After what seems like an eternity, the relationship manager of one of the largest private banks in India sat down with me to understand my grievances with this bank. Recently, I moved one of our business accounts to a competitor bank and that triggered the RM of the current bank, to question why I was looking elsewhere. When asked, I pointed out the inconvenience of needing a specific certificate to be issued and installed on each device to be able to log into my business bank account. If for some reason I ever found myself without the certificate ordained devices, I was locked out of all my business accounts (which for obvious reasons is a hassle). While I am yet to understand how this process made it off the drawing board in the first place, the fact that one of the biggest banks in India was still using it, years after expiry, clearly indicates how little the bank understood about the requirements of a business today.
The RM promised that a completely revamped system was coming into place in 7-8 months and tried pitching the “support” that they provide for start-ups. As a response to this, I asked if I would have to continue to write physical letters to be able to change the address of my digital mailbox (aka email address). While he could not answer my question, I got the exact answer that I expected – to put it bluntly, large banks take their business customers for granted because of the lack of better options. While the start up support initiatives that banks put on marketing creatives look good, their backend continues to operate like it did in the 1990s. It is high time that this changes. Though the RM left with promise to do what he could, we both knew he was just a small cog in a big mess.
When I woke up this morning and replayed the interaction in my head, I had serious doubts whether the relationship manager could do even 10% of what he had promised. Therefore, I created a wishlist of what I would like my bank to provide in order to have me and my business as a customer…
- Single-day opening and shutting of bank accounts
- Business savings accounts to park excess monies
- Painless and easy ways to obtain a corporate credit card
- Seamless processes to add/edit/remove employees from company accounts
- A smart and all-encompassing mobile application
- An automated overdraft facility based on corporate credit history
- Easily accessible innovative lending products
- Quick and simple access to company investment accounts to park excess funds (in mutual funds or other investment products)
Do you have any to add?
17/2019
