Banking review. Increasing sales volume in banks Development plan for a new bank office

Subsequent events occur according to the worst scenario. Since the beginning of February 1997, clients have “fled” from the bank and its branches, and no amount of persuasion to stabilize the situation stops them.

Every day, clients go with checks to receive cash from the bank's cash desk. There was already a queue of people wanting to withdraw their funds. Current accounts are being closed en masse, and clients are switching to service at a newly built Sberbank branch located nearby.

Now there was no time for persuading clients, each branch tried to arrange their own personal destiny and jump from the “sinking ship”, which had a “hole”, onto solid ground, that is, into a working bank.

By the will of fate and providence, at this difficult time I was supposed to have a second child, and I remained on the “ship”, or rather, went on maternity leave. When I returned to work in 1998, there were no more clients, and the job of a former loan officer had completely transformed. Now my main task was to sell the bank’s debtors to its creditors, and preferably at a higher price. But we must pay tribute to the management of the bank branch: during the mass departure of the bank’s clients, a decision was made to leave them in the bank’s foreign exchange office. Due to the work of the exchange office, the branch paid off creditors before other colleagues, and the question of the advisability of further maintaining the branch’s employees came up on the agenda.

It was during this difficult time that the idea of opening a bank branch in Krasnodar was born. I had fifteen years of experience in banking and a natural desire to do something that I knew well.

In order to open, it was necessary to find a bank that was interested in entering and expanding its branch network. The negotiation process with large Moscow banks was started, and it was decided to negotiate with the hundred largest banks in the country in terms of net assets. Having prepared a letter of justification, which briefly described the client branch of Sovetsky, its loan portfolio, turnover and balances on client accounts before the mass departure from the bank, the initiative group began to send it to the largest banks.

One of the Moscow banks became interested in the prospect of entering a regional site and sent an e-mail format to justify the opening of a branch.

1. Economic and geographical indicators of the region, including the state of industry, construction, agriculture, transport and communications, natural and human resources, living standards of the population.

2.Federal programs implemented in the region.

3.Economy-political situation in the region.

4. state of the banking sector and main competitors.

5. Potential client of the created branch.

6. Proposed location of the branch (preferably with photographs of the building and copies of the floor plan of the building).

7.Appendices: autobiography and candidate for the position of branch manager.

Working in a successful bank stimulated the creative process, and within two weeks a justification was prepared and sent to. The prepared justification satisfied the regional business management, and the head of the initiative group was invited for an interview in Moscow. During negotiations with management, standard requirements for drawing up a “Branch Business Plan for the half-year” were issued.

Subsequently, the bank’s regional business department set the task of presenting protocols of intent, signed by clients, on opening an account in a future branch. Such protocols were signed by clients and submitted to. The next stage was related to the fact that before the branch began operating, one of the clients would open a current account using the “Bank-Client” system and transfer their turnover for servicing to the bank’s head office in Moscow; in parallel, it was necessary to find several options for the proposed location of the branch from 450-500 sq.m., with good parking, in the city center, at the intersection of busy streets. It was necessary to persuade the client to open an account in an unfamiliar Moscow bank and transfer all the organization’s turnover there, and at the same time look for options for locating a bank branch. Both tasks were successfully completed. The bank considered the client’s only turnover to be insignificant.

But by this time, the volume of overdue loans from the bank was increasing, and all plans to open branches in the regions were curtailed.

The failure to open a branch brought disappointment, but it was decided not to abandon the process of searching for a bank ready to open a branch in Krasnodar. By this time, a ready-made bank premises had become available, from which the operating bank moved to another premises. It seemed that victory was already close.

In the end, we managed to open a representative office of a small Moscow bank and began work on attracting clients to the bank’s head office through the Internet payment system. The experience of working as a head of a representative office is described in another article.

But the desire to achieve results and fulfill the goal of opening a branch remained. In this regard, work continued on preparing a business plan for opening a branch of a large bank.

The business plan for opening a branch contained the following main sections:

1. Main directions of development of the branch for three years, description of the region, analysis of market opportunities, competition, demand for banking services, etc.

