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Published March 30, 2012

DBS branching out to sell more housing loans and securities

Bid to connect with customers sees increase in sales at bank's branches

By SIOW LI SEN


(SINGAPORE) DBS is revitalising its branch network - sort of going back to the future - in a bid to connect with customers so it can sell more home loans and unit trusts.

And the emphasis on brick and mortar seems to be working going by the increase in sales at the branches, said bank executives yesterday at a media briefing.

Since the beginning of this year all its 81 branches made up of 30 DBS and 51 mass retail POSB have converted to the new branch operating model where the manager has more power to run the outlet.

The branch manager now has a lot of autonomy to drive sales by engaging customers directly, said Sim S Lim, DBS Singapore country officer.

In the past, customers asking for a mortgage would get directed to a morgage specialist, which was 'silly', said Mr Lim.

'The branch manager is now an entreprenuer, or like a businessman,' added Jeremy Soo, DBS head of consumer banking, Singapore.

Branch managers can tailor their marketing activities according to customers' needs.

For instance, a POSB branch in a new housing estate might have more family-oriented events while one in a more mature estate will roll out retirement-themed activities.

Mr Soo cited a tea party held by POSB Tampines branch and a feng shui talk at its CompassPoint branch as different activities initiated by their respective branch managers.

DBS said the strategy is bearing fruit.

Last year, 12 branches were tested on the new operating model and they averaged monthly investment sales growth of 84 per cent over 2010 compared with 35 per cent in an unconverted branch.

The percentage of relationship managers or salespeople who closed a mortgage every month at the new branch rose to 41 per cent in Q4 2011.

Cross-selling of mortgage protection rose to 46 per cent in Q4 2011 from 36 per cent in Q1 2011.

'These figures have moved higher,' said Mr Lim referrring to mortgage and mortgage protection sales in the first quarter of this year.

Koh Kar Siong, POSB head, said the bank is seeing good traction and momentum in growing sales, with costs reduction.

Mr Soo said the results can be seen from higher productivity, profitability and service improvement.

A key plank of DBS' strategy is cutting down the queues at its branches by increasing outlets where customers can go for basic banking services like cash withdrawal and deposit, and updating of savings book.

Processes have also been streamlined.

The bank has some 4.5 million customers, of which 3.9 million are are PoSB customers.

In November last year, it teamed up with SingPost to provide basic banking services at all its 61 outlets.

The basic banking services were made available in January. In February SingPost saw more than 2,500 transactions. Of these, 4 out of 5 were at SingPost outlets in the heartlands.

In 2011, average queue time at the branches was reduced by 20 per cent and for contact centre, the average speed of answer is down to 12 seconds, said a DBS spokeswoman.

'For 2012, we aim to serve 80 per cent of our customers at the branches within 15 minutes,' she said.