HERE FOR GOOD: Standard Chartered Bank CEO, Albert Saltson talks building world-class products and going the extra mile as the Bank’s Customer Service Month gets underway For over 10 years now, Standard Chartered Bank Uganda has inbuilt in its DNA, the celebration of its customers by dedicating a special period every year to appreciate its customers. Initially, this started as a Customer Service Week but has since evolved into a Customer Service Month. In this interview with CEO East Africa Magazine, Albert Saltson, the Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, reiterates the importance of celebrating the bank’s most important stakeholders that have kept the bank running uninterrupted for 109 years now and why the Standard Chartered Bank Customer Service Month is the most important in the bank’s calendar.

Standard Chartered Bank has declared this October as the customer service month- What is the genesis of this initiative and why dedicate such a long period, where most businesses usually talk of Customer Service Week? 

Customers continue to be at the heart of our strategy, and we have continuously reaffirmed our commitment to them by introducing new and improved products and services that meet their diverse and unique needs.

We recognize that our Customers are the anchor of our business, they are the reason we have remained open for 109 years without any interruption, they are the reason we come to work every day and for this, we decided to recognize and reward them for choosing to bank with us.

As a matter of fact, we started this journey over 10 years ago. We were inspired by the need to go the extra mile to show our clients our gratitude for their business support and loyalty. Initially, we celebrated our clients over a week and referred to this event as Customer Service Week, it has since evolved as we raised the bar to do more.

It is said that the greatest customer appreciation starts with great service. How are you improving your client’s service and differentiating yourselves?

Our clients are our business, so our focus remains on providing innovative solutions to meet their evolving needs. The overarching objective is to improve their experiences through an enhanced end-to-end digital offering with intuitive platforms, best-in-class products and services that respond to their needs.

We have therefore aggressively invested in better technology, quickly adopting more digital channels, training our people, differentiating our brand proposition, and introducing enhanced product capabilities for our clients to enjoy flexible, stress-free and convenient banking solutions.

Our digital capabilities are in line with our brand promise ‘Here for Good.’ We bring world-class products and functionality to Uganda, consistent with the trends and progress which Standard Chartered is making globally by leveraging our strong group network.

So what should your clients expect during this Customer Service Month?

Great question! This month we are doing a lot more than saying thank you verbally to our clients. We gave great thought to what we can do to make them feel celebrated and have planned activities for our Corporate, Priority, Personal and Business clients. Some of the activities include; Recognition and Appreciation of our clients with dinner at Serena, breakfast at Café Javas, Coffee at Endiiro, plaques, hampers, certificates airtime, data and much more.

We will also hold Digital Open Days (SC Mobile App and Straight2Bank platform) to sensitize our clients on these channel capabilities.

We have also planned ‘Client Treasure Hunts’, this is an exciting activity where clients may win instant prizes for taking specific actions. We shall communicate what clients need to do on our social media platforms.

We will conclude the customer service month with a Comedy night show dubbed #LaughwithSCB.

What message would you like to send your customers during this special week? 

I want to wrap up by thanking our clients for choosing Standard Chartered Bank as their preferred bank.

I want to assure our clients that we are a bank that has their best interests at heart, and we possess state-of-the-art capabilities, systems, a strong heritage and a global footprint that enables us to serve them locally or globally.

We encourage everyone to visit our website: www.sc.com/ug as well as follow our social media pages for updates.