Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)

Internship Report
ON

General Banking Activities including Foreign Trade Department

Submitted By:

Farid Imran Ahmed

ID : 1310220

Supervisor: Mr. Hasan Md. Mahmood Ul Haque

School of Business, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)
 Submitted By:

Name: Farid Imran Ahmed

ID: 1310220
Major: International Business (INB)
Minor: Human Resource Management (HRM)
Department: School of Business
Semester: Spring
Year: 2017
Email: imran_ahmed99@rocketmail.com
Address: Suvastu Nazar Valley, Tower-2, Flat-14-K2, Shahjadpur, Dhaka, 1212.

Supervisor:
Name: Hasan Md. Mahmood Ul Haque
Email: hasanhaque@iub.edu.bd
Office Location: Room No. 3007
School of Business
Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)
Contents
Letter of Transmittal ....................................................................................................................... 4
Acknowledgment ............................................................................................................................ 5
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 6
1.1 Company Profile .................................................................................................................. 8
1.1.1 Company Vision: ............................................................................................................... 9
1.1.1 Company Mission: ............................................................................................................. 9
1.1.2 Departments: ...................................................................................................................... 9
1.1.2 Organizational Structure: ..................................................................................................... 11
1.1.3 Product lines and Services: .............................................................................................. 12
1.1.4 Operation Details ............................................................................................................. 13
1.1.5 Philanthropic activities / CSR .......................................................................................... 14
2.1 Job Responsibilities: ............................................................................................................... 16
2.2 Functions of the Department ................................................................................................... 19
3.1 Challenges faced in the workplace ......................................................................................... 25
3.2 Issue Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 27
3.2 Solutions ................................................................................................................................. 28
3.2 Outcomes ............................................................................................................................ 29
3.2 Management Strategy: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) ................................ 30
3.3 Recommendations ................................................................................................................... 32
References ..................................................................................................................................... 34
Appendix A ................................................................................................................................... 35
Appendix B ................................................................................................................................... 36
 Letter of Transmittal

Date: 11th April 2017

To Mr. Hasan Md. Mahmud Ul Haque
Lecturer,
School of Business,
Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)

Subject: Submission of Internship Report

Dear Sir,
It was a great pleasure that you have given me the opportunity to submit the report on my
internship that I have done in Union Bank Ltd (Gulshan Branch) as a partial requirement of the
Internship program as a prerequisite for the completion of the BBA course.

Union Bank Ltd has 57 branched all over Bangladesh and it has been one of the esteem Islamic
bank in the country. The banking industry of Bangladesh has been growing exponentially and
Union Bank has been well known for its level of success which is achieved through high service
quality and customer satisfaction.

I therefore look forward to you that my report will be able to achieve your earnest approval. For
any kind of queries, I shall be available at your convenience.

Sincerely Yours,

__________________
Farid Imran Ahmed,
ID: 1310220,
Email: imran_ahmed99@rocketmail.com
Cell: +8801683369063,
Major: International Business
Student of School of Business,
Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)
 Acknowledgment

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Almighty Allah for giving me the strength
and ability to complete my all required BBA courses and for the preparing this report within the
scheduled time.

This report is an outcome of hard work and study that involves many peoples utmost attention to
it. Without their assistance, suggestions, navigations and co-operation, preparation of this report
would have been impossible. I would to pay my gratitude to all those who came for my
assistance in the preparation of this report.

I want to express my gratitude mainly to my academic supervisor Mr. Hasan Md. Mahmood Ul
Haque, Department of International Business, Independent University Bangladesh (IUB), who
helped me from the very beginning of my internship report. My honorable supervisor provided
me time to time suggestions and navigations for the preparation of this report. Without his help,
this report would not be possible which a partial requirement of BBA program.

I would also like to thank all my colleagues of Union Bank Ltd to provide me clear idea and
knowledge of Islamic (Shariah) banking system in Bangladesh. Their co-operation and support
for giving me the opportunity and always help and support me to prepare a standard report.
 Executive Summary

The internship report is an integral part for the completion of undergraduate program of Independent
University, Bangladesh (IUB). As a requirement of the undergraduate program, BBA499A is a
prerequisite as an completion to the program. In Spring semester 2017, I was appointed as an intern in
Union Bank Limited, Gulshan Branch and I started this program from the 1st week the February.

It was a good opportunity to work as an intern in of the leading Islamic Shahriah Commercial banks in
Bangladesh. Union Bank is a newly established full-fledged commercial Bank based on Islamic
Shariah in Private Sector of Bangladesh. The Bank has emerged as a result of further
liberalization of economic policies by the Government of Bangladesh to bring competitiveness in
the banking industry. Union bank was established on 1st April, 2013 with an Authorized Capital
of 10,000 million BDT and paid up capital of 4,280 million BDT. UBL is a 4th generation bank
which has sprouted 57 branches and 14 ATM across the country. The Bank has a total of 20
Directors where all of them are renowned businessmen in Bangladesh.

