KB prezent. angl - Komerční banka

010 ➔011
Interview with the Chairman of the
Board and Chief Executive Officer
Interview with the
Chairman of the Board
and Chief Executive Officer
The end of the era of anonymous banking – can we describe 2003 in this way from Komerční banka’s perspective?
This certainly is one of the important attributes of the past year, in which we successfully completed the implementation of our new
business model. Our approach to clients rests on three pillars: accessibility, proximity, and expertise. Today, the Bank is accessible
to its clients from anywhere 24 hours a day, 7 days a week thanks to direct banking, and it is also close to its clients because every
client has his/her own relationship manager today. This really is a major change in the quality of service to our clients.
Product and service quality will be a strong success factor in the highly competitive environment. The competitive
pressures are growing stronger, also in relation to the Czech Republic’s accession to the European Union. How is
Komerční banka coping with these pressures?
Komerční banka is a universal bank. This means that we serve all clients, ranging from private individuals to small and
medium-sized enterprises and municipalities to the largest corporations. We are well aware of the growing competition and
we are well aware that we have to offer all clients the highest quality of products and services that they need. In 2003,
Komerční banka launched a number of new or innovated products, particularly for the segments of individuals, small and
medium-sized enterprises and municipalities. We are and will continue to be very active in improving our offer further. Thanks
to cross-selling and close synergies with KB affiliates, KB Group can offer products and services tailored to the needs of
respective customer segments. The fact that each client has his/her own relationship manager unquestionably helps to
enhance service quality. However, we are facing another challenge, and that is the improvement of internal processes. This is
why KB launched its Renaissance strategic programme in 2003.
Renaissance is a three-year programme and encompasses about ten individual projects. What will it entail for KB clients?
The strategic objective of this programme is to develop new tools and processes that will help us to continue improving
customer service. In this programme, we mainly focus on simplifying and automating our internal processes. Therefore, the
outcome of these projects may not be as visible at first sight as new products and services. For example, the way in which
a payment order is processed inside the Bank is invisible to the client. However, what the client does see is the result of this
process. He/She can see whether the Bank is quick or slow, and whether communicating with the Bank is easy and friendly,
or complicated and discouraging. Komerční banka wants to be a friendly bank, a bank clients will be happy to approach.
To this end, we need to have high quality products, high quality service, and high quality internal processes. Innovation and
professionalism are among our company values, and the Renaissance programme makes it possible to carry them out to the
full. As with the implementation of the new business model, we are using the in-depth know-how of our main shareholder,
the Société Générale Group, when changing our internal processes.