DBS Launches Personal Finance Centre That Promises To Enhance Its Relationship With Loan Customers

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Long term investment to retain leadership in Loans market

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Offers Customers Superior Customer Experience Through Convenience And 'Extra-Mile' Service

SINGAPORE, MARCH 19, 2002 - DBS announced the opening of its new Personal Finance Centre located at Haw Paw Centre. The Personal Finance Centre, believed to be the first-of-its-kind in Singapore, will be the one-stop solution for all customers' personal financing needs, including home mortgages, Cashline, renovation loans and vehicle loans. The Personal Finance Centre will operate round the clock, and customers will be serviced by 100 experienced staff.

The Personal Finance Centre brings together 'under-one-roof' all of DBS consumer loans' expertise, to focus solely on providing customers advice on their personal financing needs with the bank. Customers will enjoy the convenience of being able to discuss about their personal financing portfolio with loan officers over the phone.

DBS has maintained its market dominance in mortgage loans in 2001, and it has also successfully launched Cashline in October 2001, garnering more than 30,000 Cashline accounts within three months. All this has translated to more customer inquiries about their personal financing portfolios. The Personal Finance Centre already receives an average of 10,500 calls per week on personal financing-related inquiries.

"We recognise that the penetration of mobile phones and easy access to consumer information has resulted in changing consumer needs and service expectations. Consumers want to be able to make time-critical and informed decisions about their personal financing portfolio. Infrastructure enhancements like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) allows our staff to respond to customer's needs faster and more effectively. This is especially the case for home mortgages, where customers may have immediate concerns about their installments or want us to customise other solutions to meet new requirements," said Elsie Foh, Managing Director of Personal Banking, DBS Bank.

"For customers that want to talk to our loan officers face-to-face, we also have a dedicated mobile sales team to meet them anywhere that is convenient for them and at anytime they require," added Foh.

All the Personal Finance Centre staff have the necessary experience and know-how to provide customers expert advice on their personal financing portfolio, and they are also equipped with tools like CRM to help them to be more efficient and effective.

"In additional to the modern technological aids, we also place a high premium on superior service quality. As loans become more commoditised, banks need to start competing on providing that 'extra-mile' service," said Paul Wong, Head of Direct Banking, DBS Bank.

"We have been very successful in doing this in Dao Heng and this has brought us considerable benefits in terms of new loans booked, retention, cross-selling and raising overall productivity. In fact our overall efficiency increased two-fold in terms of loans processing at Dao Heng. DBS has been able to tap on Dao Heng's experience to develop the Personal Finance Centre strategy even further, and on a larger scale," added Wong.

The Personal Finance Centre is part of a broader Direct Banking strategy led by Paul Wong, who was seconded from Dao Heng Bank in September last year. Direct Banking encompasses all non-branch customer touch-points in DBS Bank. This includes the Customer Service Call Centres, the Personal Finance Centre, Tele-sales Team and all Self Service Banking Channels.