In this report, I have stated the overall company profiling of Union Bank Limited (UBL), with its
company goals, mission and vision. The departments of UBL are also illustrated with its
department activities and its segments. Then the organizational structure is illustrated in a
graphical figure along with offered products and all of UBLs organizational strategies and CSR
activities. Then I have expressed my internship experience where I have stated my job duties and
responsibilities along with the functions of the departments I have worked in.

Then I have stated an organizational scenario where UBL experienced few challenges and the
solution implemented in the period of the internship program has been stated in details.
However, other observation and finders are stated and the recommendations are briefly
explained.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
 1.1 Company Profile

Union Bank Limited (UBL) is a newly established full-fledged commercial Bank based on
Islamic Shariah in Private Sector of Bangladesh. The Bank has emerged as a result of further
liberalization of economic policies by the Government of Bangladesh to bring competitiveness in
the banking industry. Union bank was established on 1st April, 2013 with an Authorized Capital
of 10,000 million BDT and paid up capital of 4,280 million BDT.

The Union Bank limited is a 4th generation bank which has sprouted 58 branches and 14 ATM
across the country. The Bank has a total of 20 Directors and all of them are renowned
businessmen in Bangladesh.

Union Bank Limited has introduced online Banking with the help of the state-of-the-art banking
software (ABABIL), which will enable the bank to perform as any branch real time banking
services to the clients. UBL ensures security, safety and hassle free faster transactions from one
terminal to another. The Bank is effectively adopting regulatory guidelines on IT risk
management.

UBL is operated by highly professional and skilled employees in a very welcoming and friendly
environment. UBL has introduced a number of customer-friendly Deposit and Investment
Products which has been already been acclaimed by all. It has established correspondent
relationship with some reputed overseas Banks and the process is continuing to establish
mutually benefitted relationship with other Banks also. The commitment to respond to the needs
of overseas customers is very ensuring. UBL has collaborated with other local banks to ensure
smooth and fastest delivery of funds across the country.

UBL is conscious of its social business responsibilities and is determined to participate in various
social program in the country in the days to come under its Corporate Social Responsibilities
(CSR) portfolio giving special emphasis on health, habit and education. UBL establish its
vigorous presence in the global and local marketplace to upload our slogan Local Bank,
Global Opportunity.

1.1.1 Company Vision:

To become socially committed world class financial institution.

1.1.1 Company Mission:

Emancipate our poor people from abject poverty by empowering them with smooth banking
service.
Be the leading provider of Islamic Shariah compliant banking services in Bangladesh.
Provide fast, accurate and satisfactory customer service by maintaining corporate and business
ethics and transparency at all levels.
Ensure technology based professional banking environment with strong capital base.
Thrust on investment facilitating banking product.

1.1.2 Departments:
There are four departments in Union Bank Ltd :
Investment Department
Deposit Department
Foreign Trade Department
E-Banking

Investment Department :
- Bai-Muajjal
- Bai-Murabaha
- Hire-Purchase (HPSM)
 Deposit Department :
- Al-Wadiah Current Deposit
- Mudarabah Savings Deposit
- Mudarabah Short Term Deposit
- Mudarabah Term Deposit

Foreign Trade Department

- Foreign Exchange
- Remittance
- SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication)
- Treasury Service

E-Banking
- ATM Banking
- Internet Banking
- Mobile Banking
- SMS Banking
1.1.2 Organizational Structure:
 1.1.3 Product lines and Services:

Deposit Products
Al Wadiah Current Deposit Accounts.
Mudaraba Savings Deposit Accounts. (MSD)
Mudaraba Term Deposit Accounts. (MTD)
Mudaraba Short Notice Deposit Accounts. (MSND)
Mudaraba No Frill Savings Account.

Investment Products
Bai-Murabaha (Hypo)
Bai Istisna (Pre-Shipment Investment)
Bai-salam
Bai-Muajjal Investment
Quard Against MTDR

Deposit Scheme
Pension Scheme
Mudaraba Monthly Profit Scheme
Millionaire Deposit Scheme (Lackpoti)
Monthly Deposit Scheme (Prerona)
Double Deposit Scheme (Somriddhi)
Marriage Deposit Scheme (Sohozatri)
Hajj Deposit Scheme (Hajj)
Mudaraba Student Deposit Scheme (Udvash)
Mudaraba Mohor Deposite Scheme (Denmohon)
 1.1.4 Operation Details

Corporate Strategy:
Diversify portfolio both the retail and wholesale markets.
Ensure diversification by sector, size, economic purpose and geographical location wise
investment and expansion based retail and SME/Women entrepreneur financing.
Focus customers by providing innovative products and services.

