Lack of space chokes Union bank’s Pen Cinema branch

BY ENIOLA ILORI

Customer satisfaction is principal to the survival of any business. The banking industry is no exception to this. This is why banks strive to provide their customers with top notch services as a way of retaining their continued patronage.

In the light of this, on June 28, 2017, BUSSINESS HALLMARK visited some banks in Agege Pen Cinema and Ogba in Lagos, to see how banks measure up to the challenge of providing quality services to their teeming customers. Our findings would be of interesting reading to you.

Union Bank Pen cinema Branch, Agege

Our first point of call was Union Bank, opposite GTBANK e-Branch. It wears a new look as it was just renovated. The bank premises were guarded by both private security personnel and policemen. Customers visiting this branch have challenge with where to park their cars as there is no parking space within the bank premises.

The banking hall is medium size with three tellers manning the counters. The banking hall was crowded with customers as they spent more than 15 minutes on queue before they were attended to.There were three Customer Care Staff attending to the customers. They were courteous and prompt in responding to customers.

Union Bank Branch has two ATM in its premises,  but only one of them was dispensing cash. As a result of this, customers had to form a long queue, spending at least 15 minutes before they could make withdrawals from the ATM.

This branch has just one toilet for both Male and Female. The floor of the toilet was flooded with water and messy.  Customers had to queue to take turns in using the bank’s convenience.

ZENITH BANK Pen Cinema Branch, Agege

The nearby Zenith Bank is located adjacent to the Pen Cinema Police Station, Agege and beside Tasty Fried Chicken. It is housed in a fenced two storey building, manned by private security personnel and mobile police officers. The private security personnel were helping to usher customers in and out of the bank. The bank environment was clean and has a corporate ambience.

If you go to this branch with your car, you won’t have problem with where to park, because it has a spacious parking lot for customers.

There were four ATM machines in the bank premises and all of them were functioning properly. But customers had to queue for about five minutes before making withdrawals from the ATMs.

The bank’s medium-sized banking hall was on the first floor and there were four Tellers at the counter attending to customers. They spent less than five minutes wrapping up their transactions across the counter.

The ground floor was occupied by the Customer Care Service and other operations staff. There were two customer service staff attending to Customers. Although they were prompt in attending customers, however, their demeanor was unbecoming of a customer relations officer.

Diamond Bank Ogba Branch

Diamond bank Ogba is one of the several banks situated along Ijaiye Road, Ogba, Lagos. This branch has a good corporate environment with spacious parking and a good looking building.

There were quite number of security personnel working inside and outside the bank, trying their best to put everything in order, even though it was obvious that the crowd management was very poor.

The two ATMs within the bank premises were out of service, so the security guards had to direct customers into the banking hall to use of POS making the banking hall very crowded and rowdy. The four tellers on the counter were finding it difficult to cope with the crowd in the banking hall.

The shocking part of this was that there was no toilet that customers could use whenever they were pressed in the bank. And the water dispenser in the banking hall was without water.

Keystone Bank Ogba Branch

This bank is just beside Diamond Bank,Ogba. It operates from a big building with good parking space for customers who go in to the bank with their cars. Well dressed and friendly security personnel and a police officer actively manned the bank premises.

This bank has just one ATM machine which was working very well and the securities were around helping the customers with the ATM.

The banking hall was spacious, clean and neat and there were four Tellers at the counter with few customers to attend to. The lady in charge of the customer care service was very friendly and related well to the customers. She was very professional in the discharge of her duties.

The bank has a clean and very neat toilet. And the water dispenser in the banking hall was stocked with water.

Bank Assessment Table

Excellent: 10-9, Good: 8-7, Average: 6-5, Fair: 4-3, Poor: 2-1