt. Vice President & Manager (Operation)Vice PresidentSenior Executive Officer & In-Charge (Foreign Exchange Dept.)Executive Officer & In-Charge (Credit & Trade Finance Dept.)Executive OfficerPrinciple OfficerJunior OfficerTrainee AssistantManagement TraineeSenior OfficerSenior Executive Officer & In-Charge (General Banking Dept.)

Figure:-5 Organizational Hierarchy of SBC Tower Branch

4.2.1 General Banking Department Some of the day-to-day activities of this department are the following. Account Opening Issuance of Cheque Receiving Cheques for Clearing, Transport, and Despatch Issuance of TT {Telegraphic Transfer), PO (Pay Order), DD (Demand Draft), etc. Opening and Maintaining of FDR, MBDR, and other Scheme Deposits Fund Transfer Closing and Transfer of Accounts Maintaining the Locker of the Bank Outward Clearing of IBC and OBC Maintaining On-line Voucher Cash Section - This department is responsible for cash payment and receipt. The employees in this department are also liable for verifying cheques, computer posting, passing cheques, and accuracy of posting, etc.

4.2.2 Credit & Trade Finance Department

This department is responsible for the following jobs. Meeting the requirements of existing and potential RCS customers Meeting the requirements of Head Office and Customers of General Credit to cooperate with other departments for smooth operation Preparing CIB and CL Statements Preparing Credit Proposal and Statement Administration of Retail Credit4.2.3 Foreign Exchange Department

The major duties and responsibilities of Foreign Exchange Department are the following: Facilitating Import and Export Trade Providing Funded and Non-funded Credit Facility Providing Non-commercial Remittance Presentation and Submission of Statements (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly) Back-to-Back L/C opening, Acceptance, and Payment Sight L/C Opening, Acceptance, and Payment Taking Necessary actions in the cases like discrepancy, amendment, etc. Maintaining Remittance Accounts, both inward and outward

In the end, it is essential to point out that the day-to-day activities of the departments are very coordinated and sometimes interdependent. The clients of Foreign Exchange Department take LTR, LIM, etc. facilities from Credit Department Then they have to have enough balances in the Cash section to be eligible to open a L/C. Finally, the General Banking Section is the one through which clients open their accounts; cheques, TT, Pay Order, DD, etc. are issued and received, and necessary documents are dispatched and received.

I have worked specially in Credit Departments Corporate Credit Section. During my internship program, I have performed different tasks with prior permission of the management.

4.3 Tasks Performed at Credit & Trade Finance Department

Prepared Credit Proposals for the clients. Prepared Sanction Letters. Prepared Letter of Disbursement Authority (DA). Prepared Purchase Orders. Analyzed the Financial Information of the credit clients to understand their ability to repay the loan. Prepared Call reports. Prepared Visit reports. Prepared CIB forms for the clients to be sent to Bangladesh Bank for collecting information regarding their credit performance. Prepared Solvency Certificates for clients. Prepared different Bank Guarantees (Bid-Bond, Performance Guarantee) for the clients. Prepared IGPA (Irrevocable General Power of Attorney) for the clients. Prepared Presentation Slides for Training Credit Administration under Policy Guidelines & SOP Inspecting the utilization of credits (loans) provided to the clients with the Credit Officer, and reporting back to the Credit In-charge. Prepared monthly statements for loans and advances

Apart from these, I have also performed the following tasks Opened Fixed Deposit Receipt and made entries to the register Issued Cheque Books Issued Pay Order and Pay Slip Made Entries to the Outward Letters Register

Chapter 05: Marketing of Financial Services of Prime Bank Limited

5.1 Marketing

Marketing is the business function that identifies customer needs and wants determines which target markets the organization can serve best, and designs appropriate products, services and programs to serve these markets. However, marketing is much more than just an isolated businesses function-it is philosophy that guides the enter organization. The goal of marketing is to create customer satisfaction profitably by building value-laden relationships with important customers.

Communication

Industry(A collection of sellers)Market (A collection of buyers)

Money

Information

Figure:-6 A Simple Marketing System

Now clearly, marketing is a social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering and freely exchanging products and services of value with others.

5.1.1 Strategic Marketing Strategic marketing plays a pivotal role in business performance. It examines the concept and processes involved in market driven strategies. Strategic marketing is a market driven process of strategy development that takes into account a constantly changing business environment and the need to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction.

5.1.2 Market Segment-

Historically, when banking was the only game in town and there was limited competition, it was convenient to think of retail banking customers as a homogeneous market. "Let's treat everyone the same" wasn't an uncommon point of view. But now -a -days everyone involved in banking, whether commercial or retail, trust or private, would agree that the financial services environment is dynamic. While segmenting marketer should consider following segmentation problems and outline solutions:

1. Market size -- is it substantial enough to be profitable? 2. Information availability -- are the variables measurable, and can sufficient information be gathered about them? 3. Delivery system and promotional limitations -- how accessible are customers? 4. Egalitarianism -- is there sufficient support within the bank to make it workable?

