Bank of Cyprus may soon claim the title of “Bank of the Customer” as the new management team headed by CEO Andreas Eliades, flanked by Charilaos Stavrakis and Yiannis Kypri, change the way the bank welcomes customers.
“The customer is the king” appears to be the new motto at the banking giant with a more than 40% share of the market as the whole customer approach undergoes a thorough change with emphasis placed on serving the client quickly, efficiently and in the most friendly way possible.
To achieve this, Eliades said the BOC Group has separated the way it approaches its customers. Following the broad based restructuring, the main emphasis of the branches is to serve individuals, while businesses are served by the Business and Corporate Banking Centres.
Another significant change in the way the BOC treats its customers is the launch of new products that are flexible, easy to understand and structured in such a way to allow the Bank to respond immediately, or the latest in 2-3 days.
“We doubled our housing loans after the launch of the hassle free housing loans with the best spread of 1.25% above Lombard or 5.5% as the risk assessment factor was moved to another department,” said Eliades allowing branches to respond quickly to customer requests.
The Bank also secured the help of advance technology, allowing customers to secure authorisation for personal and other loans through the telephone and the Internet.
Stavrakis said the Generation Youth product has scored a massive hit with the public with over 6500 accounts opened, as BOC launched a product that met basic customer requirements and needs.
“We listened to our customers and tailored the Generation Youth product in such a way to meet their needs, such as allowing students abroad to draw cash from ATMs without charge, immediate overdraft facilities and many features, most of which are free of charge,” said Stavrakis.
Following the success of the Youth series, the Bank is now heavily promoting the Kids and Teens series. The speed and ease with which the Bank is now responding to customer requests for loans has also allowed the Bank to increase its share of car and personal loans.
FLAT RATE
Meeting the needs of the clients is what led the BOC to announce the scrapping of the flat rate on finance loans from October 4, 2005, with all new finance loans to be calculated in the same way that all other loans are calculated, that is on the reducing balance method.
“People were being charged up to 13-14% and we wanted to give a product to the public which is fully transparent with the fees, which is why we are scrapping the flat rate on finance loans,” said Stavrakis.
CEO Eliades promised that for existing customers with finance loans, the Bank will look into the possibility of swapping the loan, provided the previous loans are settled.
“We (BOC) may be 106 years old, but believe me when I say that we are strong as ever and have the courage and determination to stay ahead of the race, whether that is local or abroad where we are continuing to expand,” said Eliades, referring to the recent authorisation that the Bank received from the Central Bank to expand into Romania and Russia.
