Companies

The UK’s Metro Bank is eight years young, and its drive to grow exponentially doesn’t show any sign of letting up. While providing traditional banking services to its swelling number of personal and business customers, or FANS, it also distinguishes itself with non-traditional services such as ultra-fast account opening, coin-counting machines and pet-friendly perks. Vernon Hill, its founder, explains where Metro Bank is today and where it plans to go in the future.

Nigeria is known as the “Giant of Africa” due to its substantial population and economy to match. Its banks are constantly challenged to meet evolving needs, and one bank in particular, Keystone Bank Limited, stands out for its determination to do just that. Having recently undergone a management transition, Keystone has a fresh vision and willingness to do all it can to make its customer service dependable and convenient.

Although Sierra Leone has been hard hit by a number of devastating factors, not the least of which the deadly Ebola virus, it is richly endowed with resources, human and natural. Making the most of the best the country has to offer has kept Union Trust Bank at the forefront of the country’s economic development. In our interview with him, CEO Dr. J. Sanpha Koroma explains how.

The picturesque Caribbean island of Jamaica is home to three million people, and many of them turn to one of the country’s oldest and today its largest financial institution, National Commercial Bank Jamaica (NCB). Serving a diverse group of customers ranging from individuals to government agencies, NCB is committed to offering a broad selection of financial products and services from retail accounts to pension funds.

One of Ecuador’s leading banks, Produbanco, has refused to allow unfavourable national economic circumstances to get it down. By staying true to its customer-centred culture, the bank is successfully fulfilling its long-term strategies. CEO Ricardo Cuesta discusses how the bank’s commitment to pushing its objectives forward by utilizing technology, exploiting its own brand, honouring CSR goals has paid big dividends, and not just financial.

Every bank claims an important role in its community by providing a safe haven for deposits and offering credit; yet some go beyond that by supporting their communities through corporate social responsibility initiatives. Michelle Palmer-Keizer, General Manager, Group Marketing and Communications for Republic Bank in Trinidad and Tobago, outlines the four pillars of Republic’s Power to Make A Difference programme as well as other important outreaches.

Family-owned banks are a rarity today, but one, MoraBanc, can still be found in the tiny, mountainous European nation of Andorra. And it continues to serve its customers well, thanks in large part to the leadership of CEO Pedro González Grau, whose vision of a transformed business model has resulted during a short three-year time span in increased sustainability and, more importantly, customer trust and satisfaction.

Vietnam’s Asia Commercial Bank is enjoying a turn-around that most financial institutions would gladly embrace, posting one of its best performance years in 2016. The private bank’s success may lie in its practice of setting ambitious goals and objectives, then following through by using its competitive advantages to achieve them, providing the personal but innovative service that its varied customers demand.

Sweden’s Handelsbanken continues to buck the trend toward pooling bank operations into one centralized command post by living by its “church spire” vision—that is, that a bank’s reach should be limited to what can be seen from atop a church spire. Mats Ernborg, branch manager of Handelsbanken Strandvägen in Stockholm, discusses why this tried-and-true decentralization model works so effectively for his local customers.

Johan Thijs, CEO of Europe’s top bank-insurance group, KBC of Belgium, provides his insights into what has contributed to this financial giant’s success, evidenced by its strong profit track record. Nearly 20 years on, KBC has been in the advantageous position of being able to offer an unusually broad range of product and service choices to its customers, pushing it to the head of its class.