As fastest growing bank prime bank is considering the market as heterogeneous market.Prime bank limited segment the market on the basis of following variables:

Figure:-7 Basis of Market Segments Of PBL

Market of Prime Bank Limited is segmented into following five categories: Corporate Retail SME Merchant Investment Banking

Market SegmentCorporateRetail SMEMerchant BankingInvestmentBankingFigure:-8 Market Segments Of PBL

5.1.3 Target Market-

1. Individuals

Individuals are adult persons of 18 years of age or more having contractual capacities. For example, a person of below 18 years of age is not an adult person. Adult persons include married or unmarried woman, pardanashin woman, and illiterate persons. But lunatics, persons of unsound mind and bankrupts are not entitled to enter into contract.

2. Sole Proprietorship Concerns

A business or trading concern owned by a single adult person is sole proprietorship concern.

3. Partnership Firms

A business concern owned and managed by more than one person who may be registered or not registered is a partnership firm. Persons who have entered into partnership with one another are called individually Partners and collectively a firm and the name under which their business is carried on is called the firms name. 4. Private Limited company

A body corporate formed and registered under Companies Act, 1994 with limited members and liability having certificate of incorporation given by the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association.

5. Public Limited Company

A body corporate formed & registered under Companies Act, 1994 with limited liability of the shareholders and with no upper ceiling of shareholding having both certificate of incorporation and certificate of commencement given by the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies. It must have Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association. Corporation, autonomous bodies are organizations created by special acts of the Parliament or by Presidential Orders.

6. Trusts

Trusts are created by Trust Deed in accordance with the law. Trustees are given control of an estate, usually of the deceased, for the benefit of certain persons who are called beneficiaries.

7. Executors/Administrators

Executors are appointed by a person himself before his death by Will to settle the accounts of the person after his death. Administrators are appointed by the court of law in the absence of the deceaseds Will.

8.Clubs/Associations/Societies

These are organizations created & registered or not registered under Societies Registration Act. Some of these may be registered under Companies Act.

9.Co-Operatives

These are corporate bodies registered under Societies Registration Act or Companies Act or the Co-operative Societies Act. 10.Non-Govt Organizations

Non-Govt Organizations (NGOs) are voluntary organizations created & registered under Societies Registration act or Co-operative Societies Act. 11.Non-Trading Concerns

These are organizations registered under Societies Registration Act or Companies Act or Co-operative Societies Act.

5.1.4 Positioning -

Positioning is having a place in consumer's mind. PBL has done positioning through differentiation or competitive advantage. To identify meaningful differentiation & to promote it, marketing division of Prime Bank Limited depends on following criteria: Important Distinctive Communicable Affordable Profitable5.1.4.1 Positioning Statement-

Positioning statement of Prime Bank Limited is A Bank with a Difference"

Taglines used for Different Loan Products a) Car Loan Its not loan, its soaring along lifes highwayb) Loan Against Salary Its not a loan, its an unexpected bonus.c) CNG Conversion Loan Its not a loan. Its a New Business Prospectd) Home Loan - Its not a loan, its a refuge. e) Household Durables Loan Its not a loan. Its easy living.f) Doctors Loan - Its not a loan, Its serving humanityg) Any Purpose Loan - Its not a loan. Its helping hand.h) Education Loan - Its not a loan. Its a Masters Degree.

5.1.4.2 Overall Positioning Strategy- Price More The Same LessMore for moreMore for the same

More TheSame Less

Benefits

Figure:-9 Overall Positioning Strategy of PBL

5.2 "P s Regarding Marketing

Marketing mix is the set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market. But in case of Banking Marketing mix is larger than ordinary product marketing. These are:

a) Product: Product means the goods and services combination the company offers to the target market. For example Deposit schemes.

b) Price: Price is the amount of money customer has to pay to obtain the product. For example: Bank service charge, interest rate etc.

c) Place: Place includes company activities that make the product available to the target consumers. For example: PBL Gulshan Branch is located in near inhabitants of Gulshan and besides area.

ProductPlacePackagingPublic RelationPoliticsTargetMarket/CustomerPeoplePromotionPoliciesProcessPricePhysical Evidence

Figure:-10 P s regarding Marketing

d) Promotion: Promotion means activities that communicate the merits of the product and persuade target customers to buy it. For example: PBL, 8th anniversary program.

e) Packaging: Packaging is a powerful element of present marketing. The emphasis on packaging is a focal consideration of Marketologists. Packaging regarding PBL is different type of brochures and nice decoration of Branch.

f) Public Relation: This is the age of media public relation refers the communication through different type of seminar, symposium, conference etc. with target customers. PBL usually does it in a great extent.

g) Policies: Policies is the life blood of any bank. A policy refers the principle, Procedures, ways relevant to different type of banking activities. Policies should be flexible and contingent upon situation.

h) Process: Process is almost similar to policy. But the difference is the way of recovery like loan and advance, legal action, problem solution etc. are involved with banking process.

i) Politics: In the third world country politics is the wheel of business. The rules and regulations of business are continuously changing as per the change of Government. So politics is an alarming tool of every business.

5.2.1Product Decision (In Bank):

Right product decision in the right time is essential for all organization. If focuses on decision about product attributes, branding, pack aging, labeling and product support services.

i) Product Attributes: Developing a product or service involves defining the benefits and design. In case of PBL various deposit schemes are products.