Management Strategy:
Cultivate a congenial working environment.
Manage and operate the bank in the most effective manner ensuring corporate governance.

Strategy for reaching Unbanked Areas:

Meeting investment needs of small traders, hawkers, workshop owner, educated but
unemployed women etc in the urban areas.
Raising savings from the low earning rural people while extending effective investment to the
rural areas.
Providing banking access to the people of the tribal and coastal areas.
Innovating appropriate saving instruments and investment packages for fishermen, cattle
raisers, producers of milk and milk products, weavers and so on.
Funding for setting up of diagnostic centers and clinics in the rural areas and encouraging new
entrants in construction, repair and maintenance
Business Plan:
For Compliance
- Maintain capital base and capital adequacy all time as per the guidelines of Bangladesh Bank.
- Adoption and compliance of all core risks management guidelines.

For General Banking

- Mobilize low-cost/no cost deposit of different natures and financing in the form of less risky
investment on priority basis.
- Provide best services by attending clients on call.
- Be the front runner in establishing the concept of Green Banking in Bangladesh.
- Meet up corporate social obligations by participating/promoting the CSR activities.

For Corporate Services

- Focus on foreign currency business through export and remittance by expatriates as well as
service provides.
- Operate central online banking system.
- Attain strong foundation/financial footing of the bank rather earning more profit.
- Remain vigilant to manage and minimize all the risk inherent with the banking investment.

1.1.5 Philanthropic activities / CSR

- UBL has a campaign of donating and distributing warm clothing to the rural areas. This
campaign was established on the year 2015 and it has been a active social activity of UBL.
- UBL provide scholarship based on merit to the poor in an annually basis.
Chapter 2 - Internship
experience/observation
details
2.1 Job Responsibilities:
Accounts Opening:

Form fill-up for clients.

When I was in accounts opening, I had to deal with clients personally and answer any
questions regarding opening an account. However, there are clients who suffer difficulty
in filling up information in the accounts opening form like spelling difficulties,
translation of Bengali to English, navigate where what to write, etc. On the other hand,
few clients do not fill up every detail on the form. They just put their names and NID
reference number and the rest of the information, they leave it for the accounts opening
officers. For fulfill information in the bank database, the rest of the information of the
account opener is filled up by the officers or I.

Provide the instructions and requirements to the clients for an account opening.

Sometimes clients visit the bank to collect information regarding opening an account.
They want to know the benefits of each type of account and the products offered in the
bank. Benefits such as interest rates, profit scheme, Mudaraba packages and what is
needed to open an account. The bank provides brochures to the clients where all the
product details are clearly illustrated. However, few answer that the brochure cannot state
needs to answer by us.

Provide forms for new clients.

Another task was to provide forms to new clients of accounts opening. Each type of
account has a different form which requires slightly different information. Hence when
clients ask for a form, the task is to provide them the right form for the right type of
account.

Check the forms and post navigations of where to sign and fill required information.

Each form has few important sections where it has to be filled up by the clients. Such as
nominee basic information, account holder signature, nominee signature needs to be
 highlighted with a tick/mark so that clients can identify the places that need to be filled
up by them. When new forms are issued by the bank, highlights needs to be done before
it is provided to the clients. So I had to check out and highlight the places in the form.

Clearings:

Issuing Payment Order.

Payment order (PO) is an international banking term that refers to a directive to a bank or
other financial institution from a bank account holder instructing the bank to make a
payment or series of payments to a third party. It can be defined as, "Instructions to
transfer funds sent via paper and/or electronic means". Clearings department deals with
payment orders and remittances. There is a format that prints out the instrument check for
payment orders. Before issuing a pay order, the instrument check has to be printed out.
The task was to edit the information of the format and fill up with the new pay order and
print out the instrument check. Then the pay order is authorized by the signature of by
issuing officer, verifying officer and the branch manager. Hence the job was to issue the
pay order and send it for further verification and authorization.

Organize desk and files in ascending or descending order.

This is not exactly a part of the job description but it was done in a weekly basis. All the
papers and files are kept in different drawers for better organization. However, day to day
tasks get very busy and officers do not get enough time to organize all the papers and
files accordingly and put them in their serial. So the task was to organize all the files and
put them in their respective drawers/boxes in ascending or descending order. This task
was done at the end of each week, mostly on Thursdays.
Foreign Exchange:

Issuing Forwarding Letters for Foreign Payment Order.

