CITY BANK AND ITS 5 DIMENSIONS OF SERVICE QUALITY Reliability: As a service provider City Bank has been very

reliable to its customers and has proven itself to be amongst one of leading banks of Bangladesh. In these years City Bank has provided its clients with the best quality service and made sure that they live up to the expectations of their customers. City bank wins the Asian Banker Strongest bank in Bangladesh 2010 award. As we say city bank is the oldest and strongest bank in our country we always serve our customer with quality. City bank is among the very few local bank which do not follow the traditional, decentralized, geographically managed, branch based business or profit model. Instead the bank manages its business vertically from the head office through 4 distinct business divisions namely 1. 2. 3. 4. Corporate and investment banking Retail banking(including cards) SME banking and Treasury and market risk

Under a real time online banking platform, these 4 business division are supported at the back by a robust service delivery or operation setup and also a smart IT backbone. Such centralized business segment based business and operation model ensure specialized treatment and services to the banks different customer segments. Customer can easily do transaction of their money even with dual currency. Customer can do easily sanction loan with valid requirement. City bank is so punctual and dedicated to their customer and their service so that customer gets their service on time which makes the bank more reliable to their customer.

Responsiveness: This dimension of service quality is becoming ever more apparent as we progress towards a technologically sound future, of global connectivity. Online entities such as Facebook and Twitter have made customer interaction and maintenance a persistent model of efficiency. Far beyond the scopes of phone, personally filed complaints and even email. City Bank has evolved with the stream of time and technology to reach out to its existing and prospective client base through its widespread network of online and offline connectivity. Through its main website, the company periodically updates corporate level and industry level news and related information. Breakdown of its range of available services under comprehensively detailed sub sections allow ease of navigation and a definite impact in terms of first impressions. Although the nature of communication has far exceeded the capacities of our nation, City Bank itself adheres to whatever facilities are made possible. Hotlines for constant customer support and

individually maintained records in company archives allow for smooth transition from Query to Solution with a minimal margin of error, in terms of mere financial backup and assistance. However the aspect of responsiveness does not limit itself to technology. Inter-personnel exchange of information and solution is optimized to maintain a constant flow of activity within the companys range of day-to-day activities. More importantly, the level of training for employees reaches into this aspect as well, thus employees are prepared to anticipate and handle most, if not any circumstances that may arise from customer interaction and participation. Attentiveness and willingness to assist are greatly emphasized and expected to be maintained in face of increasingly diverse market conditions and customer base. Responsiveness is an integral piece of the puzzle towards a companys ability to cope and keep up with its customers. Its efficiency of implementation ensures long-term & short term customer satisfaction, thus ultimately loyalty. As previously mentioned, due to the advent of technological leaps in communication, expected minimum requirements from a customer has increased significantly. Thereby helping to initiate the aforementioned range of features that City Bank has managed to successfully integrate with respect to this basic quality of service, responsiveness. Assurance: The ability to invoke appropriate feedback and participation from a customer/client is a necessary tool of the trade that all employees at City Bank need to be able to prioritize and optimize on a regular basis. The human need for mutual assurance allows smoother progression towards an understanding of the requirements of any given situation. City Banks ability to cater to an increasing range of demographic & geographic segments allows it to access a wide range of data related to customer classification. This allows its employees and the company to filter the level/type of attention that a select customer base, or in fact even certain individual clients. This aspect of service quality illustrates its significance particularly with respect to institutions such as City Bank, where there is a significant factor of risk evaluation. Not to mention that such clients tend to feel a much higher degree of uncertainty with respect to banking, insurance and other wealth-management services that form a part of City Banks range of facilities. The widening modes of access to information have become the highlight of the modern age and as such City Bank manages its global portfolio with a firm concentration upon the strength of its brand. The ability to adapt to various levels of anticipation and service expectation has often been marked as a key strength of the company, thereby allowing it to assure customers of its dexterity of facility. Aside from mere marketability, various training regimes, often minutely specialized form the interaction phase of City Banks ability to assure and invoke confidence from its clients. Queuing is monitored and managed to avoid frustration and mismanagement. And often, the service Recognized and established as a premier financial entity in Bangladesh, it should come as no surprise that City Bank won the 2010 Asian Banker award for The Strongest Bank in Bangladesh as City Bank MD & CEO K. Mahmood Sattar took to the stage to accept the awards. Such mentionable aspects of a firms history and performance become impressionable facets of assurance and identity in the world of customer loyalty.

