Financial/Banking Services in Bangladesh
GIS is now-a-days a very useful tool for
decision making. Whenever it requires making a decision related to
"location", it comes to the word 'GIS'. GIS makes these location
related decisions and analysis very easy. It makes the analysis simple and
precise if the inputs are correct. Thus one can have the benefits of analyzing
spatial data as well as socio-economic data in GIS platform.
GIS in developed countries
Developed countries like USA, UK, Japan
are using this technology enormously in different business sectors beside
development activities like real state business, banking, information sharing
and so on. They use it to leverage their functionality and also increase
output. With GIS, the productivity is increased and also the decision making
jobs are very easy and accurate.
GIS in Bangladesh
In recent days, GIS technology is used in
different sectors of Bangladesh. But the matter is it is only used to prepare a
resource map or risk map of an area. The analyzing power of this tool is merely
used in those areas. The organizations working in development sector are
preparing maps and reports. But the funny matter is maps are prepared in one
cell. The person working in this cell is well skilled in GIS technologies but
he has very limited access or time to see the reports. The reports are prepared
by another person who has very limited knowledge about the technology. As a
result, the prospect of this vast technology is overlooked. Again, the scope of
using GIS technology is very vast. As mentioned earlier, location and GIS is
related to each other. Thus any organizations working with location data can
use this vast technology to enhance their activities. For example, the banking
sector has to work extensively with location. They have to locate their account
holders or locate a plot or property if anyone wants to take loans. Again any
business organizations can use GIS tools to increase their business in
different areas. They can use this tool to take decisions about establishing
their advertising boards or choose their routes to supply goods. The GIS
technology can also be used to identify future growth of the city and establish
new areas to business. In the following discussion, prospects of using GIS
technology in banking sector are highlighted. It is not a full study report.
There may be many other sides where GIS can be useful for Banks to increase
their performance and customer services.
1. Decision regarding sanction of loan-
spatial analysis of the plot.
One of the tedious jobs in banking system
is to provide loan service for the clients. Banks do so as to enhance their
accessibility to the customers. It's been being a competition among the banks
that how a bank is providing these service. In doing so, Banks need some
security like some visible property or established business etc. Now where
comes the visible property, the GIS also comes there. Banks take mortgage to
sanction and specify the amount of loan. In doing such decision, banks have to
analyze the property or plot like distance from the main road or size of the
plot, verify the actual owner of the plot, current land valuation etc. They are
doing these things manually by going to the sites or contact with third party
for doing these jobs. This takes at least 30 days to do the jobs and also have
to spend a lot of money. It also need a lot of time to make the decision. Yet
there is another chance to use the same plots to different banks for loans.
But if they have a GIS database, they
could do the followings easily:
o Do the spatial analysis easily with just
one click on the computer.
o Calculate the area or distance from main
road without going to the site/plot.
o Calculate the land value of the area by
analyzing the surrounding area.
o Creating a central database system to
prevent the double loan takers utilize same plots.
o Can reduce the investment time by 30
days.
This is a big factor for any banks to
reduce their investment time. If they can save 30 days they can have a profit
of BDT30-40 lacs (US$42857.14-US$57142.85) per year.
Bank just need the following information
for this analysis:
o Plot/property location (address).
o Owner name.
o Plot size (area).
o Distance from the main road.
o Adjacent road width.
o Present land use (specific).
o Land value.
o Information of the plot i.e. past owner,
case, previous loan taking condition etc.
o Crime rate of the area.
Many of the data like plot size, distance
from the main road, adjacent road width, present land use etc. can be derived
from the digitize map of an area. Others are to be collected from the field
level survey.
2. Decision regarding establishment of ATM
booth.
Now a day's banking service is increasing
rapidly. Every bank is trying to take the services to the customer's home or
offices. ATM is one of them. But to provide an ATM machine to an area, Bank has
to think different spatial issues like concentration of commercial land use,
concentration of debit/credit card holders of an area, route for taking money
to the ATM booth etc. These all can be done easily with a GIS tool.
Decision derived from the map regarding
ATM booth:
o Area an ATM serves.
o Factors to establish an ATM.
3. Location of the loan takers.
Bank is now spending a lot of money to
locate the account holders or loan takers. They are communicating with their
client at regular interval to locate them. This job can be made very easy with
GIS as here a loan taker or client can be easily identified in the map. But for
this, the database has to be regular updated as this is presently done.
o Present address of the loan takers.
o Change address.
o Distance from the branch and route to
the address.
4. Best route of the van to deliver money
to the ATM booth/branches.
This advantage is discussed slightly
earlier. A bank has to analyze thoroughly to select the delivery route of the
van to take money to the ATM booths. They have to think about the security. In
GIS, they can do this with creating simple network topology of the existing
road and select the best routes to take money.