2. Client work plan, including:

· planned structure of the client portfolio;

· a set of marketing activities for client policy, assessing client interest in existing and new financial products, services, schemes;

· complex of client work activities (for main clients)

3. Credit work plan:

· assessment of the planned structure of the loan portfolio broken down by intended borrowers;

· a set of marketing activities for credit policy (assessing customer interest in existing and new credit schemes).

4.Transactions with securities:

· operations with the bank's own bills

· planned structure of the branch's securities portfolio

· work on regional “platforms”, operations with securities of regional issuers.

5. Transactions with foreign currency:

· conversion and dealing operations with hard currency and hard currency, planned counterparties, volumes of transactions (by currency), expected economic effect;

· foreign exchange transactions with cash currency (planned branch exchange offices, main clients, expected economic effect);

· estimated size of open currency position (broken down by currency).

6.Other operations (leasing, factoring and mortgage lending, etc.)

7. Expenses for creating a branch. Project payback:

· calculation of costs for creating a branch (taking into account the proposed location options);

· calculation of the project's payback (based on the forecast of the branch's profit growth for six months).

8. Applications.

· Appendix No. 1 - “Forecast balance of the branch”

· Appendix No. 2 - “Financial plan of the branch”;

· Appendix No. 3 - “Estimate of administrative and economic expenses of the branch (with explanation);

· Appendix No. 4 - “Staffing table of the branch for the year”;

· Appendix No. 5 - Forecast report on the profits and losses of the branch for the year";

· Team;

· Deciphering the items of the estimate of administrative and economic expenses.

Two versions of the branch’s financial plan were prepared for Slavyansky Bank. The first version of the financial plan assumed the following basic conditions for the branch’s activities:

· 1 year - average interest rate for attracting deposits over 3 years - 25% per annum, placement rate - 30% per annum, placement of free balance at the head office - 3% per annum;

· 2 year - average interest rate for attracting deposits over 3 years - 11%, placement rate - 18% per annum, placement of free balance at the head office - 3% per annum;

· 3 year - the average interest rate for attracting deposits over 3 years is 7% per annum, the placement rate is 14% per annum, placement of the free balance at the head office is 3% per annum.

The second version of the financial plan provided that the interest rate for 3 years would remain unchanged and be 25% per annum, the placement rate would be 30% per annum, and the placement of the free balance at the head office would be 3% per annum.

Bank "Slavyansky" studied the presented financial plan and assessed it as competently drawn up. But due to the fact that the bank does not yet have free credit resources in the amount of $50 million, the bank considered it economically unprofitable to go to the region and wait until the branch reaches its design capacity for attracting deposits, and to pursue a credit policy using the funds raised. .

The business plan was improved after each negotiation with banks.

The next stage after preparing the business plan was to select banks from the hundred largest according to the Expert magazine rating and determine the basic list with which it was planned to negotiate. Moreover, banks that already had branches open in Krasnodar did not call. This work was carried out in Moscow with the active support of the author’s sister, candidate of philosophical sciences, researcher at Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosova (Pseush A.A.). Without her help and support, perhaps the author, after the first failure, would have stopped further attempts to open a branch of a large bank.

As a result of preliminary telephone conversations, the concept for the development of the bank's branch network was clarified, and further work was based on this.

Negotiations were held with more than 50 large banks, of which meetings took place with IBG Nikoil, Probusinessbank, Dialogue-optimum, BIN-bank, National Reserve Bank, Promsvyazbank, Moscow Industrial Bank, Stroykredit, Solidarity Bank, Russian Standard, Globex Bank, Guta Bank, Promtorgbank, East Bridge Bank, Academkhimbank.

BIN Bank issued its business plan format in the form of tables:

1. Potential clients of the branch for the 1st year, name and planned balances, broken down by quarter;

2.Business development plan broken down by quarter for two years by type of proposed services;

3.Staff structure of the branch at the time of opening;

4. A basic set of equipment necessary to open a bank branch;

6.Financial plan of the branch;

7. The bank’s credit policy and the list of documents for consideration of the issue of granting loans.

Conducted marketing research on the opening of a bank branch in Krasnodar allows us to draw the following conclusions:

1. Banks, in accordance with their specifics, develop their own concept for the development of a branch network.

2. Many banks (these are mainly banks included in the top 30 banks according to the rating) are ready to purchase a building and bear all the costs of constructing a cash register center and provide loans to regional clients using their own resources.

