Although the number of premium clients is small, they contribute the largest portion of a bank’s turnover. That is why banks have started to pay full attention to VIP clients by applying various marketing strategies, such as providing special interest rates, offering merchandise at discounted prices or offering personalized financial management.
There are various names for such services, with banks calling it personal, priority or private banking. The premium banking market has a lot of potential as there are about 1.5 million people in the country with an average income of Rp 500 million per year. Some bank managers estimate the number to be double that. As an example to demonstrate the size of the contribution to banks by premium clients, BCA says 80 percent of its assets originate from high income customers, making it no surprise that BCA is aggressively marketing BCA Prioritas.
To join this program, a customer is required to deposit at least Rp 250 million. Currently, BCA serves its priority customers in special VIP rooms at 114 branches throughout Indonesia. In addition, there are also executive lounges at 20 main airports in the country.
The bank also regularly offers such clients exclusive items at special prices, such as property, luxury cars, paintings and shares in line with the bank’s slogan for the products, “exclusively for BCA’s priority customers”.
Undeniably, today’s customers demand that a bank understands their needs specifically and individually. Wealthy clients demand not only topnotch services, but also return on investment, security and convenience. These are some of the challenges faced by domestic banks in the form of private banking and wealth management with facilities that meet customers’ requirements. Also provided are personalized and customized services.
Each customer is served by a special “relationship manager” who provides consultation and various facilities, including specially designed programs that cover banking and non-banking transactions. It is not only BCA that is being aggressive in this field. Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) also strives to keep its premium customers happy.
On Aug. 27, the bank held an event called “Grandparents’ Day” in appreciation of its BII Platinum Access wealth management customers at Hotel Darmawangsa, South Jakarta. The event was a family program offering activities for all members of a family — grandchildren, parents and grandparents — such as story telling, face painting, handprints of grandparents and grandchildren, T-shirt painting and a children’s performance.
“All this is in line with our theme, family banking, which has been incorporated into BII Platinum Access,” said Sanjay Kapoor, director of BII consumer banking.
BII Platinum Access has been developed with the bank’s wealth management program as one of its priority services. BII also provides services that give clients end-to-end benefits through highly personalized service by trained investment staff. Among the services and facilities offered by the bank are asset management, wealth management, special privileges, global information services, personalized assistance and worldwide services.
Some of the products offered are bancassurance, mutual funds, time deposits and savings and checking accounts. Other investment tools are structured investment and government bonds. BII Platinum Access was introduced in May 2003 and is available at branches in Jakarta (BII Thamrin, Wisma Mulia, Kelapa Gading, Pondok Indah and Puri Kencana), Medan, Surabaya and Bandung. Wealth management is becoming increasingly popular.
