Commercial Bank of Qatar - Case Study Example

Commercial Bank of Qatar Name: Course: Instructor: Date: Outline i. Introduction ii. Financials iii. Company objectives , mission & vision iv. Company services v. Internship positions vi. Importance of the internship program vii. Improvement suggestions viii. Conclusion ix. References Introduction Commercial Bank of Qatar (QSC) was the first private sector bank in Qatar founded in 1975. The headquarters are at Commercial bank Plaza in Doha, Qatar. The bank ran bank accounts only before running other operations such as the foreign exchange. The bank started opening branches within the first five years. Since its inception, the plays an important role in the economic development of Qatar by providing a range of investment services to people, institutions, business organizations, and governments. It primarily engages in Islamic and commercial banking services (Sun, 2011). The bank runs its operations at wholesale level, retail level, and through partnerships and subsidiaries. The levels cover business solutions, personal solutions, and investment services. The growth of the bank is steady and over this period, it has been winning various accolades. This includes the 2011 Citi Performance Excellence Award. To demonstrate its financial growth, the bank bought about seventy-one percent shares of Turkey’s the Alterntifbank As. HE Abdullah Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Attiyah is current chairperson of the board of directors and Hussein Ibrahim Al Fardan as the managing director. The bank has twenty-three branches across Qatar in addition to offering credit card business services in Egypt and Oman (Parker, 2011). The company’s total employee population stands at one thousand one hundred and fifteen as July 1 2013. It has a market capita of 4, 947.69 million US dollars with 1,237.23 million US dollars as outstanding shares. The dividends yield an annual average of eight point three percent. Ernst & Young are the financial auditors registered in 2012. Financials   Annual Quarterly   2012-12 2011-12 2010-12 2013-03 2012-03 Income Statement Revenue 2,782 — —   753 680 Net Interest Income 1,866 — —   454 478 Net Income 2,012 1,884 1,635   506 471 Earnings Per Share 1.63 1.54 1.45   0.41 0.38 Shares Outstanding 1,237 1,223 1,129   1,237 1,237 Figures are in millions except EPS. Currency is in QR. (Rosenbaum, 2009). Company objectives and Mission Mission Commercial bank of Qatar strives to speed up the growth and development of the financial private sector both locally and internationally for the benefit of humanity. This is in direct connection with overall national mission of Qatar to expand her needs. Vision Commercial bank of Qatar aims at becoming the primary financier for most Qatar’s economic development projects both in the private and public domains in various ways. Among the ways, commercial bank seeks to provide a medium for interested people and organizations to access finance from partners for development purposes. The company also aims at offering direct financial support to specific sectors. This is in addition to promoting exports by financing organizations involved and offering management consultancy. The bank also finances real estate development sector as well as giving scholarships to open up the market. Strategic objectives Commercial bank’s strategic objectives are in line with the company mission and vision. This covers direct and indirect financing that adds value to their services. The company also undertakes large-scale investments in strategic sectors of the economy both locally and internationally. This is an effort by the bank to give financing solutions in line with their overall vision and mission statements. The company also offers financial advisory services to help enlighten clients on the best way to make investment. To make sure that Qatar opens up to international markets as her citizens gain new markets, the bank participates in export promotion and finances the export companies directly (Parker, 2011). Through investments, the company develops a new knowledge-based industry within the larger banking industry. Commercial bank of Qatar offers their financing to the players in the real estate industry by issuing loans through the housing loans bodies and the Qatar development fund. Services Commercial bank of Qatar is a full service commercial bank with total assets of QR 73.3 billion. The bank at all scales which are corporate and retail including investment banking services. It has twenty-eight branches that operate fully with automated teller machines. The bank operates credit card business in Oman and Egypt. The company owns and runs exclusive Diners Clubs that spread from Qatar to Oman. Internship position Week 1 Roles The duties assigned in the first week were those of a front officer. These duties enhance performance in the bank for instance making sure that the quality of communication among the employees and between employees and the customers even in the most complex situations. Company communication regarding bank employees and the corporate world formed part of the customer service duties. The use of computers in opining accounts to help transforming the bank to be customer centered. Acquired skills The above roles played part in acquiring new skills that included developing customer service skills of high quality and