3. Other banks (these are banks ranked below 30th) are looking for ready-made banking premises with a minimum rent, or would like to open a branch through franchising.

4. Third banks buy local banks, and thus increase their branch network.

The main question that is heard all the time is the region’s ability to attract free funds to form the branch’s liabilities.

Most banks are ready to work with enterprises from different sectors of the economy, but some pursue very clear interests in certain sectors of the economy. For example, the National Reserve Bank is mainly interested in the aviation industry, as well as unique enterprises in their industry that occupy leading positions in the market. He is ready to buy such enterprises and invest in the technical re-equipment of such monopolies. When developing a branch network, the bank proceeds primarily from the concept of purchasing a local bank. Thus, the bank acquired a local bank in Voronezh, and the same thing is the branch of NRB-Ukraine in Kyiv.

The negotiation process regarding the opening of a bank branch with the National Reserve Bank was the most exciting. During negotiations with the first vice-president of the bank (Tkachenko V.V.), the bank’s interest in the aviation industry was voiced, and at that moment the author had proposals about the need for investment in the airport in Maykop. He set the task of organizing a meeting of authorized representatives from the Republic of Adygea and the National Reserve Bank, as well as preparing a letter signed by the President of Adygea (Sovmen Kh.M.) about readiness to begin cooperation with the bank. Moreover, Tkachenko V.V. clearly outlined the cost of reconstructing the airport, funds against assets. Such a meeting was organized by the author of the article at the level of the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Armenia (Hashira A.A.) and the First Vice-President of the National Reserve Bank (Tkachenko V.V.), then a letter was sent to the bank signed by the President of the Republic of Armenia (Sovmen X .M.) dated October 16, 2002. In the letter, the following projects were named as priority objects requiring investment:

1. Reconstruction of the airport building and runway in Maykop;

2. Development program for the sanatorium-resort area of the Republic of Adygea “Lago-Naki”;

3.Construction of the Teuchezhskaya hydroelectric power station.

But the letter remained without consideration, since the first vice-president V.V. Tkachenko, with whom negotiations were held, went to work at the Central Bank of Russia, and the new person in this position considered it inappropriate to invest in the Maikop airport.

The interests of Solidarity Bank are resorts and recreation centers, because... The main founder of the bank, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions, is the owner of many sanatoriums and recreation centers throughout Russia and develops a branch network accordingly where its property is located.

Russian Standard Bank specializes in the retail market, providing loans to the population for the purchase of expensive household appliances, cars and office equipment, and is ready to enter the region in the form of a representative office.

Moscow Bank for Reconstruction and Development - communications, insurance, cellular communications. The bank acquired a controlling stake in Kuban-GSM and work is underway to open a bank branch in Krasnodar.

Thus, each bank on the market is an individual and naturally the approaches to expanding the branch network are different.

In accordance with the Instruction of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation dated July 23, 1998 No. 75-I “On the procedure for applying federal laws regulating the procedure for registering credit organizations and licensing banking activities,” a credit organization can open branches, information about which must be contained in its charter.

The head bank that opens a branch in another region is obliged to send a notice of opening a branch to two addresses: to the Central Bank State Administration at its location and to the local territorial Central Bank State Administration of the region. Along with the notification, the bank sends original copies of:

· regulations on the branch, containing the full and abbreviated name of the branch, as well as a list of those banking operations and transactions, the right to carry out which is delegated to the branch;

· questionnaires of candidates for the positions of managers and chief accountant of the branch, attaching copies of the diploma certified by the credit institution;

· a copy of the payment document confirming payment of the fee for opening a branch.