Forwarding letters are issued to let the expected client know about the transaction date,
pay order issuing date, bill value, charges, net value, etc. It is the letter that states all these
following variables. My task was to type the forwarding letters for Foreign Pay Orders
with its respected instrument numbers and calculation of the net value. If the desired
amount is in BDT rather then USD, then the exchange rate must be shown too.

Issuing Forwarding Letters for Foreign Demand Draft (FDD).

Foreign Draft is an alternative to foreign currency. A foreign draft is a bank draft which
is drawn on a financial institution in the country of currency. They can be purchased at
commercial banks and usually have a fee depending on the institution and the type of
account you hold. Forwarding letter states

Update the register that the bank call DESPAS where all the inwards and outwards
documents are recorded in a regular basis.

Everyday many documents come to the bank and many documents are forwarded outside
of the bank. These transactions need to be recorded as soon as any movement of any
document takes place. The book where the inwards and outwards of the document are
recorded is called DESPAS. The task is to record an entry of each document with its
serial number and L/C or Bill Reference number as soon as any movement of documents
take place. The documents which are received will be sealed and the authorized signature
of the EVP will be required before the documents will be used for any transaction and
banking procedures. The outward documents are recorded and the serial number
according to the DESPAS needs to be in the reference number of the document.

Updating L/C Opening Register of Local and Foreign transactions. Updating latest
exchange rates, margin amount, commission value, VAT, and other charges.
 The L/C Opening Register contains the record of all the local and foreign L/C
transactions. The register illustrates the recent exchange rates, the margin of each
transaction (if any), VAT (if any), commission, and other charges like cable charges. It is
mandatory to put an entry of both local and foreign L/C in the register to keep the record
in the database. The task was to calculate the margin, commission, and VAT with the
dated exchange rate and write the final figure on the following boxes.

Assisting other officers/colleagues with any clerical activities.

2.2 Functions of the Department

Key Function of UBL
Like other business banks UBL plays out all customary saving money business including
presentation of an extensive variety of savings and credit items, retail banking and
backup benefit with the support of advanced innovation and expert administration, yet the
UBL stresses its capacity in export and import exchange and financing of export arranged
enterprises will upgrade riches, recover more work open doors helps development of
capital and decreases in adjusting in a critical position of installment in the nation.

Account Opening Section

Deposit Section

The relationship between banker and customers begins with the opening of an account by the
customer. Opening an account binds the banker and customers into a contractual relationship.
But the selection of customer for opening an account is a very lengthy process. In fact, fraud and
forgery for all kinds start by opening an account. So bank must take extreme caution in this
section. A customer can open different types of account through the department such as

- Current Deposit Accounts

- Savings Deposit Accounts
- Special Notice Deposits
- Fixed Deposit Accounts
Current Deposit Accounts

- Minimum opening balance BDT 1000/- but under special circumstances, it may be opened
with BDT 500/-.

- Credit balance shall be payable on demand.

- Not more than one account shall be opened in one name in the same branch.

- Incidental charges shall be realized from SB/CD accounts as per rates and rules advised by
head

- Office from time to time. Vat & tax as per Govt. rules. Proprietorship firm, Partnership
company and private Limited company can open this type of Account. This time
bank offers cheque book, Internet banking, free account statement etc

Savings Deposit Accounts

- Minimum opening balance BDT 1000/- and the account may not be retained where the
balance falls below 200/- BDT.

- 2 calculation of Interest

- A depositor may withdraw money from his/her account twice only in any week

Special Notice Deposits

- Minimum opening balance BDT 1,00,000/-

- The deposit held in these accounts shall be payable on short notice for
minimum 7 days.

- Account maintained more than one year, interest will be allowed at annual rest

- Interest is allowed on daily product basis

Fixed Deposit Accounts

- FDR accounts shall be opened for a fixed period varying from three months to 3 years or
above and are payable at a fixed date maturity

- Interest on fixed deposit account shall be paid at rates fixed by head office from time to time

- If there id no E-Tin certificate then bank must be deducted 15% charge. Retail and SME rate

Local Remittance

The commercial bank Remittance facilities to its customer are to avoid risk rising out of profit or
loss in cash carrying cash money to one place to another or making payment to someone in
another place. Banks take this risk remit the fund on behalf of the customer to save them from
any awkward happening through the network of their branches and ensure payment to the
beneficiary in exchange for a little bit benefit known as a commission. There is an important
mode of remitting money from one place to another place.

Pay Order Issue

Customer is given a perform-

- Officer writes down the name and address of the beneficiary on the main part of the PO block.
In other two part name and address of the customers is written.