developing skills that make customers loyal. Developing experience in using the IT system in addition learning of diverse cultural and commercial behavior were other skills learnt during the internship. Problems The first week proved challenging, as it is difficult to work in a team and handling certain customers due to shyness. Movement from class to a workstation and using the computers became a challenge in the first week too. However, it is easy to develop team spirit by getting used to working with colleagues. Approaching every step in a cautious way and constantly seeking guidance helps in adapting to the use of technology and understanding the nature of work. The ability to learn quickly was important when the field supervisor made his recommendations. Assessment of the working environment Commercial bank of Qatar is centrally located in Doha and this gives a new employee a chance to get exposure. This is a good environment to a student who spends most his time in the classroom. The location offers an intern an opportunity as the bank is always busy. The team that works at the Commercial Bank of Qatar is cordial and flexible. Team members are always will to give guidance whenever an intern seeks assistance. However, it is a challenge to deal with angry customers during early days of internship. In general, the learning outcomes in the first week included the development of management and personal skills. This covers dealing with the management officers, colleagues, and customers. Time management and working to meet set targets within set limits is another experience learnt. This requires precision and speed. Serving as a customer service officer horned my communication skills Week 2 Roles Clerical duties were assigned in the second week of the internship program. Roles of a clerical officer include opening new accounts for customers and issuing new or replacing cards. Clearing both domestic and foreign cheques and processing chequebook requests while at the same time responding to customer queries in the areas of duty. To an intern, these roles ease pressures on the working team and the management. Acquired skills Clerical duties help in developing effective social skills, public relations, and excellent communication skills. An intern acquires knowledge not learnt in the classroom for instance clearing both foreign and domestic cheques. Comparing work during the first week and second week, there is a lot of pressure working, as a clerical officer as the team is busy requires innovation and quick decision-making. Problems Pressure in the cheque-clearing house that has a lot of clerical work is difficult to cope with for an intern. It is a challenge to work with figures at high speed especially when balancing the accounts that include the Nostro accounts. Some customers become impatient when interns serve them because the speed is low. Practice and high levels of concentration are central to an intern to address the above challenges. Assessment of the working environment The team is perfect as they willingly share ideas among all the employees. This gives an opportunity to an intern to learn, as he feels free to make inquiries and seek guidance. The team is motivating as it gives roles that are challenging are to an intern to help him cope quickly in the working environment. However, like any other group conflicts come occasionally. Overall, the second week offered an opportunity for the intern to learn skills not taught in the classroom. This includes the steps of issuing cards and the clearing of cheques. Fine-tuning of precision skills takes place at this level because the intern deals with sensitive matters such as people’s cheques. An intern adapts to working within time limits and delivery of quality work once his deployment becomes in the clerical department. Week 3 Roles The intern attended training during the first three days of the third week at Commercial Bank of Qatar’s training and development center in its academy. The training is a normal refresher course for employees on ways of handling new developments as banking activities are dynamic. To an intern, the training offers new skills especially giving him first-hand experience on the training for work as opposed to the academic training received in the classroom. Other skills that an intern receives in such training include ways of dealing with pressure. This is an important training because during the first few days at work, the intern finds to be very demanding. It is also important that an intern receive knowledge on detecting fraud that occurs during bank transactions such when processing cheques, processing account opening, and front office transactions. Other roles during the week included processing requests of account opening, processing requests for chequebooks and filling debit and credit card registers. Acquired skills Skills that help an intern to treat the customer as the queen or king since the customer is the driving force behind the success of the bank were acquired during the third week. Others skills include ways of enhancing time management to meet targets within time and analytical skills that help in decision-making. This helps the learner to avoid acting on impulses or using trial and error methods to make decisions during transactions (Rosenbaum, 2009). Developments of self-confidence in addition to taking responsibility are other