A credit institution opening a branch must comply with economic standards established by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, be financially stable for the last six months, and have premises to accommodate the branch. Moreover, the premises can be either the property of the bank or rented from another person. The banking premises must have a security, fire and alarm system, and for cash transactions - a technically strengthened cash desk in accordance with the requirements of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

The territorial institution of the Bank of Russia at the location where the branch is opened, within two weeks from the receipt of the notification, reviews the submitted documents, approves the candidates for the managers and chief accountant of the branch, and issues an opinion on the compliance of the premises in which the branch will be located with the requirements of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Then the Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation of the region sends its conclusion to the territorial Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation at the location of the head bank. The positive conclusion is accompanied by one copy of the questionnaires and autobiographies of candidates for the positions of manager and chief accountant of the branch with a note of approval.

After receiving a positive conclusion from the territorial institution of the Bank of Russia at the place where the branch was opened, the territorial institution of the Bank of Russia supervising the activities of the credit institution agrees on the regulations on the branch and makes a corresponding entry on the title page of the regulations. Within one month from the date of receipt of the credit organization’s notification about the opening of a branch, the territorial Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, at the location of the head bank, sends to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation a conclusion on the opening of a branch by the credit organization. A copy of the payment document confirming payment of the fee for opening a branch is attached to the conclusion.

The Department of Licensing of Banking and Auditing Activities of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, after receiving the conclusion, within ten working days, assigns a serial number to the branch, enters information about the branch into the Book of State Registration of Credit Institutions and notifies the credit organization and territorial offices of the Bank of Russia about this.

A bank branch has the right to begin operating in the region from the date of making an entry about it in the Book of State Registration of Credit Institutions and assigning a serial number to it.

In addition to the approval of candidates for managerial positions of a branch in the territorial Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, in some regions, in particular in the Krasnodar Territory, approval of candidates is provided for by a special commission of the regional administration, where the candidate for a leadership position is represented by the head bank and the commission has the right to ask the candidate for the position of director of the branch questions on prospects for the branch's activities in the region.

Basically, these questions relate to the branch’s credit policy, the volume of credit resources that the parent bank is supposedly ready to send to the region, the interest rate on loans, the bank’s industry focus and, accordingly, the branch’s prospects for increasing its client base. Based on the results of the interview, the commission has the right to approve or reject the submitted candidate for the managerial position of a branch of a credit institution.

Thus, in practice, opening a branch of a credit institution takes from two to four months, depending on the readiness of the bank premises and the efficiency of the employees of the territorial state offices of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

LIST OF REFERENCES USED

2. Marketing research on the opening of the author’s branch from 1999 to 2003.

The decision to enter the banking business should only be made when you have the necessary knowledge in the field, relevant work experience and sufficient funds to invest. We must understand that the mechanism for creating such a structure is quite complex, but feasible. Moreover, the direction is considered profitable and promising.

Before the start

Investing in opening a bank is considered one of the most profitable if you draw up a competent business plan for the bank in advance, find suitable premises, correctly organize the internal structure of the structure, and accurately calculate all volumes of funds flow.

But before drawing up a business plan for a bank, you should conduct a detailed and thorough marketing study of the market in the region where you plan to open your financial structure. If there are enough similar structures in the region, the venture may turn out to be unprofitable. But if you find a special specialty for her, she will have a better chance of success. In any case, the research is designed to show what the list of services should be and what volumes of funds flow you can count on.

It is worth considering that in recent years the banking sector has shown high rates of development, and the state even provides it with some support in this.

Type of banking structure

Before you start investing in opening a bank, you need to decide what type of financial structure you will open. In general, the following types of banks are distinguished:

central is a government structure;
commercial – an establishment carrying out business activities;
universal – covers basic types of services;
investment – works, respectively, with investments;
savings - accumulates money from enterprises and individuals.

Mid-level establishments may have a specialization that has its own specific organization and provision of services. They can be:

market - to have securities in assets, and own funds in liabilities;
settlement – specialize in cash settlement operations;
credit - assets are formed from customer debt, and liabilities - from own funds;
retail – a wide range of services;
interbank – make a profit from interaction with other financial institutions.

Nowadays, market-type financial institutions are the most common. But which one you should choose depends on what type of institutions prevails in your area. The fewer banks that will provide the type of service you choose, the more promising your business will be.