- The officer gives an entry to the registry book and maintained the same number of PO block.

- Two authorized officers signed the PO block.

- At the end, customer is provided with the two of PO block after signing the back of
banks part and register book.
 Bills and Clearing Section
As per the article 37(2) OF Bangladesh Bank arrange, 1972, the banks which have
clearinghouse are called as schedule banks. The schedule banks clear the cheques drawn
upon each other through the clearinghouse. This is an agreement by the central bank
where every day the representative of the member banks gather to clearing the cheques.
Banks for credit of the proceeds to the customers account accept cheques and other
similar instruments. The bank receives many such instruments during the day from
account holders. Many of these instruments are drawn payable at other banks. As cheques
payment order or bill come from a bank with the range of local clearinghouse then it is
sent for collection through clearinghouse deposits cheques of another bank which is
within clearing house, then the bank will credit his account, and collect the cheques.
Through the amount is credited to the customers account but will not get the money until
the cheques are honored. There are three essential things for clearing the instrument:
1) Crossing seal 2) Endorsement seal 3) Clearing seal.

Cash Section
Money area is an extremely touchy organ in a branch and is taking care of with additional
care. Operations of this area are being the start of the saving money hour. Money officer
being his exchange with taking cash from the vault, known as the opening money adjust.
Vault is kept in an abundantly secured room. Keys to the room are under control of the
trade officer and branch out charge. The measure of opening money adjust is going into
the money

After filling the form carefully the customer pays the money in cash or by cheque.
The authorized person of the bank then issues PO on its specific block. This block has 3
part, one for the bank and another two for the customer. A/C payee crossing its sealed on
all PO issued by the bank.
Deposit section

The function of the deposit section is very important. It is fully computerized. The
Officer of the deposit section maintains account number of all the customers of the bank.
They are used different code number for the different account. By this section, a
depositor can know what the present position of his /her account is. The officer makes
three types of transactions such as cash, clearing, and transfer.

These sections perform the following task

1) Post all kind of transaction.
2) Provide on demand report.
3) Cheque maintenance.
4) Preparation of day transaction position.
5) Preparation of closing the monthly transaction.

Foreign exchange Operation of UBL

The foreign exchange department of Union Bank Gulshan branch deals with the export and
import business of various clients. The clients open L/C for importing and exporting goods from
and to abroad through this division. The bank usually works as the issuing bank in the case of
import, and the bank works as advising bank or negotiating bank or as both in the case of export.
The clients have to give a percentage of total cost of goods as advance for importing goods from
abroad. The clients have to pay the rest of the money to the banks to clear the goods from the
ports after the reception of the goods in ports. Foreign exchange mainly deals with various kinds
of documents and papers. These documents and papers work as claim of the credits.

Foreign exchange department deals with foreign currency and the other transaction. The major
jobs of this department are:

1. Letter of Credit (for Export & Import)

2. Dollar & Travelers Cheque Endorsement.
3. Foreign Remittance etc.
Chapter-3 - Internship
outcome/Issue analysis
 3.1 Challenges faced in the workplace
Lack of dynamic customer services- Now a day, customers seek for fast and effective banking
service with time to spare. Customer service department should be prompt and immediate responsive to
its customers. Since there are many Islamic Shahriah banks in Bangladesh and the banking industry in
developing drastically. It leads to a very tough competitive position for every bank. This is why a
unique and faster method to deal with customers should be introduced in UBL.

Lack of proper division of labour- There is a very poor maintenance of division of labour in UBL
Gulshan Branch as there is no balance of employees in each department. Hence, every
officers/employees are doing each others work. Therefore everyone has to handle almost every type of
banking activities. For example, in Accounts Opening department, there are 5 computers and 5 seats but
there are only 4 employees working. As a result, one space is unoccupied and provides a less than
expected banking service. UBL needs a proper strategy to develop their specialization process.

Lack of proper maintenance of files- The filing system of UBL is pretty poor and dense. Each
day, approximately 20-30 files are created and more than 500 copies are printed. This requires a very
huge space to occupy these files in an organized and systematic manner. However, UBL is operating
and maintaining its files and papers in their given space. Sometimes the officers are keeping the files on
their desks so that others areas do not get pre-occupied.

Lack of proper employee communication skills- It is found that UBL recruit their employees
based on banking experiences and few specific set of skills. Such skills do not include fluency in
English nor proper communication skills with clients. However, there is a Foreign Trade department in
every commercial bank of Bangladesh but they do not emphasize on employee communication skills.
This led to few difficulties in communicating with foreign clients through telephone or face to face.