For PBLProduct AttributesProduct Support ServiceLabelingPackagingBrandingVarious Deposit SchemesCSSAttractive BrochuresDistinctionFrom Others80% Loan Facility after 3 years

Figure: -11 Individual Product Decision

ii) Branding: Brand is a name, firm, sign, symbol, on design or a combination of these intended to identity the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. For example CSS (Contributory Saving Scheme).

iii) Packaging: Packaging refers the activities of designing and producing the container on wrapper for a product. For example attractive brochure of CSS.

iv) Labeling: The level identifies the product or brand, such as the distinct characteristics of CSS A/C opening. Label may be a part of packaging.

v) Product Support Services: Product support services that augment actual products. More and More companies are using product support services as a major tool in gaining competitive advantage. Incase of PBLs product 80% loan facility after 3 years of CSS.

5.2.2 Financial Services-

Financial product refer the different type of deposit schemes of Bank, leasing or insurance companies which gain something into the shape of interest, premium. Financial Institutions deal with financial product in Bangladesh. The main features of financial product are intangible. We gain from that type of product, but these are not similar to ordinary product existing in the market.

5.2.3 Different Financial Services of Prime Bank Limited Based on customer satisfaction and popularity, Prime Bank Limited offers a large pull of Retail Products to the customers. The Retail Products are divided into two main Categories a. Deposit Products/Services b. Advance and Loan Products/Services

a. Deposit ProductsAccountsSavings SchemeFixed Deposit

1. Saving Account (SB)1. Lakhopoti Deposit Scheme1. General FDR

2. Current Account (CD)2. Contributory Savings Scheme2. Monthly Benefit Deposit Scheme

3. Short Term Deposit (STD)3. Prime Millionaire Scheme3. Double Benefit Deposit Scheme

4. House Building Deposit Scheme

5. Education Savings Scheme

Table:-2 Deposit products

b. Advance and Loan Products - Different Loans -

1. Car Loan7. Hospitalization Loan

2. Doctors Loan8. Swapna Neer (Home Loan) Scheme

3. Household durables Loan9. Loan against Salary

4. Marriage Loan10. Travel Loan

5. Any Purpose Loan11. CNG Conversion Loan

6. Education Loan

Table:-3 Loan products

5.2.4 Service/ Product Description (In Brief) of Different Loans

5.2.4.1 Car Loan Customer Segment Any Bangladeshi individual who has the means and capacity to repay the loan. In specific terms, the target customers should cover executives of multinational Companies, middle to large size local corporate, Government official, Officials working in Semi-Government, Autonomous and reputed NGOs, international aid agencies & UN bodies, any tax paying businessman of repute and self-employed tax-paying individual having a reliable source of income. Purpose Purchase of non-commercial new and reconditioned vehicles for personal use only by an individual. Loan Size Tk. 20,00,000.00 for both Brand New and Reconditioned Cars.

5.2.4.2 Doctors Loan Customer Segment Any Bangladeshi Citizen who is a graduate in Medical Science/Dentist/Eye/Allopathic as self employed or salaried people has the means and capability to repay the loan. Purpose Small scale purchase of different medical equipments, machineries, tools or other relevant items to support professional needs (e.g. run or set up a clinic/hospital/dispensary) Loan Size Tk. 5,00,000.00 for General Practitioner and Tk. 10,00,000.00 for specialist doctors i.e. holding post graduation degree.

5.2.4.3 Household durables Loan Customer Segment Any Bangladeshi individual who has the means and capacity to repay the loan. In specific terms, the target customers should cover salaried executives of Multinational Companies, middle to large size Local Corporate, Government Officials, Officials working in Semi-Government, Autonomous and reputed NGOs, international aid agencies & UN bodies, any tax paying businessman of repute, any employed / self employed tax-paying individual having a reliable source of income. Purpose Purchase of household durables like, Television, Refrigerator, Air Conditioner, Washing Machine, Computers, other household furniture etc. for personal use only Loan Size Maximum limit of Tk. 5,00,000.00.

5.2.4.4 Marriage Loan Customer Segment Employees of reputed Multinational Companies and large Local Corporate. Employees of medium sized or mid-range local companies such as reputed schools & colleges, pathology labs, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, newspapers, airlines, real-estate developers of repute, insurance & leasing companies, NGOs, aid agencies, UN bodies, reputed trading firms and business establishments and all other salaried employees of Government, Semi-government & Autonomous bodies. Any Tax paying businessman of repute, any employed / self employed tax-paying individual having a reliable source of income. Purpose To meet the financial need of marriage purpose. Loan Size Tk. 3,00,000.00.

5.2.4.5 Any Purpose Loan Customer Segment Employees of reputed Multinational Companies and large Local Corporate. Employees of medium sized or mid-range local companies such as reputed schools & colleges, pathology labs, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, newspapers, airlines, real-estate developers of repute, insurance & leasing companies, NGOs, aid agencies, UN bodies, reputed trading firms and business establishments and all other salaried employees of Government, Semi-government & Autonomous bodies. Purpose Miscellaneous personal financial requirements. The customer has to declare the purpose of the loan but submission of supporting documents is not mandatory. Purpose may be as follows House renovation. Marriage in the family. Advance rental payments. Trips abroad. Hospitalization or other emergency medical needs Purchase of miscellaneous household appliances. Purchase of personal computers Purchase of electronic items.However, no facilities can be granted for purposes that are legally in contraction with the law of the country. Loan Size Tk. 3, 00,000.00.

