Banking and Financial Services Survey

Dear Banker!

Subject: Retail Banking Strategic Assessment

We, at Strategy2Action, are committed to delivering value to our clients and the public by innovating and learning. As part of the learning process, we find your opinions of immense importance.

Scope:  We are studying the evolution of banking industry to develop consulting and training services for banks globally and in the region.  We intend to learn from “best practices” by banks such as yours in terms of differentiation and product development and share the results with participating banks.

These retail differentiators can be with partners, for example, tieing up credit card expenditure with airmiles, or offering discounted cinema tickets on card purchases. Further freebies like chequebooks, supplementary cards and extra auto loan entitlements are just a few of the tools that help banks differentiate their products and services in an increasingly price competitive, generic market. We would be obliged for your participation and assure you that the results will go a long way for our mutual benefit.

Bank Name
Participant Name
Participant Designation
Participant Email ID
Participant handphone/ office number

 Module 1: Insights on retail loan bundling (in the form of a discussion)

1                     How are customers segmented and how does customer segmentation tie with product segmentation?

1. Product features of bundled products  including pricing tiers?
2. Cross selling features e.g free cheque books – another loan etc
3. Entitlement enhancement
4. Value added features – (car insurance, accident cover, dining discount, milers, school fees , honeymoon suites etc)

2                     Partnership features

1. What kind of partners work with your banks (for product value add)?
2. How are these partnerships structured and negotiated?
3. Examples of key partners that work with your bank?

3                     Organization & Operations

1. How do the various functions of a Bank share responsibility & accountability in a new product launch. This includes the role of

                                                               i.      Marketing

                                                             ii.      Sales

                                                            iii.      Credit

                                                           iv.      IT

                                                             v.      Distribution platforms – branch, eBanking etc

1. Database management

                                                               i.      How do banks manage customer database for cross selling

Module 2: Specific input

1                     Who comes up with new product ideas?
2                     Where does the ‘bundling’ happen?
3                     Incentives to co-brand bank products? Are there any? Any challenges here?
4                     Approval Process?
5                     Pricing?
6                     Cross-selling subsidies?
7                     Technology requirements? Approval Required before? Or Informed?
8                     Partnerships/Co Branding?
9                     How to approach new branding partners? Who does it? At what level?
10                 Time to reach market?
11                 Involvement of other bank departments?
12                 Concept testing?
13                 Marketability check?
14                 Accountability and post-launch analysis? Parameters? Tracking? Who? How?
15                 Other back office products?
16                 Advertising themes / marketing plan? Who does it? With who’s input?
17                 Sales team buy-in? Target setting? Commitment?
18                 Sales training? Yes/No? How? By Whom?
19                 Call centre and website update?
20                 Advertising budget?
21                 Distribution strategies
22                 Distribution through the co-brand?
23                 Other marketing issues?

If not done in person, please email this questionnaire back to information@synergize.org