Description of services

The type of banking structure you choose will determine the range of services your bank can provide to customers. The most popular services are:

brokerage operations on stock and foreign exchange markets;
depository operations;
servicing of plastic cards;
issuance of bank guarantees;
lending;
cash service;
performing settlements on behalf of;
opening and maintaining bank accounts.

Registration of licenses and permits

To organize the work of a bank, you need to register a closed joint stock company, register with the tax office and obtain your unique identification number from it.

Also, for official work you will need to obtain a number of permits, the main ones being:

general license of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which gives the right to conduct banking activities;
certificate of registration from the Russian State Assay Office;
appropriate permission from the State Customs Committee.

Management and personnel

Since the bank operates only as a joint stock company, its management is carried out by the Meeting of Shareholders. At such annual events, the development strategy of the institution, its activities are determined, and management decisions are made. Other management issues are decided by the Board of Directors. The executive part is entrusted to the Board of the bank. All structural divisions of the institution, which are formed in accordance with its goals and objectives, are subordinate to him.

Internal structural divisions

The main internal structural divisions of the bank are departments that directly provide services to clients. These are structural units such as departments:

cash transactions;
deposit operations;
foreign exchange transactions;
economic accounting;
accounting;
valuable papers;
lending;
marketing and others.

Additional departments can also be organized to help the main ones. For example, security department, personnel department, technical support department, legal department, information support department, economic department.

All employees of the organization must not only be competent in the field entrusted to them, but also have an appropriate higher education.

Each bank must have its own Internal Control Service, which must report on its work to the Board of Directors at least once a year. Her areas of expertise include:

check to what extent the operations and actions of bank employees comply with established standards, check internal documents, etc.;
receive all documents necessary for verification;
in connection with their activities, employees of the Service have the right to make copies of all documents received;
if necessary, attract employees from other departments.

Project financing

According to experts, today opening a small bank will require at least 100 million rubles. A significant part of these funds will be spent on renting premises, repairs, recruiting and paying staff, issuing permits, creating a security system, etc. The higher the level of the bank, the more investment will be required.

The payback period for such a project also depends on the type of financial institution, but on average, experts call the period from five to ten years. After this period, significant profits will come.

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The bank’s business plan will help you objectively assess your strengths and capabilities at the beginning of organizing this business; will show you the specifics of the organization’s work from the inside so that you can navigate the nuances of this business.

It is not for nothing that the image of a banker is the personification of success and confidence in the future. A business associated with all kinds of cash flow brings enormous profits to its owner. However, such activities should be managed very carefully, calculating each step with maximum accuracy. Banking mistakes can be very costly.

In the business plan posted on the hiring website, you will find a model of the marketing and financial strategy of the enterprise. Taking into account these categories, the amount of starting capital, the payback period of investments and the amount of expected profit were calculated. In addition, attention is paid to the legal side of the issue, since when opening a bank this aspect is the most significant for obtaining a license for this type of activity.

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Dear friends!
Last week I received the magazine " Bank branch manager» publishing house "Regulation". My new article has been published in this magazine.

The main idea of the article is to give 10 tips for the head of a banking office, so that he can organize successful sales. More and more often, I receive questions from my subscribers about how to develop a new point of sale, what activities need to be done to fulfill the plans, and how to set up employees for high-quality and effective work.

It is no secret that in most banks the manager’s performance is assessed by one criterion - the fulfillment of the established sales plan for various banking products. Therefore, I want to give some tips that will make it easier for you to carry out your plans.

Tip 1.
Measure first, manage later. Effective management is impossible without measurement. To manage sales, you need to master key sales indicators.
The main task of the head of a bank branch is to transform the office from a black box into a specific transparent system of business indicators.
To do this, measure the productivity of each employee, first take initial measurements, and then regularly monitor the dynamics of changes.

Tip 2.
Have daily planning meetings. No meetings or meetings for several hours. Namely, small planning meetings: morning and evening meetings, their total duration should not exceed 25 minutes (for example, 10 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes in the evening). And so every day. One day without monitoring work or requesting a report will cause the employee’s motivation to work effectively to decrease.