5.2.4.6 Education Loan

Customer Segment Employees of reputed Multinational Companies and large Local Corporate. Employees of medium sized or mid-range local companies such as reputed schools & colleges, pathology labs, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, newspapers, airlines, real-estate developers of repute, insurance & leasing companies, NGOs, aid agencies, UN bodies, reputed trading firms and business establishments and all other salaried employees of Government, Semi-government & Autonomous bodies. Any Tax paying businessman of repute, any employed / self employed tax-paying individual having a reliable source of income Purpose For educational purpose like study in abroad or within the country.. Loan Size Tk. 5,00,000.00.

5.2.4.7 Hospitalization Loan Customer Segment Employees of reputed Multinational Companies and large Local Corporate. Employees of medium sized or mid-range local companies such as reputed schools & colleges, pathology labs, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, newspapers, airlines, real estate developers of repute, insurance & leasing companies, NGOs, aid agencies, UN bodies, reputed trading firms and business establishments and all other salaried employees of Government, Semi-government & Autonomous bodies. Any Tax paying businessman of repute, any employed / self employed tax-paying individual having a reliable source of income.

Purpose To meet financial need for treatment purposes in the following hospitals/clinics of Dhaka and Chittagong

Central Hos pital Monwara Hospital Samrita Hospital BIRDEM Medinova Metropolitan Hospital Bangladesh Medical Ibne Sina Hospital Lab Aid cardiac Hospital Islami Bank Hospital National Heart Foundation Apollo Hospital CMH Hospital Loan Size Tk. 20,00,000.00 for both Brand New and Reconditioned Cars.

5.2.4.8 Swapna Neer Customer Segment Any Bangladeshi, to be more specific the following group of people will be eligible for Prime Bank Swapna Neer loan:

Salaried People Employees for Govt./Semi Govt./Autonomous body. Employees of financial institution. Employees of different Public Limited Company/Private Limited Company having Corporate Structure. Teachers of any school/college/university.Professional Doctor, Engineer, AccountsSelf-employed Businessman (in business at least for five years) Purpose Purchase of non-commercial new and reconditioned vehicles for personal use only by an individual. Loan Size The Managing Director may be authorized to sanction Prime bank Swapna Neer Loan up to Tk. 50.00 lac.

5.2.4.9 Loan Against Salary Customer Segment Employees of reputed Multinational Companies and large Local Corporate. Employees of medium sized or mid-range local companies such as reputed schools & colleges, pathology labs, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, newspapers, airlines, real-estate developers of repute, insurance & leasing companies, NGOs, aid agencies, UN bodies, reputed trading firms and business establishments and all other salaried employees of Government, Semi-government & Autonomous bodies. Purpose To meet the financial need of acceptable purpose. Loan Size 6-8 times of the gross salary of the customer.

5.2.4.10 Travel Loan Customer Segment Employees of reputed Multinational Companies and large Local Corporate. Employees of medium sized or mid-range local companies such as reputed schools & colleges, pathology labs, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, newspapers, airlines, real-estate developers of repute, insurance & leasing companies, NGOs, aid agencies, UN bodies, reputed trading firms and business establishments and all other salaried employees of Government, Semi-government & Autonomous bodies. Any Tax paying businessman of repute, any employed / self employed tax-paying individual having a reliable source of income. Purpose To meet the financial need for travel purposes. Loan Size Tk. 2,00,000.00.

5.2.4.11 C.N.G Conversion Loan Customer Segment Any Bangladeshi individual who has the means and capacity to repay the loan. In specific terms, the target customers should cover salaried executives of Multinational Companies, middle to large size Local Corporate, Government Officials, Officials working in Semi-Government, Autonomous and reputed NGOs, international aid agencies & UN bodies, any tax paying businessman of repute, any employed / self employed tax-paying individual having a reliable source of income. Purpose For converting vehicles from carbon based fuel to Compressed natural Gas System. Loan Size Tk. 1,00,000.00.

5.3 Pricing of the Products/Services of Prime Bank Limited

From the sellers viewpoint price represents the costs involved in Producing the Product or Service Margin. And from buyers viewpoint price represents cost to the Customer or Service taker.

5.3.1 Pricing Objectives For PBL the Pricing of different products involves different objectives based on the market performance of the respective product. There are five major objectives that are usually pursued by PBL depending on the market performance of that particular product. They are

(i) SurvivalShort term, Cash flow(ii) Maximum Current ProfitShort Term, Cash flow(iii) Maximum Market ShareVolume Growth, Sales Revenue(iv) Maximum Market SkimmingProfit return in Investment(v) Product Quality LeadershipImage, Service Quality Differentiation

5.3.2 Methods used in Pricing the Products of PBL Prime Bank Limited mostly practices Market oriented pricing. Market oriented pricing are of two types (i) Competitive Pricing Competitive pricing involves either accepting the on-going rate or maintaining or increasing market share by an aggressive pricing policy.

(ii) Customer-oriented Pricing According to this method, prices are set based on the attitude and behavior of the customers.

