Table of Contents

1. Company Background........................................................................................................2
 Products of the Bank.......................................................................................................2
 Corporate Social Responsibility......................................................................................3
 Work Environment and HR.............................................................................................3
 UCBL Vision...................................................................................................................3
2. Contributions to the organization........................................................................................3
 Credit Department.......................................................................................................4
 General Banking Department......................................................................................4
 Clearings Department..................................................................................................4
 The Accounts department............................................................................................5
3. Learning’s and skills acquired............................................................................................5
 Technical Skills...............................................................................................................5
 Analytical Skills..............................................................................................................6
 People Skills....................................................................................................................6
 Personal Development.....................................................................................................7
4. Interaction with supervisors................................................................................................8
5. Difficulties faced at work....................................................................................................8
6. Expectation vs. Experience.................................................................................................9
7. Influence of Internship in My Career Plans......................................................................10
8. Things that would change if I repeat the internship program...........................................11
9. Conclusion........................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12
Appendix..................................................................................................................................13

1
Internship Site: United Commercial Bank – Bashundhara Branch
1. Company Background
Sponsored by some dynamic and reputed entrepreneurs and eminent industrialists of the
country and also participated by the Government, United Commercial Bank (UCB) is among
the first private banks of this country. It started its journey in mid-1983 and has since
established itself as one of the largest first generation banks in the country. This modern bank
has its vast network of 158 branches and is taking part in the strong competition through
personalized service, innovative practices, dynamic approach and efficient Management, that
took stage due to the presence of all other banks in the country. (United Commercial Bank
Profile, 2015) United Commercial Bank has two other subsidiary companies which are UCB
Capital Management Limited, a stock broker firm and UCB Investment Limited, which
functions as a full-fledged merchant bank (Quarterly Financial Statements (unaudited) Third
Quarter, 2015).

Products of the Bank

The Bank has expanded its arena in different and diverse segments of banking to serve needs
of customers at all levels. Due to recent technological developments and the trend for mobile
banking, the bank also introduced UCash, a complete mobile financial service by UCBL
which is one of the leading brands among all other mobile financial services. The UCB Cards
sector offers seven different types of cards, which has shown tremendous growth since
inception back in 2006 and now has around 50000 active customers.
With a firm commitment to promote SME sector, the Bank is also assessing and monitoring

•Accounts •UCB NRB Savings •Dhrubo

•Deposit Schemes •UCB NRB DPS Plus •Onkur
•Loans •Locker Service •Durjoy
•Cards •Remittance •Jyoti
•Locker Service •Dipti

Persg NRB Banking SME

Banking

•Corporate Loans
•Off-Shore Banking
•Structured Finance

Corporate IMPERIAL UCash

Banking Banking
Business loans, managing business financing risks, pricing products and working for further
development of SME. Its Corporate banking service consists of issuing loans to more complex
matters, such as helping minimize taxes paid by overseas subsidiaries, managing changes in
foreign exchange rates or working out the details of financing packages necessary for the
construction of a new office, plant or other facility. (UCB Home, 2015)

Corporate Social Responsibility

Over the past thirty years UCBL has contributed in several kinds of CSR activities all over
the country and takes pride to be a part of the development in various sectors such as health,
education, environment and socio-economic factors and also preserve Art & Culture. Such as
scholarship for poor and brilliant students, financial Assistance to poor and destitute for their
health issues, financial support to government and non-government relief & welfare funds for
victims of natural disasters like storm, flood, earthquake, severe winter etc. (Corporate Social
Responsibility, 2015)

Work Environment and HR

The organization’s work environment, policies and structure of the overall HR is very rich
when compared to the industry standards. Career planning is very nicely carried out with
promotions in management positions pre-planned, subject to a written exam every three
years. Training programs for employees take part quite frequently and eligibility for training
programs are chosen based on employee performance in their respective branches.
Compensation structure is attractive and standard if compared to others within the industry.
UCBL as an organization is a great place to work if you are planning to be in the banking
sector.