Customer dissatisfaction- UBL do not have any specific way to determine their customer
satisfaction level. They rely on the feedback of the customers and emphasize more on personal services
and interactions. However, sometimes customers do not complain or express their dissatisfaction of
services from the bank, due to lack of time or inconvenience or uncomfortable situation or do not know
whom to complain.

Employee dissatisfaction- Lack of late promotions and longer probationary periods of employee
results in employee dissatisfaction. Also due to some internal management barriers or politics, some
 employee cannot get what they deserve from the workplace. Due to such cases, the motivations of the
employees get hampered and hence results in no incentive to improve working performance.

Lack of computer knowledge- Employees are UBL are recruited and selected based on some
specific working skills/criteria. This is why the employees can only operate the computer tasks that
were taught to them at their orientation training program. Since they have to work on their assigned
tasks and operate the UBL intranet site Ababil, the employees lack knowledge on other technical
computer skills such as software errors and hardware issues. They have a IT department who deals with
such problems. Which is why anytime any problem arises in any computers, they officers have to wait
till the IT department arises and solve the problem. As a result, the time hampers effectiveness of the
departments and employee performances.

Lack of effective promotional activities- UBL has been in the banking industry for a couple of
years but still the name of UBL has not been so well established. That is because UBL has never
established or implemented any effective promotional activities or advertisement to spread the name of
the bank.

Lack of proper decoration in the working area- Just like the filing system, the working area is
congested and not well decorated. The officers are used to or getting used to these congestions and
which is why sometimes any misplaces documents or instruments are very hard to find. Such poor
decoration is because of lack of space provided in the working areas.

No specific desks and tasks for internees- UBL do not have any specific desks for internees and
do not have any proper set of duties and responsibilities for the interns. However, UBL had many
interns in their past but they never developed any proper system or position for the interns. Due to no
specific desks, interns do not get to learn many banking activities by doing personal activities. The
interns can watch other officers do their tasks and only allowed to assist the officers if they were asked
to. Moreover, the locations of interns are relocated in a weekly basis which is why interns do not feel
settled enough in a specific position. Hence, they lack practical knowledge at the end of their internship
program. On the other hand, UBL do not provide any remuneration for interns that are a demotivation
for interns to work properly and be attentive. No desks, no specific tasks and no allowances provide no
incentives to interns and as a result the intern lack motivation to work and learn and their internship
experience gets frustrating.
 3.2 Issue Analysis

Union Bank Limited (UBL) is a full-fledged commercial bank based on Islamic Shahriah Banking in the
banking sector of Bangladesh. The Bank has emerged as a result of further liberalization of economic
policies by the Government of Bangladesh to bring competitiveness in the banking industry. The target of
any commercial bank is to achieve 100% customer service satisfaction. However, such numbers are hard
to achieve in such circumstances. Since the competition between commercial banks in Bangladesh is
fierce as number of competitors are very high. Striving to survive and built its competitive positioning in
the banking industry is what UBL has established to do since 1st April 2013. Getting recognition in the
commercial banking sector and gain market positioning does not fulfill company goals and objectives.

UBL recently observed that it is hard to be sure that whether they are achieving 100% bank service. They
need a more precise and clerical method to monitor their banking service to the customers. Each day,
UBL deals with several clients and most of them reviewed as Very Good or Excellent. However, one
bad review can question the whole method of banking service commitment. Approximately, 50 clients are
dealt with each day. Among these clients, one or two bad or below average reviews can prevent the bank
from achieving its company goal of 100% customer service.

UBL doubted that clients who gave below average reviews are foreign clients. That puts the Foreign
Trade department of UBL in a doubt. The primary reason could be communication barriers between
foreigners and locals. UBL has a very good rating in papers and numbers as UBL has been very effective
and efficient in documents and payment related transactions. The Vice-Chairman of UBL Mr. Ahsanul
Alam figured that many foreign clients came up with complaints such as your officers did not understand
exactly what I was trying to say. Thus it refers to communication problems.

UBL now deem to take measures to correct these barriers or problems that contradict with UBL goals and
objectives.
 3.2 Solutions

The problems that are identified by UBL have to be taken seriously in order to obtain its 100% banking
service. Being an intern in UBL for a month, I was asked to come up with a solution or an idea to deal
with such problems. There is a practice that most of the foreign banks do but it is not common in the
Bangladeshi banking industry. The idea is called Customer Arrival Profile (CAP). To obtain the
customer arrival profile, we asked the tellers to maintain a customer count by hour of the day for a period
of two month. In general, there was no customer count information in the banks system, unlike in call
centers. We then established an average customer count by hour and day of the week. The tellers also
provided a count of other, back room activities which were routinely conducted on a daily basis. Monitors
were also instructed to provide pictures of customer activities in one of twenty one. In this way, UBL will
be able to keep a profile of number of customers and the face recognition of customers who did not
received the expected banking service. Even I suggested the idea of putting a Complaint Box next to the
cash section where the clients can post their complaints of where they did not receive their expected
services. But it has been stated that there cannot be complaints against any specific officer, rather the
clients have to state the department from where they received unsatisfactory services. Personal
confidentiality must be maintained and the complaints will be opened at the end of a working week and
solve the problem before the beginning of the next week or as early as possible.