5.4 Distribution Channels of Prime Banks Services Financial institutions need to make their products and service available to customers in order that they will adopt them. Marketing channels are sets of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption.

There are two types of distribution channels used by PBL . . (i) Direct Channel (ii)Alternative Delivery Channel

5.4.1 Direct Channel

Direct Response AdvertisingCustomerDirect MailCustomerBranchCustomerHead OfficeCustomerSales ForceThe following diagrams show that Prime Bank uses different means of Direct Communication channel to make the services available to the targeted customers. Different direct channel used by PBL is shown in the figure below -

Figure :12 Different Direct Channel

5.4.2 Alternative Delivery Channel -The function of Alternative delivery Channels are day by day becoming important in private commercial banks of the country.The major alternative delivery channel through which PBL deliver financial product & services are depicted below:

ATM Card Internet Banking Prepaid Card SMS Banking Call Center

5.4.3 Development of Branch Network The development and growth of branch network of Prime Bank shows the implementation of a well planned distribution strategy. PBL has been expanding its operations and during the last five years, the number of branches increased rapidly. All the branches of Prime Bank Limited a connected but the Head Office have the centralized control over all the branches. The branches are given different targets based on their size and location.

Table :4 Development of Branch NetworkYear200520062007200820092010

Number of Branches415061758492

Number of branches is increasing per year

5.5 Promotion and Public Relation of PBL - Promotion consists of a diverse collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumer or the trade.

Public relation refers to non-personal communications regarding an organization, product service or idea not directly paid for or run under identified sponsorship.

The general purposes of promotion in services marketing are much the same as in other kinds of marketing.

The Main objectives of Promotional activities of Prime Bank Limited is to Build awareness and interest in the Financial Product and to the Bank itself; Differentiae the service offer and the Bank itself form competitors; Communicate and portray the benefits of the services available; Build and maintain the overall image and reputation of the Bank; Persuade customers to buy or use the service.

Success of any organization's promotional activities largely depend on its proper communication with target customers . A simple communication process is depicted below for understanding

SenderReceiverEncoded MessageDecoded MessageTransmission MediaNoiseNoise

Feedback or Response

Figure: 13 Simple Communication Process

Feedback or ResponsePBLCustomerA Bank With a DifferenceA Bank With a DifferenceTransmission MediaNoiseNoise

Figure:-14 Simple Communication Process of PBL

Prime Bank Limited |21

Prime Bank Limited in continuing to hold its outstanding performance in marketing since the day of its establishment. Prime Bank Limited does its marketing in different ways

5.5.1 Marketing Campaign During Anniversary Celebration

Ever year during the anniversary celebration, the PBL team present themselves strongly with wide media coverage and tries to have the maximum impact on the minds of the customers. The objectives of these campaigns have some objectives. The campaigns are run

To reinforce the Banks strong brand image in the market; To create high impact among the target group; To improve service quality; To mobilize more business and customers, & To attain excellence in banking operation.

And the strategies to achieve those objectives are

Media Campaign by Had Office Sales Promotion by Branch Customer Get-together by Both Branch and head Office5.5.1.1 Campaigns / Events - The following campaigns and events are undertaken during the Anniversary Celebration : Press Campaign -

i) As a curtain raiser, the celebrations start with press announcement advertisement on the founding anniversary. Twocolor advertisement is published in front page of 2 leading Bengali & English dailies.

ii) Two full page newspaper supplementary advertisements are published on behalf of customers felicitating the bank on its anniversary.

iii) This is followed by three insertions of color advertisement in the front page of four different high-circulation National Dailies. The main emphasis of the follow-up ads is sales promotion.

Press Campaign

The highest individual depositor (1st, 2nd & 3rd) or the month in the country (among the 84 branches) is rewarded as follows:

For Example In case of, 14th Anniversary, 2009 1st prize: Dhaka-Singapore-Dhaka air ticket 2nd prize: Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur-Dhaka air ticket 3rd prize: Dhaka-Katmandu-Dhaka air ticket

Selection Criteria During the promotion month, three winners will be selected amongst all depositors in 27 branches as per following deposit criteria:

Minimum Tk. 5lac for SB Account Minimum Tk. 10 lac for STD Account Minimum Tk 3 lac for CD Account

Free Credit Card

The customer who has opened CD/SB/STD Account with minimum balance of Tk. 2,00,000, Tk.2, 50,000 and Tk.5, 00,000 respectively will be entitled to have credit a card without fee for first year.

Selection Criteria Branches are responsible for sending the names of the depositors to Credit Card Division.

Highest Credit Card SpenderThe customer who is the highest spender through Credit Card for the month will be entitled to Dhaka-Katmandu-Dhaka air ticket.

Selection Criteria One winner will be selected on the basis of maximum usage of credit card during the promotional month only.

Instantaneous Gift Offer

Complimentary key rings are given to new account holders (SB, STD, CD): Minimum balance required for branches in Dhaka & Chittagong Tk. 1,00,000 (for anniversary month only) and for branches outside Dhaka & Chittagong minimum balance required Tk. 50,000.

The gift items are sent to the branches in due course. The branches are required to send the names and particulars of customers who were given the gifts to Marketing Division for Head Office record.