UCBL Vision
UCB, aiming to play a leading role in the economic activities of the country, is firmly
engaged in the development of trade, commerce and industry by investing in network
expansion and new technology adoption to have competitive advantage.

2. Contributions to the organization

All my activities conducted were actually under the supervision of the Branch Operation
Manager of UCB Bashundhara Branch however, as I was rotated among different
departments, I had to report to respective department heads while working. The branch had
four departments among them; I worked in four and was not part of the Cash department
since it was already overstaffed.
My assignment and contribution to the different departments at the organization-

 Credit Department: I was primarily appointed to the Credit Department. At first I had to
acquire some knowledge of some basic regulations. Only after that I could help my
supervisor in receiving party application, issuing sanction letter, preparing customer
information forms to be sent to Bangladesh Bank CIB department for clearance
information, issuing expiry letter and monitoring bank guarantee.

 General Banking Department: In General Banking Department, my activities was

mostly supporting my supervisor in handling customers. This is the department where I
spent the greatest amount of my time during the internship program. UCBL uses software
called FlexCube, to record all their transactions which as an intern I was not allowed to
access, although I was explained and showed how it works. U-CBS was the other
software, used to access information and help customers with facilities such as print of
bank statement. My major task was to:
 Fill up account opening form and take verification from operation manager.
 Communicate with customers regarding the information they wanted to know
such as the documents required to open an account, the interest rates
 Inform customers of different types of services
 Pay order issue
 Give out bank statements
 Record issue requests for check books and hand out check books
 Prepare forms required to issue debit card etc.
 Give away debit card and entry it.
 Help prepare customer transaction profiles and KYC which is used for customer
risk ratings and handle customers accordingly.
 Manually record in the books all sorts of documents that come into the bank.
My assistance helped my supervisors to serve many customers in the least time. While
working in this department, all my work was at the bank’s front desk and being able to
provide superior service to the customers and making them feel comfortable was of great
importance. My communication skills were of high value to them and I was praised for it.

 Clearings Department: In Clearings Department, my major tasks were

 Receive and record clearing checks
  Separate high value and regular value check, where anything below BDT 500 000
is regular value.
 summing up check,
 Batch entry
 Take authorization from customer for clearing check.
 Finding return/bounced check and inform my supervisor to contact clients.
 Helping customer to write check.

Accuracy while working was very crucial for this department since we had to deal with
check and this is the sector of banking where possibilities of fraud were the highest.

 The Accounts department: I also worked at Accounts department where I worked for
only 3 working days and the senior executive officer Hasina Momotaz was my supervisor
on accounts department. She thought me different aspect of accounts departments like
convenes, General ledger, parking lot etc. During my time at accounts department my
main task was to check the old voucher and find out wheatear there was any mistakes on
voucher or not and if I find out any mistakes my task was to make it correct from the
employee who create that voucher.