Empathy: The emergence of new forms of banking channels such as Internet banking, ATM, Phone banking and also maturing financial market and global competition have forced bankers to to explore the customer empathy that leads to loyalty. City bank is among the very few local banks which do not follow traditional, decentralized, branch based business or profit model. Empathy as well as the customer satisfaction is the vital part of this banking sector because banking activities are not limited to the lending or interest activities. As a competitive company they follow some strategies that help them to achieve customer loyalty. Unlike many of their industry peers they also realized that the customer service does not stop at the front line. Generally their basic empathy strategies are Understand and resolve customer problem and minimum cost to customers. Maintaining a company wide culture of empathy. Empathized with and give decision making power to the company frontline employees so they can focus on generating excellent customer service. The main thing is city bank is serving customer from their point of view that is how they want the banking service to be or how easily people solve their problems through banking. City Bank is the first bank in Bangladesh to have issued Dual Currency Credit Card. The bank is a principal member of VISA international and it issues both Local Currency (Taka) & Foreign Currency (US Dollar) card limits in a single plastic. VISA Debit Card is another popular product which the bank is pushing hard in order to ease out the queues at the branch created by its astounding base of some 400,000 retail customers. The launch of VISA Prepaid Card for the travel sector is currently underway.

City Bank has launched American Express Credit Card and American Express Gold Credit card in November 2009. City Bank is the local caretaker of the brand and is responsible for all operations supporting the issuing of the new credit cards, including billing and accounting, customer service, credit management and charge authorizations, as well as marketing the cards in Bangladesh. City Bank prides itself in offering a very personalized and friendly customer service. It has in place a customized service excellence model called CRP that focuses on ensuring happy customers through setting benchmarks for the bank's employees' attitude, behavior, readiness level, accuracy and timelines of service quality.

Empathy Customer Satisfaction Customer Loyaolty

Analysis of empathy level of City Bank: Strengths: Focusing on front line employees so that they can generate the actual satisfation through problem solving. Providing customized service or banking system such as I-banking, visa prepaid card for travlel purpose etc. Better financial strength and brand image. Folows customized service excellence model called CRP that focuses on ensuring happy customers through setting benchmarks for the bank's employees' attitude, behavior, readiness level, accuracy and timelines of service quality. Providing service or products from the customers point of view.

Weaknesses: Lacking in advertising Promotional activities are not that strong.

Recommendation: Constant flow of information must be generatedasa customer interacts with the bank. A bank can have all inforamtion what customer wants but it can never develop valuable customer relationship unless it places value on meeting those needs. Emapthy establishes a set of customer focused value. A healthy empathy can be gained through creating the right experience for customer at each point of contact. Customer must feel Just for me experience.

Finally to grow and differentiate the service of banking City Bank need to be customer-centric organization. Thus the company that follows empathy rules can survive with increased market share and profitability.

Tangibles: City bank is designed in its interior to accommodate and be of a comfort zone for its awaiting or being serviced customer. The furnitures are comfortable and the whole braches are centrally air-conditioned with proper sitting arrangements and help in every corner of the bank is set up to attend to each individual needs. The bank has been awarded Asian strongest bank in the year 2010 for its striving service quality. Its been growing every since. They have been showing their tangible qualities enhancing their service quality.

City Banks interior and the friendly environment they are very reliable and comforting for the customers. On their exclusive branches the interiors are homely with spacious surrounding. The walls are filled with pictures of banks history and their advertisement and schemes. The teller booths and customer care are very organized and been maintained by the Specific branch manager. Each customer is given their deserving importance and priority The most important factor of a Bank and Financial & Investments companies are security problem. In City Bank all the branches are secured by close circuit cameras, metal detectors and security with gun.A client entering any of City Banks branch feels secure after looking at the tangibles and it makes them feel that their wealth are in safe hands. There are prayer rooms for Muslim customers. City Bank always assures that their customers are comfortable. They always try to make sure that they provide quality service to the customers as efficiently as possible so that the customers dont have to wait in long Queues. And unlike other banks City Bank assures that their ATM Booths have enough cash in it to provide uninterrupted service.

Important clients are distinguished among others and serviced accordingly. As an example, if a Director of any company has to wait for the long queue he/she will be served with coffee/tea so that the client can be relaxed and happy. Another could be the exclusive service by the employee, exclusive teller booth to serve the exclusive customer in quick time. The ATM booths are about to offer a new service through which money can be deposited into a persons account without the hassle of checks through the ATM machine.

With the support of all their modern equipments City Bank has successfully giving best service to its customers and has the intentions to provide even better service in the years to come.