Gala DinnerA Dinner party is usually held at the end of the month at a 5 star hotel in Dhaka. Features of the Party

i) PBL invites spouses of all the directors, all branch managers and their respective pool of premium customers. Elite business people, selected members of FBCCI, DCI, MCCI, BEPZA, Bangladesh Bank, Trade commissions of different embassies, Selected press persons from premium national dailies, magazines and TV channels, H/O office executives & 4 prizewinners.

ii) Preference of invitation depends on relationship and income generation basis.

iii) Multimedia screening on the banks activities is arranged.

iv) Usually it is a Buffet dinner party.

v) Raffle draw amongst the invitees present at dinner: A raffle draw will be held. Gift hamper of household products will be given to 1st, 2nd & 3rd winners.

Decoration HO & Branches

i) Long drop of digitally printed reusable flexi-face celebration banner for Head Office.ii) Branded roman banners for banging from the pillars / walls of all branches.iii) Branded desktop acrylic sheet made dispensers to stack up product brochures.

Branch Managers ensure compliance for proper decoration of the branch premises.

Branch Recognition Based on the month long performance, the top three branches are awarded. The branches performance in measured based on the following three categories

i) Volume of Deposit (No cost & Low Cost)ii) Mobilization of the new business customers (Number)iii) Branch referral of credit card (Number)

A recognition letter, in the form of a formal letter from the Managing Director is send to the Branches that performs well.

To be successful, a company must promote its products perfectly and also motivate the employees to promote the products. Amongst the above activities, the Gift offer, Decoration and the Parties are done for enhancing the Brand Name of the Bank. And the Branch recognition is awarded to motivate the employees of each and every branch so that they promote the products and enhance the popularity of the Brand Name of the Bank.

However, these activities are done only once a year on the Anniversary celebration day. Apart from these activities, Prime Bank Limited also practices some other promotional activities on a regular basis.

5.5.2 Prime Banks Regular Promotional Activities

Prime Bank usually practices the following promotional activities

(i) Using poster & sticker in cars & other suitable place(ii) Advertising in newspaper, Magazine, Television, Yellow pages etc.(iii) Contribution in games and cultural activities,(iv) Using Brochures, leaflet and sign board.(v) WebPages and website.(vi) Calendar, Diary and Telephone Index distribution among clients & Bankers.(vii) Arrangement of AGM and wide circulation through news paper, annual reports and so on.

The Major Promotional Tools that are used by Prime Bank Limited is described below:Promotional ToolCharacteristicsExamplesUses

AdvertisingA paid from of non-personal communication through a mass medium Television, Radio Newspaper Magazines Promotion products and organizations Stimulating demand Off-setting competitors Advertising Reducing sales fluctuation

Personal SellingInforming and persuading customers to purchase products through personal communication Sales reps visits In store/Branch Sales assistant. Visits and consultations Financial advisers Generating sales Cross-selling Enabling product strengths an weaknesses to be assessed Reassuring customers in high-risk purchase situations.

Publicity and Public RelationsNon-personal communication in news story form about an organization and/or its products and services transmitted at no charge Television news story Radio Newspaper Magazines Creating awareness o the companys products brands and activities Helping to maintain positive public visibility Enhancing companys image Helping negative images to be overcome

Sales PromotionOffering of an inducement or incentive to customers channel members of sales people in order to encourage purchase. Gifts Tokens Bonuses Contests Loyalty Cards Free Samples Money refunds. Stimulating product trial Encouraging switching Reminding customers Controlling sales fluctuations Shifting end-of-product lines.

Direct MarketingDirect mail, Telemarketing and Direct response advertising Letters and contacts through mail Telephone and Internet Direct leafleting Creating brand awareness Stimulating product adoption Generating product orders Qualifying prospects for a sales cell

SponsorshipFinancial or material support of an event, activity person organization or product Events or competitions Ideas, research Animals and people Promoting company image Identifying with a specific target Creating positive

Table:-5 Major Promotional Tools Used By PBL

5.5.3Major Roles of Banks Service Advertising

(i) Creating the Banks image in the mind of the customer;(ii) Building an appropriate personality for the Bank;(iii) Identifying the Bank with the customer;(iv) Influencing Bank personnel on how they deal with customers;(v) Helping to open doors for sales representatives;

5.6 Push-Pull Strategy

PBL uses both push strategy and pull strategy.

5.6.1 Push Strategy In this case, PBL assigns their sales team to pursue the customers and convince them to take the services of PBL.

5.6.2 Pull Strategy In this case, PBL broadcasts different advertisements of their retail loan products through TV channels and other media and communicate the messages. This way, the customer become aware of the products and come to the branches to know more about the products.

Chapter 06: Market Extension & Retention Strategy of Prime Bank Limited

6.1 Market retention Strategy All the above discussed promotional activities and marketing strategies are conducted to attract the customers. To retain the existing clients Prime Bank apply the following practices -

6.1.1 Calling the customers The marketing officials call the customers just to know how they are doing and know about the progress of the credit utilization. By this courtesy calls, they let the customers think that PBL is concerned about them. 6.1.2 Invite the customers in different festivals PBL invites the existing customers in different festivals like; Anniversary, Year closing etc. Different branches are responsible for inviting respective customers. 6.1.3 Gifts PBL sends greeting cards in different occasions like; Eid, New Year, Nobo Borsho, etc. They also send calendar and diaries to customers in New Year.