3. Learnings and skills acquired

Technical Skills: UCBL uses FlexCube and U-CBS software to serve its customers.
These softwares are advanced database system that works like Microsoft Access, just like
I have learned in my Management Database System (MIS205) course. It stores the entire
data using a hub that creates a link between every account maintained at UCBL,
transactions made and such by an individual. As I have learned in my course, while
establishing a database I need to ensure that I keep a primary key that would be unique
for each individual data enquiry and all other data would be linked to that primary key by
using a secondary key, FlexCube also uses a primary key known as CIF for every
individual customer to record and access all data.
I have not been authorized to use the software but I observed and asked my in charge
about the software and learned how it works. FlexCube is more advanced than the
Microsoft Access and more user friendly too. It would not be difficult for any individual
officer to learn about the use of the software. Unlike the Microsoft Access, the officers
just need to insert the information about the customer to record or search any information.
Learnt a lot about MS Excel: During the first few days, I faced a bit of difficulty since I
was not very proficient with excel, I just had basic knowledge of it. To work in a bank or
anywhere to that matter, excel is one of the very primary requirements since every other
work requires excel. In order to develop my excel skills, I spent my free time at home
practicing excel spreadsheets according to basic excel lessons on YouTube. Now I might
not know how to use every other formula or make something very extraordinary out of an
excel spreadsheet but, I know enough to function in a formal job. I have learnt to prepare
a table which includes simple formulas like sum or multipliers, I have learnt to prepare
graphs, I learnt how to set custom data search paramaters (for example all values over
200000) and I know enough to be able to edit or function with more complex tables of
such sort.
Analytical Skills: Bank jobs require working with very strict caution and accuracy but
had to be fast and efficient, that was projected in my work as well for that is what I
learned from everyone there. UCBL uses its own network server, which becomes slow
very often. It creates problem for officers in keeping up their pace of work and reduces
their efficiency. Customers often come up with very weird problems and at times cannot
even make what to ask for. Working at the front desk gave me an experience of
Interpreting their complications and functioning while the system was sometimes a mess.
I also learned how to analyze a customer and make a “Transaction Profile” based on my
own opinion on what customer’s had to say. While working in the credit department I had
an experience of preparing very crucial legal documents and with minimal help, although
these were made as per format, faults existed and I had to come up with changes and
corrections on my own for which I was praised.
People Skills: Probably communication skill is the most important skill for an individual
in any service industry, especially in banking service. I was pretty good with my people
skills and was quite famous for it at the front desk. On an average busy day, I would have
to serve at least 35 to 40 customers. One of my major responsibilities was to make the
customers understand the requirements to open up a new saving account/current account.
UCBL do not have any specific target customers, it generally serves any customers who
want to have an account with the bank, and it has a customer base from aristocrat society
to very poor individuals who are generally less educated. So, I had to communicate with
all types of customers, and at times it was quite a hurdle for me to explain the less
educated customers due to their lack of knowledge regarding
 banking rules. I had to adjust with customers accordingly to make them understand, even
though they sometimes did not cooperate. There were times when things went out of
hands as there are frauds whose intentions are to misuse accounts. Such customers usually
do not want to provide all the requirements to open accounts and behave very irrationally
while I tried to explain them about the requirements. In such cases, I had to be patient and
calm and if things went out of my control, I had to ask for help from seniors.

Personal Development
 Practical Knowledge of Banking: Till my internship I have only learnt about banking
through different academic courses, however from such internship I got the opportunity
to experience all these academic theories practically.
 Team Skills: I have also achieved team skills as all the tasks are separated from different
division. Each had different team of interns, employees and my managers as well as
different target to achieve. Such experience has sharpened my ability to work in a team
environment.
 Ability to Work under Pressure: There was time when I had to handle multiple tasks
at a time under severe pressure and strict deadlines. This has taught me how to prioritize
my workload and work effectively and efficiently.
 Attention to Detail: Banking is all about proper documentation and handling agreement
papers which I got to acknowledge at the very first stage. A single mistake can result in a
serious crime. Thus my internship has taught me how to work efficiently as well as
carefully. It has improved my skill to work with concentration for long hours as
agreement papers and other legal papers needed to be done flawlessly.
 Modern Banking Scheme: The Banking system of 21st century is highly technology
based. As UCBL also maintains pace with the competitive business environment, its
advanced software handling system, activities, culture, and philosophy helped me as an
intern to be best at any field of work to fit.
 Following Policy: Alike all banks UCBL is also a strict follower of BB rules and
regulation. Thus before conducting any task I also needed to be alert that each and every
action whether is done following the policy. Such policy also enriched my knowledge
about banking sector. During my internship program, an audit team lead by Bangladesh
members were present for over a week and they taught me a few things on their own,
such as what to look at when preparing a complete form. How to prepare
 a proper KYC and what are the things to observe while making a customer’s transaction
profile.