5. Decision regarding establishment of new
branches.
As banking sector is a fast growing field
in Bangladesh, many new banks and branches of existing banks are establishing
now. They have to take into account different spatial issues to establish a new
bank or branch. For example, they have to do the followings things:
o Have a general idea of the area like
land value, socio-economic condition etc.
o Locate the commercial land use of the
area.
o Locate the bazaar or market area.
o Locate the residential area and business
area.
o Locate the existing road network.
All these things can be easily done with a
GIS tool by analyzing and querying to extract the data.
6. Decision regarding selection of new
investment sites for Banks or clients
Banks can also take decisions to locate or
identify new potential sites for new investments through GIS. They can analyze
an area with potentiality for economic growth, existing pattern of development
and come to a decision whether they invest in that area.
With the GIS database, a bank can do the
following:
o Regional analysis to identify profitable
location to invest.
o Identify different attraction points of
the area.
o Identify the present land use and
industry of an area.
Advantages the Bank can get:
o Improve the customer services
dynamically.
o Considerable Reduction of the
maintenance and processing cost of the Bank.
o Select the best location to establish a
new bank or branches.
o Choose the best route for money delivery
van.
o Secure the loan process by maintaining
the data in central database and share it by online data management process.
o Reduce the head count.
o Database maintenance is very easy and
cost is very low.
o Banks can save their investment related
inquiry by one months.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it can be said that banks
can have lot of advantages by introducing GIS in their daily activities. It can
save money, time and manpower which are the target of any business organizations.
It is very important to manage the data as there will be a vast amount of data
they have to handle. But by establishing a cell or by giving third party the
duties to manage and share data, the procedure can be a very profitable for
banks or other business organizations.
Effectively Marketing
Your Financial Services Firm
You've likely heard it before - either
from your manager or if you're the boss after looking hard in the mirror:
"you need a plan".
When the tire hits the pavement, the
excuse most bring up regarding a financial advisor-marketing plan is that it's
time consuming, requires consistency and can often be frustrating. We think of
cold calling, uncomfortable networking events, or dreaded public speaking. It
doesn't have to be that way.
The key really is to follow some simple
steps and try hard not to go too far out of your comfort zone. What do I mean?
In reality we all have unique talents and your business should be built around
the areas you feel most comfortable with and bring out your best. A colleague
once told me after decade of trying to wake with the birds... "I've come
to realize I'm just not a morning person, simple as that", so he runs
meetings starting later in the day.
How does this relate to marketing your
financial services practice? There exists means of marketing today that was
never thought of prior to just a few years ago. However, does that mean all of
them are going to work for you? Should you run out there and tap into all means
of marketing and expect instant success?
The answer in short is NO. Some of us like
to sit behind a desk and write rather than talk to anyone. Should this
individual be out there creating videos or conducting financial seminars? A
better solution likely for this personality type may be to write blogs, spend
time with online social networking sites or even [gasp!] make the dreaded cold
calls. The individual that loves to get up in front of crowds, see himself on
you-tube...it builds confidence and makes him or her feel like everyone sees a
celebrity in the field of finance. Without a doubt this person should feel
comfortable conducting financial seminars or putting together video blogs or
pod casts.
First things first
The steps needed in a solid marketing plan
is to begin by avoiding the destructive path of making too many mistakes, such
as mentioned in the aforementioned comments regarding your strengths. A
successful plan begins by identifying a target market. Who is your defined
audience? If you think you can just market to anyone that will talk, you've
just made your first big mistake. Does the dentist that sells dentures market
to teenagers? Define who you wish to become your "A" client first.
The financial services practice can be honed down to a narrow market. Could
your background be more accustomed to dealing with the blue collar type worker
because your family owned a plumbing business? If you want to achieve the
maximum results possible, market to who or what you know best.
If you were starting a business from
scratch, needed capital in order to get things off the ground, one of the very
first items of interest to a lending institution would be a business plan.
Should the recipe for success be any different for financial advisor? A
marketing plan is also imperative for the advisor to be successful. Saying
you're going to do two seminars in the spring and one in the fall is not a
marketing plan. What is the granddaddy of all marketing that attracts more
viewers in one day than many sitcoms in a year? The super bowl without a doubt
gathers more views and more advertising dollars than most. Do you think they
sit on their hands until the playoffs are over? They start likely the day after
the previous super bowl game is in the books. A solid marketing plan, one that
is consistent, should plan things out at least a year in advance. Get a large
wall calendar and begin planning right away. What will make up your best
marketing plan?
How will you market?