Apart from these, PBL personnel always try to keep in touch with the customers. They always make customers feel that they are always beside them (customers).

6.1.4 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR Activities)

Preservation of Memory of Martyr To pay respect to the Martyr, Prime Bank took a joint initiative with Bir Srestho Matiur Rahman Foundation to develop a film titled Astitte Amar desh to keep uphold the memory of Martyr Matiur Rahman, Bir Srestho. Prime Bank believes that this film will exist as a document of Independence of Bangladesh and remembrance of Bir Srestho Matiur Rahman.

Health Care Prime Bank Foundation had been formed in order to undertake social welfare related activities. The foundation had made allocations to different areas of poverty alleviation and primary health care programs for the low-income group.

Financial assistance given to a private hospital for procuring medical equipment and beds for the patients.

Talent Development Khude Shilpir Khoje an innovative program for the younger generation was undertakes with the objective to nurture and promote untapped talents within the youth in the school level and in order to open up the horizon of creative talent in them. The theme of the program was Express your dream in color. The participants were students from class six to ten across the country. The successful youths were awarded prize money of different amounts. The calendar of the Bank which is given to customers, well-wishers are made up of these arts along with photograph of the successful participants.

Education Prime Bank Limited took steps for a long lasting relationship with institutions that are the source of knowledge base. Various assistance are provided to support their important events and programs and curricular activities. Notable of them are given below Sponsored holding of the 43rd convocation of Dhaka University. Financial assistance to Dhaka University for constructing Alumni Floor at newly constructed Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban Participated in the sponsorship for holding Annual Senate Conference of Dhaka University. The Bank has refurbished the library of Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University, the most prestigious business institute of the country, into a new generation library. The Bank as per agreement with Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management the apex body of the training institutes for the Bankers sponsors the prize money given to the students securing first, second and third position in the Masters of Bank Management examination of the institute. PBL sponsored the 18th National Debate Competition-2006 arranged by Noter Dame College Debating Club. 70 teams participated from 38 renowned schools, colleges and universities of the country. The events of the debate festival were little bit different from traditional debate programs. It had electoral debate, friendly debate and workshop for participants on parliamentary debates. The theme of the debate was Democracy, Freedom & Election. Sponsored 3rd South Asian Economics Students Meet (SAESM) arranged by Economics Department of Dhaka University.

Capacity development in the Banking & Financial Sector Prime Bank believes that professional development of the people working in the banking and financial sector will immensely help to redress various risk elements involved in banking transactions. To that aim in view PBL took some unique initiatives which were appreciated by the participants. Some of the initiatives are given below A day long workshop on Basel II was jointly organized with South-Asia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) Basel II is an effort by international banking supervisors to improve the consistency capital regulation internationally, make regulatory capital more risk sensitive and promote enhanced risk management practices among banks. The purpose of the workshop was to build awareness about international best practices, as advocated in Basel II and to highlight the strategic implication for Bangladesh Financial Markets. The workshop was facilitated by internationally reputed expert of Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Co-sponsored the Corporate Governance conference arranged by the Institute of Cost and Management Accounts of Bangladesh. The theme of the conference was Corporate Governance, Bangladesh Perspective

The Bank encourages the participation of graduates in the business processes of the Bank through its internship programs. This initiative of the Bank allows fresh and meritorious graduates from Business Schools and Universities to get on hand experience about the different processes in banking. These experiences help them to plan their career path more effectively.

Games & Sports PBL participates in major sponsorship programs in the area of sports such as Golf to popularize the same among the public.

Co-sponsored cricket tournament Fair play Cup 2006 arranged by University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh. Participants were cricket teams of reputed private universities of Bangladesh and did not any professional player.

Sponsored the Prime Bank International Women Rating Chess Tournament and Prime Bank Open Chess Tournament (under twelve years old). Leonine Chess Club the leading registered chess club in Bangladesh organized the tournament.

Financial assistance to Bangladesh Hockey Federation for publishing their souvenir.

Charity Prime bank Limited supports various charitable institutions for doing their social benevolent activities. Some of the initiatives of the Bank are given below

Bank helped various charitable institutions in their find raising campaign by selling their lottery tickets through the branches of the Bank. The organizations are Bangladesh Society for Hypertension, Diabetic Association of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Cancer Society.

Financial support was given to various magazines and souvenir for encouraging the participants of the eminent writers of the country. Environment Prime Bank is always committed in discharging its due social commitment and is especially concerned about the impact of Banks financed projects on surrounding environment. An Environmental policy is formulated in accordance with guidelines issued by Government. As per the policy, environmental impact will be considered at the time of credit and lending risks analysis.