4. Interaction with supervisors

All of my coworkers and my supervisor uphold all of the company values. In the very first
day I have met with my supervisors and some other interns and it was somewhat of an
induction process. However, I did not understand how the bank provides services to the
customers right away. Being a bit confused and clumsy is always part of an internship
process for the intern and every supervisor I reported to was very considerate about the fact. I
was allowed the flexibility to fizzle and learn. I am grateful to all my supervisors because
they helped me a lot whenever I faced complications during work. My supervisors always
tried to teach me the procedures that are necessary to provide good banking services. They
provided me the guidelines for giving the customer services in a shortest possible way. Lunch
hour was the fun time where we interns or supervisors did not maintain much boundary. I
even went out with my supervisors and other interns after office a few times. I even went an
extra mile and planned to start a small business with one of my supervisors and we are
presently working on that plan. Their friendly and inspiring treatment helped me consider
myself as an important part of the team.

As the organizational culture at Bashundhara branch is built on the perception that every
employee should be sincere towards their responsibility, this sense of responsibility was also
reflected in my job tasks. The employees used to work together against every difficulty and
so did I. The major goal of the organization was to create strong relationship with their
customers by providing them a very friendly home like service. In spite of being my
supervisor, they used to act like a mentor and share all their personal and professional
perceptions with me, which not only made me open to share my opinions but also created a
friendly bonding among us.

5. Difficulties faced at work

Lack of important information: I have mentioned in my journal that front desk was
understaffed when considering presence of permanent employees. Many a times I was alone
at the desk and since I was not an officer or employee of the bank, there were things I was not
authorized to access or do. These problems created congestion at the front desk and
customers used to complain and at times end up yelling. Although I was not at fault, I had to
take the fall.

Undesirable tasks: There were a few times I was given a lot of works that could have been
conducted by a messenger such as organizing files according to a list or taking paper to desks.
These things sometimes made me uncomfortable but I had to deal with the situation by
showing them that my work at hand was of much more importance and urgency.

6. Expectation vs. Experience

My expectations included both positive and negative aspects some which were based on
rumors and some based on theories I have learnt during my years in university. A brief
comparison is projected below in a table, between what my expectations were and what I
came along in reality. However, in my opinion, marketing techniques that I learnt in class are
much modernized and in the best interest of all sorts of organizations which UCB should try
to pick up.

Expectation Reality

Primarily I was bored to death due to

Expected to be drowned in work.
lack of work but eventually work came
along.
I thought I would be assigned to do very I was assigned some boring and
useless tasks, from what I have heard somewhat valueless jobs, but not all of
earlier, them were such.
But, I had to earn their trust by showing
I expected my supervisors to give me
them sense of responsibility and strict
work on their own.
interest first to get work.
Since it was a bank, I expected a very Everyone was very friendly and open to
rigid professional culture, especially communications, they were always
when dealing with department heads or interested in teaching us and rigidity was
operations manager and such. not an issue at all.
However, that was not the case. Functioning
I expected people or my superiors to have a in a bank requires more specialization than
decision making power, according to complicated management techniques. Other
modern management theories and than senior managers in positions such as
motivation techniques that I learnt. branch manager or operations manager,
everyone’s job is quite repetitive.
 Lack of quality service existed within
Marketing theories taught me to serve operations. Such as, somewhat of a
customers with superior service to ensure superior tone while talking to a customer,
utmost satisfaction. dull lighting and furniture etc. Simple
changes could add a “wow” factor.
Customers require reminders of a brand’s Customers are not communicated in form
presence, when it has an established image of advertisements from the bank. The bank
and the brand is in its maturity stage. Even is currently functioning based on the brand
the highest selling brands require the same. image that it has previously created. This
(Kotler & Armstrong, 2009) will lead to failure in brand recognition.
Modern marketing theories suggest service
organizations to go for customized services All products of UCB is standardized,
or at least leave room for customization. although they have a wide number of
This increases customer loyalty and creates product but nothing can be customized
a perception of superior service. (Coelho & according to individual needs.
Henseler, 2012)
UCB does not practice social media
Active participation in social media. marketing even though it’s the most
widespread and convenient form of
modern promotions.
7. Influence of Internship in My Career Plans
After conducting internship under UCBL, my career plans did not really change much than what I had planned in my
academic life. I was aware earlier on that bank jobs are quite monotonous and that is what I have seen in a practical
situation. However, banks are definitely not a straight no for me after I worked here. Some explanations in favor of it might
be-
Bank is a secured career path as there are minimal chances of job loss.