Another idea was generated to improve communication with foreign clients who are not familiar with our
native language. It is to implement a new training procedure which will be taken by all the officers in the
Foreign Trade department which will focus on improving verbal communication with international
clients. UBL recruitment system emphasize on working experience, commitment towards the
organization, punctuality, effectiveness and a minimal educational qualification. Nevertheless, better
qualification does not necessarily define good verbal communication skills. This is why this training
course will be introduced shortly for all officers. This training program is called Verbal Training Skills.
The officers will be trained to speak, listen, read and write proper English precisely and fluently. This
way UBL will be able to provide better personal services to foreign clients. This training procedure is not
mandatory for all officers but the officers who are working in the Foreign Trade Department and any
officers who are willing to take this training. The training will be taken by a professional who has highly
qualified English skills and has a lot of teaching experiences. Recruiting such trainer will not be an issue,
stated by UBL.
Customer Arrival Profile (CAP) will require more staffs to implement the process. Such as monitors and
surveillance team to keep the records in a daily or weekly basis. Also the team will be dealing with the
Complaint Box and report the branch managers and HR about the complaints in an organized way.
However, more staffs will increase organizational costs but in the long run it will be beneficial. It is
expected that effectiveness of the banking service will improve. As a result, the bank will be able to
generate more profit, more clients and better customer feedback, which is the primary goal of commercial
banks in Bangladesh.

These two ideas are now practiced in UBL and have been recognized as one of the most effective ideas to
improve efficiency of UBL.

3.2 Outcomes

UBL can differentiate the fully satisfied customers from the not-so-satisfied customers.

UBL has now a record of how many clients are entering the bank in a regular basis.

The employees of UBL have more employee morale and confidence in approaching to foreign
clients.

Employees are willing to take the training to get a better understanding in language differentiation
among countries. This training includes knowledge like which countries are not entirely familiar
with the international language.

High ranked Officers to Junior Officers are claiming to be better in speaking English fluently.

Managers are very satisfied with the new training procedure and they believe that the cost is very
less compare to the organizational benefit they are receiving from this training.
 3.2 Management Strategy: Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term that refers to practices, strategies and technologies
that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer
lifecycle, with the goal of improving business relationships with customers, assisting in customer
retention and driving sales growth. CRM systems are designed to compile information on customers
across different channels -- or points of contact between the customer and the company -- which could
include the company's website, telephone, live chat, direct mail, marketing materials and social media.
CRM systems can also give customer-facing staff detailed information on customers' personal
information, purchase history, buying preferences and concerns.

However, CRM has few softwares that assists the management process in a more effective and efficient
way.

CRM Softwares:

- Marketing Automation

- Sales Force Automation

- Contact Center Automation

- Location Based Services

CRM Challenges:

For all of the advancements in CRM technology, without the proper management, a CRM system can
become little more than a glorified database where customer information is stored. Data sets need to be
connected, distributed and organized so that users can easily access the information they need.

Companies also struggle to achieve a "single view of the customer," where many different data sets can
be seamlessly accessed and organized in a single dashboard or interface to create one view of a
customers account and relevant information. Challenges arise when customer data is inputed in several
separate systems or when data is complicated by duplicate or outdated information that slows down and
hampers the business process. These problems can lead to a decline in customer experience due to long
wait times during phone calls, improper handling of technical support cases and other issues.

Companies also continue to struggle to identify real sales prospects with their data. New lead-generation
technologies that combine CRM data with third-party data from companies like Dunn & Bradstreet and
social streams have also been emerging to provide sales and marketing teams with better sales prospects.
These methods work best, however, when companies spend time cleaning up their existing data to
eliminate duplicate and incomplete records before they supplement CRM data with external sources of
information.

CRM Relation to UBLs New initiatives:

UBL or any other commercial banks in Bangladesh seeks to achieve 100% customer services, and CRM
deals with the improvement of customer relationship and satisfaction. The Customer Arrival Profile
(CAP) initiative was implement customer monitoring and arrival account system. However, due to CRM
these records will be very efficient to gather and record due to the software assistance of CRM
Automation software.