Chapter 07: Comparison Of Performance Of Prime Bank Limited With Other Banks & Recommendation

7.1 Competition & PBLs Performance

Bangladesh Bank, the Central Bank of Bangladesh analyzes and rates the performance of the banks that are operating in Bangladesh according to CAMELS Framework. The CAMELS rating involves analyzing the following factors of (i) The capital Adequacy. (ii) Asset Quality. (iii) Management Soundness (iv) Earnings(v) Liquidity(vi) Sensitivity to Market RiskRating (CAMELS Rating) of all commercial banks on the basis of credit management performance have been rated by Bangladesh Bank (BB). There are two systems of CAMEL Rating. One is on-site and the other is off-site. The off-site rating is as follows:

A-Class Bank:

1. Prime Bank Ltd.2. Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd. 3. Dhaka Bank Ltd.4. American Express Bank5. Standard chartered Bank6. State Bank of India7. National Bank of Pakistan8. Citi Bank N.A.9. HSBC10. EBL

B-Class Bank:

1. Basic Bank Ltd.2. Eastern Bank Ltd.3. NCC Bank Ltd.4. Southeast Bank Ltd.5. Mercantile Bank Ltd.6. One Bank Ltd.7. EXIM Bank Ltd.8. Premier Bank Ltd.9. Mutual Trust Bank10. The Trust Bank11. Bank Asia Ltd.12. Standard Bank Ltd.13. Jamuna Bank Ltd.14. Brac Bank Ltd.15. 16. Shahjalal Bank17. Islami Bank BD Ltd.18. Social Investment Bank19. First Security Bank20. Credit Agricole Indosuez21. Shamil Bank of Bahrain

C-Class Bank:1. AB Bank Ltd.2. IFIC Bank Ltd.3. National Bank Ltd.4. Al-Arafah Bank Ltd.

D-Class Bank:1. Janata Bank2. Rupali Bank Ltd.3. RAKUB4. BSRS5. The City Bank Ltd.6. UCBL7. Uttara Bank Ltd.8. Pubali Bank Ltd.9. Al-Baraka Bank Ltd.10. Habib Bank Ltd.11. Bangladesh Commerce Bank

E-Class Bank:1. Sonali Bank2. Agrani Bank3. Bangladesh Krishi Bank4. Bangladesh Shilpa Bank

CAMELS rating shows that Prime Bank Limited is the top most market leader. CAMEL rating is very much confidential. It is internationally acceptable and image builder in the financial market globally. This is a good sign for PBL to become Number One in the rating and it has already proved the tag line that prime Bank is really a bank with a difference

All these banks are the competitors but Prime Bank is performing better than others. All the other banks are also All these banks are the competitors but Prime Bank is performing better than others. All the other banks are trying to differentiate their products (schemes) through their different marketing activities. However, Prime Bank Limited has proved to be the Number One Bank by out-competing those counter attacks of competitors.PBL has been able to beat the competitors by practicing the Relationship Marketing approach. There are number of benefits associated with the relation of the existing customers and development of long-term satisfying relationships

Sales, marketing and set-up costs are amortized over a longer customer lifetime; Repeat customers often cost less to service; It allows cross 0f selling opportunities, leading to increased customer expenditure over time; It stops competitors knowing them; It allows for inter-generational relationships; Satisfied customers provide referrals and may be willing to pay a price premium; The costs of serving existing customers may not always be less; Retained customers are not always less price-sensitive; Retained customers do not always spend more with the company; Long-standing customers do not always pass on positive word-of-mouth recommendations.

7.2 Comparison Of Financial Services Of different Banks With PBL Car Loan This loan goes by the name Auto loan and Auto line in Eastern bank and Dutch Bangla bank respectively. But it is known as Car Loan in the other banks.. A comparison between the loans features is discussed below:Rate of Interest

Figure: -15 Comparing interest rates for Car Loa7 Loan Limit

Figure:-16 Comparing loan limit for car loan

Service Charge

Figure:-17 Comparing service charge for car loan

Stamp Charge

Figure:-18 Comparing stamp charge for car loan

House Hold Durable Loan This loan goes by different names in different banks. The features of this credit scheme offered by different banks are provided below:Loan Limit

Figure:-19 Comparing loan limit for household durables loan

Miscellaneous Charge

Figure:-20 Comparing miscellaneous charge for household durables loan

Any Purpose Loan Rate of Interest Figure:-21 Comparing interest rate for any purpose loan

Service Charge

Figure:-22 Comparing service charge for any purpose loan

Education Loan Rate of Interest Figure:-23 Comparing interest rate for education loan

Miscellaneous ChargeFigure:-24 Comparing miscellaneous charge for Education Loan

Down Payment Figure:-25 Comparing Down Payment For Education Loan

Marriage Loan Loan Limit Figure:-26 Comparing Loan Limit For Marriage Loan

Hospitalization Loan Loan Limit

Figure:-27 Comparing Loan Limit For Hospitalization Loan

Down Payment

Figure:-28 Comparing Down Payment For Hospitalization Loan

7.3 Problem Findings and Recommendation During the internship period, I have come across a few problems or lackings that are present in Prime Bank Limited. There are some deficiencies regarding administration, customer handling and coordination with departments of Head Office

(i) Lack of Segmentation in Job Duties Sometimes the employees of this branch are not quite sure about their Job Description and Job Specification. Some times it creates conflicts.

Recommendation: To overcome this problem, the Head Office should issue office order describing the Job description and Job Specification and the tasks to be performed for each job in the Branch. If the employees know what they ought to do, they would be able to perform well.

(ii) Centralized control of Head Office The branch operations directed by Head Office. In case of credit proposal ap