 All banks offers very attractive compensation packages frequent scope of promotion
which is subject to performance.
 Job tasks are easier to learn and repetitive hence easier to project performance.
 Work hours including formal and informal are less compared to other parts of the
corporate world.
 Positive social recognition.
Currently I hold the perception that MNCs definitely boosts a fresh graduate’s career but it is
not the only sector which can gear up my career. Banks are a very attractive career path but I
would not prefer being in a bank if I get similar compensation packages and work
environment in other industries such as FMCG or appliance companies. Banks are of less
priority to me just

Internship Site: United Commercial Bank – Bashundhara Branch 10

because of the monotonous nature of work and everything else in my views are more
attractive in this sector.

8. Things that would change if I repeat the internship program

Firstly, I would have greater faith in my eligibility and place my CV for internship positions
earlier on in organizations that are larger in forms of operations and facilitates greater scope
to learn. Although it has been an honor to work with an organization like UCBL Bashundhara
Branch, its operations were very small place with total of around 19 employees. Working in
large organizations provides very good scope to achieve better knowledge and experience and
also opens a chance of being hired. I believe I would have had the opportunity to provide
more creative input.

If I did work in a bank again, I would want to be in a bank’s principal branch, although
Bashundhara branch is a renowned and big branch but it is not even one third the size of head
office. In addition to the size there are several other departments which include my area of
academic learning which is marketing and Human Resource Management. The size of
Bashundhara branch also restricts the level of networking I could have made if would have
been selected for head office, since it is the corporate hub.

Lastly, I would want to be more punctual especially during the morning. Although this was
never a complaint from my supervisors as I worked with efficiency and interest and even
stayed late very often, I never liked the idea of being late in the morning.

9. Conclusion

I am very happy to be able to work at the second best bank of Bangladesh for my internship
program. Getting involved in a routine and discipline life of the corporate system was really
exciting. The program allowed me to understand the difference and similarity between
corporate system and academic teachings. The knowledge that I have acquired from this
organization will always be a lesson for me. It helped me to set a guideline for my future
career plan. The affection and warmth I have received was amazing and made me want to
work. It would be great pleasure for me if I get an opportunity to become a part of the family.

11
Internship Site: United Commercial Bank –Bashundhara Branch
References

Coelho, P. S., & Henseler, J. (2012). Creating customer loyalty through service customization.
European Journal of Marketing, 46(3/4), 331-356. Retrieved April 7,
2016, from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/03090561211202503

Corporate Social Responsibility. (2015). Retrieved April 1, 2016, from United

Commercial Bank: http://www.ucb.com.bd/index.php?page=know-
ucb/corporate-social-responsibility

Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2009). Principles of Marketing (Twelfth ed.). Pearson.

Quarterly Financial Statements (unaudited) Third Quarter. (2015, December). Financial Information.
United Commercial Bank. Retrieved April 1, 2016, from
http://www.ucb.com.bd/index.php?page=know-ucb/reports-and-
statements

UCB Home. (2015). Retrieved March 30, 2016, from United

Commercial Bank: http://www.ucb.com.bd/index.php

United Commercial Bank Profile. (2015). Retrieved April 1, 2016, from United
Commercial Bank: http://www.ucb.com.bd/index.php?page=know-ucb/ucb-
profit
Appendix