The avenues of marketing today as
mentioned previously are beyond ones imagination and the likely continuation of
ideas via the internet remain endless. Don't forget your personality when
choosing these methods and be careful not to fall victim to organizations that
promote the "one shoe fits all" -"best thing since power
steering" methods. If you choose one of the methods listed below, try to
partner it with one or two additional for testing and diversity. Remember, all
marketing takes time so don't give up in just a week or two, give it time to
work and you'll likely be happy with the results...
Seminars
While they've been around for many decades
- an aging population and high commission products seemed to be the two
ingredients necessary to blow up the seminar circuit in the 90's. Senior lunch
or dinner seminars began to emerge as a way to sell these products and generate
large commissions, which virtually every annuity marketing organization has
exploited to this day. About the only frontier that hasn't been completely
saturated from a seminar standpoint - is seminars from fee only advisors.
Seminars are a great way to market and
build a financial services practice if done correctly and with no hidden
agenda. To gather assets under management for instance, it would be
unproductive to discuss insurance type products. When conducting seminars for
you financial services practice, have specific topics in mind to benefit the
audience as if you were instructing them with no potential monetary benefit in
mind. If you plan on doing a seminar for the first time, keep in mind that you
don't want to throw it together last minute. There are many details involved in
conducting seminars for the optimum result. Important items of interest include
the location, the list of who to invite, the topic and just how to convert the
attendees to potential clients.
Blogs
Posting a blog can drive clients and
potential clients to your website easier than almost any other form of
marketing. Consistency and fluency are main components to a successful blog
campaign. The Internet is full of material to use in the financial services
industry, however be sure the content on your blog is original and not just
copy and paste content. That could not only be illegal, but also a sure way to
turn off search engines and potential readers. Blogging tools that enable you
to write such as Wordpress make it easy to a add custom look as well as useful
advisor related features, such as a stock ticker or automatically updating
financial news headlines. Keep your compliance in mind and remember a lot of
folks could see your writing - so try to be at least a halfway decent writer
and get a proofreader for grammar, syntax, etc.
Podcasts and Webinars
Like the blogs this method of marketing
does not require the advisor to be confident in front of a crowd. If you're the
type that finds it difficult to find the right words or you break the flow of
speaking with a lot of word whiskers than this might be the perfect avenue for
you. Gather the notes you will use for the presentation, find the right website
and away you go. The really nice part of this form of marketing is once you
schedule them on your calendar you're able to do them at any time that's
convenient for you, rather than having to worry about getting to a specific
location for an event.
In addition to podcasts and webinars, for
the slightly more ambitious advisors - give a radio show a try. I've know
several advisors that used this form of marketing, and while time consuming it
can pay off huge over time while making you an instant star.
Social Networking
Social media has exploded on the internet
in recent years. Sites that are devoted to this such as FaceBook, LinkedIn and
Twitter have all shown significant ability to build a social network marketing
campaign. Once again though, the target market or niche should be carefully
thought out to ensure the greatest possibility of success. These sites allow an
advisor to join a group or create his or her personal group.
Should you decide to create a group
remember to allocate enough time to make your group worth the time and effort
for others to want to visit. What's interesting about some of the networking
sites is once you've established yourself in a group, emailing the group and
inviting them to your group is easy.
Centers of Influence
There are few referrals better than those
that come from a CPA or Attorney. These centers of influence carry a lot of
weight, especially for high net worth individuals. Most advisors know it can be
difficult to develop and nurture a COI marketing strategy, but when it pay off
- it pays off big.
Keep in mind there is a time to contact
these professionals and a time to let them do their work. Would you contact a
CPA from February to April? One such strategy can be nurtured as an example is
the 2010 changes to the ROTH IRA. Would it be a possible strategy to do a
client appreciation seminar and partnering with a CPA concerning the new tax
law change? Always keeping in mind any compliance regulations, the opportunity
exists for each of you to invite your top clients and speak briefly about the
changes in tax law and the economy. The same could be true of the COI Attorney
relationship.
Client Appreciation Events
The only referral that likely trumps a
center of influence referral - is a direct referral from a satisfied client.
Rather than conducting your client review meeting one on one in person, why not
invite your clients to a client appreciation event? If you schedule an event
once every 6 months, you've not only touched base in person with your clients
twice per year, but you've allowed free time during the rest of the year for
other marketing.
In addition, allow let them know that if
they have a friend that qualifies for your services they are welcome to bring
them along as a guest. If you've ever put on a client seminar than it's easy to
talk in front of a group about the economy, changes in the industry, taxes,
income and what the future may look like for the financial markets.
In Conclusion
Remember, marketing yourself as a trusted
financial advisor is a process that involves time, effort, and consistency.
Take the necessary time to do research on your method and begin with a budget
that you can afford. In time your efforts should reap a good return on your
investment.