additional skills acquired while training during the third week. Training in the third week also develops communication skills just as in the first two weeks. This skill develops constantly because the banking industry works around public relations. This skill is important to the employees working in both the front office and the back office as clients seek queries to the staff working in all departments. Problems The biggest challenge on intern in the third week receives is the pressure that constantly mounts from the clients. Speed from an intern is essential to help him address this predicament. This is in addition to being cautious and precise. Difference in opinion comes up often when working in a team and open communication offers the best solution to the problem. Good channels of communication give room to team members to express their views without fear. This is the best way to address conflicts that inevitably arise in a team occasionally. Criticism During the third week, the intern received criticism from the field supervisor as opposed to the first two weeks where most of the comments were compliments. The intern was advised to be self-reliant most of the time rather openly show the customers that he is a trainee. This is because most clients do not appreciate receiving service from interns as they feel shy and do not trust their knowledge. The intern needs to be strong and open-minded and this is only possible if the intern has sufficient information on the transacted issue. Maximum concentration on the part of the intern is crucial in working on the criticism received from the field supervisor. Assessment of the working environment The training at the learning and development centre at the Commercial Bank of Qatar’s academy offers an opportunity to an intern to get more experience, knowledge, and skills. Intercultural relations because of meeting people from different cultural backgrounds leads to exposure. Team spirit within the department adds value to the intern and works as a motivating factor for him. However, the only problem experienced in this working environment was the unreliable internet service. There is a lot of work and people work under pressure yet failures at times does not emanate from them but the IT system. Importance of an internship program The internship program prepares a student for a successful career. First, it helps a student gain real first-hand experience of the working environment. This is important because most employers give preference to recruits with experience on the job other than the academic knowledge and skills gained in the area of interest from the classroom. The internship therefore, supplements the academic knowledge of the student. The opportunity to work in the Commercial Bank of Qatar offers uniqueness and the prestige to interact with full-time employees (Sun, 2011). After successfully completing the internship in the bank, the student is able to speak on matters in the discipline because he has full knowledge. Diverse cultural knowledge exposed to during the internship adds to the exposure of the student that may play a crucial role when the student will seek for a full-time job after completing education. The internship program offers the student an opportunity to apply knowledge gained in the classroom. This is in addition to gaining experience through training and learning. Mixing the two forms of knowledge that is class work and experience adds to the learning abilities of the student. Improvement suggestions It is crucial that Qatar University continues to offer students the opportunity to gain firsthand experience but not without changes. The University should increase the internship period. Time given is less, as there is more to gain in the field. Commercial Bank of Qatar offers the intern one week in every department assigned. There is more to learn in every department and one week is not enough. It is inadequate for one to make corrections and adapt to the working environment. This is the reason that an intern at Commercial Bank of Qatar received criticism in the third week of internship program. However, the bank allocates the intern one week in every department to give him exposure on various jobs because the time available to the intern as per the schedule of the University. Conclusion The internship program at the Commercial Bank of Qatar lasted three weeks with every week sounding a new dawn to the intern as he gains different knowledge. Among other skills, the intern improves his communication, time management and develops excellent public relations. Team spirit in all the departments was high as team members are always willing and ready to help each other and especially for the interns. The bank is big as it was the first private bank to be set up in Qatar and has the large customer base that an intern gets an opportunity to learn different things. The intern is exposed to varied cultural aspects as he interacts with different customers and employees of the bank. On recommendations, both the University and the bank should increase time allocated to the intern because a lot of information is available for him to learning. References Parker, E. (2011). Getting An IBankng Internship. New York: Hyperink Inc. Rosenbaum, J. (2009). Investment Banking. New York: John Wiley &Sons Pub. Sun, L. (2011). Investment Banking Jobs. New York: Hyperink Inc. Read More