It's like a student and a teacher. If a teacher gives homework to schoolchildren, but does not check it, do you think the schoolchildren will do such homework?
Your employees must be 100% confident that the results of their work will be noted and recorded.

Tip 3.
Develop personal sales skills for yourself and your employees.
Remember that your subordinates look up to you as a leader. A manager who does not know how to conduct effective negotiations with clients himself, but demands this from his subordinates, will quickly lose his authority in the team. Constantly engage in self-education and development, develop professionally yourself and help your employees develop.
Let them know that anyone can succeed in sales. After all, sales are not a gift. Sales is technology. And a little luck.

I hope some tips will be useful to you.
Sell beautifully and easily!
With respect to you, Shevelev Oleg.

P.s. By the way, my new course on conducting effective negotiations. I have packed all my work experience, best sales practices from all over Russia, and even ready-made phrases into this course.

You can view the course and get instant access to it

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- Let's start with what major global trends in the banking market would you highlight at the moment?

I would divide the question into two parts. There are already “classics of the genre”: reducing the margins of the classic banking business, cross-country factors and risks, and the like. Everything here is quite clear, although one can debate for a long time about these trends. But I would like to focus on something else. I think that in the near future there will be (and already are) dramatic changes in interaction with clients. Both in terms of interaction formats and in terms of the role of banks in this interaction. We are already seeing the growing influence of financial startups on the banking sector and the fierce competition for the client. These companies, whether we like it or not, will take away part of the market from us. Therefore, the basis of the banking business in the future is building interaction with both clients and new market participants.

IT companies and smart services have competed with banks in some niches. Can an IT company become a full-fledged bank?

Maybe if he learns to manage risks and is able to build relationships with clients. Successful banks do this quite well. It is also worth asking the question: why should a shareholder of an IT company become a bank if the market evaluates the efficiency of most IT companies higher than the efficiency of banks? It may be worth thinking about how to develop an existing high-tech business by entering into partnerships with the same banks.

How has the bank's role in providing financial services changed today as non-bank competitors emerge?

Unfortunately or fortunately, the role of banks has not changed much: attraction, placement, transactions. But companies are emerging that interact with the client and offer him not only financial services. Therefore, the work of banks with clients in the traditional format is short-sighted, that is, the client now probably does not need a financial solution in its pure form. He has needs, for example, to go on vacation, get medical care, education - this is not only about financial products, but about a whole range of services. Accordingly, the market will move towards meeting these complex needs.

Comprehensive satisfaction of all needs, at least financial ones, is the ecosystems or marketplaces that exist today. In your opinion, will future ecosystems be built on the basis of specific financial institutions/regulators, or will the future lie with one global marketplace?

I think it’s worth saying that marketplaces, or ecosystems (it’s better to use this term) will be built on a customer base. That is, customers themselves will determine what solutions they need, where and at what time. The winner will be the one who directly interacts with the client and manages the relationship.

In fact, existing banks (with offices) have three options: build a digital bank separately, try to develop a business based on an existing base, or combine the first two approaches

But an ecosystem cannot arise on its own. Someone must be the initiator. Either private business or the state.

Yes, but I believe that successfully building an ecosystem is possible on an existing and sufficiently large customer base. Accordingly, those players who have this client base receive preferences and benefit. These are major market players: mobile operators, large banks, large online retailers. But the state will definitely move in this direction. And we are already seeing this movement.

Let's return to the topic of banks and technology. How can effective cooperation between banks and fintech startups look like? What is easier for a bank today - to buy ready-made fintech solutions or to develop its own fintech divisions?

It’s worth making a reservation right away. We are at a point where it would be a mistake to look only at fintech startups. Focusing on fintech startups, in my opinion, is wrong, because the integration of companies from different industries at the intersection of technologies can become a tool for creating solutions for the client.

- Do you need to expand your area of interest?

