Every couple of weeks or so, I make a trip to the bank, to withdraw cash – for I remain a Luddite when it comes to using ATM cards – to pay in cheques or to request some other service. Until last summer, this was a simple process: there’s a branch close to my office, so I didn’t need to go to the one which holds my account. I just strolled across the road, or, for simple transactions, asked the office assistant to do it for me.
It’s a small branch, opened only a few years ago – efficient, with pleasant staff and a manager who was invariably helpful.
Then the bank’s senior management decided that the branch needed upgrading and modernising – not that I could see any need for that. So the ground floor was closed and customers were directed to a door at the back of the building and up some stairs to a crowded little room to conduct any business. It would only be for a few months, we were told. OK, I could put up with that.
One day, I found that the upstairs room had closed, too, and customers were told to go to another branch over a kilometre away until the refurbishment had been completed. That meant a car journey – and with that the office assistant lost his little monetary thank-you, though that’s by-the-by.
I couldn’t help noticing that the other branch was rather crowded. Sometimes, I’ve waited 90 minutes or more to reach the teller. On one recent visit, in polite frustration, I joined the queue seeking to grumble to the manager. Very apologetically, he explained that it wasn’t his fault: customers were being referred to his branch from two or three other branches under refurbishment. At times, he said, customers waited as long as three hours. I felt rather sorry for him, having to deal with a steady stream of irritated customers complaining about something over which he had absolutely no control.
In early January, this particular bank had nine of its 40 branches in the Abu Dhabi area completely closed, including its key location at Marina Mall and its flagship head office. At the same time, over two months since Yas Mall opened, it still hasn’t managed to get its branch there open, though competitors have.
Asking around, I’ve found that many, many other people have experienced the same delays and frustration.
Do so many branches have to be closed at the same time? And do all of them really need a complete refurbishment? To my simple, customer’s, mind, it seems a rather odd approach.
I was, therefore, wryly amused last week to read that the bank concerned had reported record profits last year, up to Dh5.8 billion, with a healthy dividend.
Its group chief executive proudly announced that various initiatives, including the refurbishing of the branch network, would “lead to a much greater customer experience”, promising that during 2015 the bank will continue its strategy “to build deeper and more meaningful relationships with clients”.
“I am proud,” he said, “of the progress we have made toward become a client-focused bank … enhancing our client service.”
Is the enormous inconvenience caused by the refurbishment programme and the cost, to customers and their employers, of the tens of thousands of working hours lost by sitting in queues part of that enhancement?
Has the enormous cost to the bank itself been worthwhile?
The bank, the group chief executive added in his end-of-year statement, is “focused on deepening relationships with our chosen customers …”
What a naive person I am. When I opened my account at the bank over 30 years ago, I thought it was I who had chosen them, not the other way round.
My local branch, I’m relieved to say, has just reopened for business, after many months. I can’t help wondering, though, whether I’m not good enough any more to be among the “chosen customers” for the “25th safest bank in the world”.
Peter Hellyer is a consultant specialising in the UAE’s history and culture