On the other hand, the newly introduced training process of developing and improving verbal and non-
verbal communications with foreign clients in the Foreign Trade Department is a process to develop
customer business relationship. Hence, it will result in Improved Sales Growth, which is one of the major
objectives of CRM. Hence, it can be said that CRM is the most suitable Strategic Management process to
implement the ideas generated in the most productive way.
 3.3 Recommendations
Renovation of customer service department- The UBL customer service department requires a
bigger working space and better customer management team. They need to come up with better new
facilities and offers to attract potential clients to ensure their premium and loyalty to their customers.
- To ensure a better working process with faster and better computers.
- Recruitment of skilled, intellectual, smart and knowledgeable employees to improve services.
- Provide individual customer service to have a better understanding with the clients.
- Establishment of personal ATM booth of UBL in merchant places as a promotional activity.
- A bigger and better car parking facility.

Utilization of proper division of labour and man power- The Human Resource Division (HRD)
in UBL should have a proper strategy to implement their division of labour and man power. They
should select employees based on capacity and should not recruit more employees for a certain
department than it is required. They should implement specialization based on priority and importance
of the particular to achieve the premium banking objectives in an efficient manner.

Ensure proper maintenance of filing system- Since there are new files created everyday but the
office capacity is not increasing in such manner. Therefore UBL should have a department to handle
and organize all the files and have a separate office space for the files. They should recruit more Peons
to handle such activities with proper security service on the files. Many files are confidential, which is
why a proper maintenance with strong security surveillance team.

Ensure availability of machineries- Every department of UBL should maintain a proper and
available machineries like photocopy machines, printers, computers etc. Sometimes shortage of
machineries or poor performance of machineries hampers time and productivity of employees.

Ensure employee satisfaction- There should a complaint box on the HRD so that employees can
state about their working condition. They can anonymously illustrate their challenges and barriers they
are facing in their workplace. As a result, HRD will act on the complaints immediately and effectively
on a short notice. Hence, employees will have a better authority and power to change their workplace
environment and results in greater employee satisfaction.

Ensure effective promotional activities- UBL should come up with better promotional activities to
spread the name of UBL. Like establishing more ATM in the city with their monogram and have
advertisement on television and newspaper for better recognition.
 Establishing proper training to develop employee computer skills and knowledge- There
are employees who lack in many skills like computer operating skills, communication skills, technical
skills, etc. So, there are should be proper training program for each of the specific set of skills so that
employees can choose wisely that which training should be their utmost priority.

Expansion of office areas- It is said that UBL has a shortage of space to perfectly arrange and
organize their seating arrangement for employees as well as clients. As a result, congestion takes place
and productivity falls because it gets hard for employees to work under such circumstances. UBL
should renovate their office areas and make a more practical design for better organization.

Ensure internship desks and assign specific tasks- UBL had many internships in their past, so
this is high time for them to have a specific intern desk and have more intern capacity. In my internship
time period, there were only two interns and they were having difficulty to assign each interns for their
position because they do not have any plans for internship program. They do what other banks do for
the interns; let them learn clerical activities and banking activities via observation and rarely through
practical demonstration. On the other hand, UBL and others banks as well, should provide some
remuneration for interns to increase motivation and incentives.
 References

1. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.unionbank.com.bd

2. Seyoum, B.1953. Export-Import Theory, Practices, And Procedures. The Haworth Press
2009.
3. Taslim, M. A. and Haque M. S. 2011. Export Performance of Bangladesh Global
Recession and After. Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute.
4. Gordon, E. and Natarajan, k. 2014. Banking: Theory, Law and Practice, Himalaya
Publishing House, Mumbai 2014.
5. Asraf, S. A. 1995. Foreign Exchange and Financing of Foreign Trade, Lita Academics,
Bangladesh.
6. Bangladesh Bank, 2002, Foreign Exchange Policy-F, E Circular no. 5, 10 June,2002
7. Foreign exchange manual Union Bank Limited
8. Annual Report (Management Part) for the Year Ended 31 December 2016
9. Annual Report (Financial Part) for the Year Ended 31 December 2016
Appendix A

Corporate profile of Union Bank Limited.

Name of the company Union Bank Limited

Chairman Mr. Shahidul Alam

Vice Chairman Mr. Ahsanul Alam

Head Office Bahela Tower,

27, Gulshan Avenue,
Gulshan-1, Dhaka- 1212.
Email: info@unionbank.com.bd
Phone: +88029859313
Legal Status Private Limited Company

Number of Branches 58

Founded 1st April 2013

Website www.unionbankbd.com

Headquater Bahela Tower,

27, Gulshan Avenue, Gulshan-1, Dhaka 1212.
Services General Banking, Foreign Trade and
Investment.
Appendix B