Exactly. Nowadays, many technologies are being implemented in other areas, especially in biotech, artificial intelligence, HR, etc. But if we return to the question of effectively building cooperation, then it is worth talking about the ambitions and opportunities that the participants in this partnership have. Efficiency does not simply mean choosing any one strategy, but a combination of them. One option is to interact with startups. The second is when we develop competencies within ourselves. The third format of interaction is when we buy a startup or partially enter its business. As practice shows, market players use all these options. AK BARS Bank currently gives preference to the first two: we ourselves develop competencies and build partnerships. We also consider the acquisition of startups as a promising direction. I will add that the startup market itself is not as large in Russia as in other countries, so we are looking at startups from all over the world.

The question of transformation was asked for a reason. Digitalization, remote service channels, mobile banking - this leads to the fact that clients need to visit bank offices less and less. Do you think a modern bank needs physical branches?

Banks don't need offices. Clients still need them. Some people confidently use digital solutions, while others are more comfortable interacting with the bank offline. It is more convenient for them to come to the office and solve their issues there in communication with a live person. But this ratio will certainly change towards remote channels. The growth rate of RBS is difficult to predict now, but at some point in time it may become explosive. And we must be ready to provide quality service and solutions in all remote channels that the client uses.

What will happen then to offline clients and offices? For what purposes will it be necessary to maintain a retail network of branches?

I think they will look less and less like traditional bank offices. There will be no barrier environment, banks will offer more and more non-banking solutions: a certain range of services for the client’s life. But we should not forget that you can develop a business without offices, you can even occupy a certain market share in a certain client segment. But if we are talking about interaction with a wide client segment, then without physical offices, or rather offline points, it will be extremely problematic to build such a bank.

This means that we are still talking about a broad segment. That is, offices are needed not only to serve premium clients in a comfortable environment for them?

VIP clients, including clients of AK BARS Bank, quite actively use digital channels. And this is not surprising when time is one of the valuable resources. The physical channel is convenient for clients who want to communicate with a Bank employee in person, in a live dialogue.

The growth rate of RBS is now difficult to predict, but at some point in time it may become explosive

In fact, existing banks (with offices) have three options: build a digital bank separately, try to develop a business based on an existing base, or combine the first two approaches. Both cases have their pros and cons. A new digital bank is a serious investment in technology, team, and promotion. Therefore, most banks choose the second path as less risky.

Oleg, you are in charge of the client department, and what we are talking about (the introduction of new technologies) is impossible without the work of the Bank’s IT department. How should communications between the IT departments and business departments of the Bank ideally be structured?

Ideally, there should be no division into these types of units. Colleagues must be one team. But if we are talking about the current realities of banking organizations, then communications should be built on the principles of partnerships. Partnerships can be an effective tool for solving problems. Partnership also assumes the responsibility of the parties to the partnership. And here it is worth talking about the principles of a corporate culture in which such values as responsibility for results and team interaction are cultivated. From the point of view of the organizational structure, we can build an arbitrarily flat model, but if the corporate culture and the values described above are only declared, effective work will not work. That is, corporate culture is one of the necessary elements of high-quality effective interaction between IT and business.

- How quickly can the Bank’s IT departments implement customer requests?

From a few minutes to several months. We understand that everything depends on the complexity of the problem being solved. If we talk in general about the speed of introducing new solutions to the client, I can give an example of our mobile application, when new releases come out every two weeks.

- Then tell us more about what technological solutions you are currently working on?

In terms of electronic business, AK BARS Bank is working in two main directions: development of the core banking business, which will give results in the near future, and solutions for “tomorrow”. The first category includes the development of a mobile platform, online sales platform, investment and payment solutions and chatbots, data collection and processing. The second includes remote identification, quick transfers, conversational banking, etc. But I would like to emphasize once again that the goal setting here is not the introduction of the latest technologies, but rather offering customers a new experience, new solutions based on these technologies.

- How to build an ideal technological bank? In general, what, in your understanding, is the ideal of a technological bank?

As I noted above, creating a technological bank is not an end in itself. There is a need to respond to customer needs. Accordingly, in order to meet and even exceed expectations, we need to provide high-quality services that are largely technology-based. Therefore, the ideal technological bank is one that quickly, simply and conveniently solves customer problems and offers new solutions. And the second component is increasing the efficiency of banking processes.