http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2013 ... s-servicesRBC Royal Bank Shakes up services
No more VIP treatment for ‘big clients’
Published:
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
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BUSINESS DESK
Almost five years after Canada’s Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) bought out T&T-based RBTT, RBC is introducing a series of sweeping changes throughout its 25 branches, including trying to find alternative places for employees whose positions will become redundant, taking away VIP service for high net-worth clients and charging $4 for over-the-counter transactions. The process of branchwide conversion has a name: Wave 1.
A bank employee, who asked not to be identified, said RBC Royal Bank has taken away its VIP services, which included a separate lounge, recent magazines and private bankers, at nine branches and is now asking them to join the queues. In its response yesterday, RBC Royal Bank said: “The bank has taken the decision to discontinue our VIP service and to implement a service offering that is better aligned to the needs of our clients which still involves direct interface with senior relationship officers.”
These changes are happening against the backdrop of the June 28 resignation of Arvinder Bharath, market head of personal banking and wife of Vasant Bharath, Minister of Trade and Industry. The Sunday Guardian reported on June 9 that Arvinder Bharath had cited personal reasons for her resignation after four years of service.
Also, the employee said the bank, wanting to limit the number of walk-in customers, is granting one free transaction over the counter, after which they will pay $4 for subsequent over-the-counter services. The aim is to get more customers to use the ATMs and free up banking halls. The bank said it was not limiting the number of walk-in customers but “offering multiple options,” including greater ATM and Internet use.
Customers are even required to make an appointment to open a new account. Regarding the fee, the bank said it was part of an established industry practice. “Our most recent review of the prices of the products and services we offer revealed that, in many instances, our prices were one of the lowest in the market and in several instances we were not charging at all, unlike other banks,” the bank’s statement stated.
The insurance product comfort plan, which pays out cash on the death of the insured, is “being done away with,” the employee said. The bank said its comfort plan and travel insurance ceased to exist from July 1 because they were “not directly connected to lending products.”
Preparing for conversion
RBC Royal Bank has also introduced what is known as the Common Caribbean Operating Model (CCOM), under which a team, headed by programme director Christopher Charron, has gone into the branches to prepare them for “conversion,” both in services and infrastructure. The branches, nine so far, are at St James, Chaguanas, Chaguaramas, San Juan, Pt Lisas, Pointe-a-Pierre, West Mall, Maraval and Diego Martin.
The staff member said some employees’ jobs were being made redundant owing to changes in some services offered at the branches. Those who were interviewed for other in-house vacancies, but did not qualify, were sent to a “transition pool” at Park Street, Port-of-Spain, for 90 days, the staff member said.
The employee said, though, not everyone was waiting out the 90 days, so the bank had been offering some employees a “package” to go home. Another employee who went into the pool said the package she was eventually offered was very good. On that point, the bank said it had decided to “adjust some of our priorities,” which included “implementing a customer-facing model that meets our clients’ needs.”
The bank said in 2012, it opened a state-of-the-art client contact centre in Chaguanas and an operations and service delivery centre at London Street, Port-of-Spain, which have collectively created approximately 300 new roles and another 200 were to be created. As for the transition pool, the bank said affected employees could update their resumés and participate in retraining, which would make them “viable candidates” for new opportunities.
No more insurance
There is another change coming: RBC Insurance Services (Caribbean) Ltd, agents for Guardian Holdings Ltd, will cease to operate. The 3,500-plus portfolio will be handed over to Guardian General Insurance Ltd between July 31 and August 31.
The bank said the establishment of the Financial Institutions Act (FIA) essentially bars financial institutions from owning and operating an insurance agency locally, which led RBC Royal Bank to “discontinue” using a company-owned insurance agency to provide insurance services to its clients. The bank said RBC Insurance would close on September 30. “No existing policyholder will be disadvantaged by this closure,” read the bank’s statement.
Seven employees are being made redundant as a result. They were scheduled to meet with RBC Royal Bank’s human resource department this week to discuss their separation packages.
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According to a November 29, 2012, Bloomberg report, RBC profit rose 22 per cent. Net income for the period ended October 31 was Can$1.91 billion (US$1.93 billion), or Can$1.25 a share, up from Can$1.57 billion, or Can$1.02, a year earlier, the Toronto-based Lender said in a statement. Revenue rose 12 per cent to Can$7.52 billion. Royal Bank of Canada bought RBTT Financial Group in 2007 for US$2.2 billion.
The Canadian bank offered $40 (US$6.33) per share, which represented an 18 per cent premium on the closing price of RBTT shares on September 28, 2007. The number of RBC common shares received by RBTT shareholders is based on a plus/minus ten per cent “collar,” based on an RBC share price of US$54.42.
RBC combined its Caribbean retail banking operations—with 46 branches and 68 automated banking machines in nine Caribbean countries—with that of RBTT, which has banks in ten English-speaking Caribbean countries, Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. The transaction resulted in RBC having 6,900 employees and more than 1.6 million clients in 130 branches in 18 countries and territories across the region and total assets of US$13.7 billion.
