Bank of America - Book Report/Review Example

? BANK OF AMERICA Table of contents CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 Background to the study………………………………………………………………………4 2 Problem Statement and Justification…………………………………………………………4 1.3 Research questions………………………………………………………………………5 1.4 Study Hypothesis ………………………………………………………………………5 1.5 Objectives………………………………………………………………………5 1.5.1 Broad objective………………………………………………………………………5 1.5.2 Specific Objectives………………………………………………………………………5 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 2.1. Study design………………………………………………………………………6 2.2. Variables………………………………………………………………………6 2.3. Study Area………………………………………………………………………6 2.4. Study population and sampling……………………………………………………………6 2.5. Research instrument, Data collection techniques and analysis………………………7 2.6. Ethical consideration………………………………………………………………………9 2.7. Limitations of the Study…………………………………………………………………9 CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………………………………………………………………11 CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………… 18 RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………………………………………………19 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………20 APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………21 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study Bank of America has been in the banking business for decades. It has hit the status commonly referred as deja vu. Done it all and seen it all. It is currently ranked as one of the top financial institutions in the globe. It enjoys a huge market presence not just in its motherland the US but also abroad. It has headquarters span across the globe in America, Europe and Asia. Its reputation is one that anyone would marvel at. Nevertheless, it is said that getting to the top is much simpler than staying at the top. This is the challenge that the bank is grappling with. 1.2 Problem Statement and Justification The banking industry as well as investment and financial services industry has had a huge number of players venturing into it over the years. With every new entrant in the industry has been an introduction of more challenges to the traditional players. Competition has become cut throat and the traditional charms that have always been used to woo the clients are increasingly starting to sound like cliche. Clients of financial institutions require and indeed deserve more customised services. In the above regard, the Bank of America set out on a mission to establish just what exactly do the contemporary clients of financial institutions need. It is very essential to establish this so as to be able to put in place mechanisms that would see to it that the requirements are met. This is the only way for a top bank like the bank of America to keep ahead of the ever growing park of competitors. 1.3 Research questions The research questions are: i. How does lifestyle affect the need for banking services? ii. What are the contemporary factors that affect banking products? iii. What varieties of banking products are needed by the variety of clients? 1.4 Study Hypothesis i. Lifestyle does affect the need for banking services in several ways. ii. There are a number of contemporary factors that affect banking products. iii. There are a number of varieties of banking products that are needed by the variety of clients. 1.5 Objectives 1.5.1 Broad objective The research was generally conducted with the aim of: i. Keeping the Bank of America among the top financial institutions in the globe. ii. Finding a more customised way of offering banking services to the clients. 1.5.2 Specific Objectives In an effort to meet the general objectives, the research specifically aims at: i. Establishing how lifestyle affects the need for banking services. ii. Establishing what the contemporary factors that affect banking products are. iii. Establishing what varieties of banking products are needed by the variety of clients. CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 2.1. Study design A cross-sectional study was utilized to establish the strength of the relation between the various variables. It was the chosen study design given that it offers more feasibility, takes a short time, and it is not expensive. 2.2. Variables The variables in the study are the banking products, the human lifestyle, the contemporary factors and the variety of clients. The banking products are the dependent variables while the human lifestyle, the contemporary factors and the variety of clients are the independent variables. 2.3. Study Area Given that the Bank of America is an international institution with clients from all corners of the world, the study area was basically the entire globe. The bank was trying to reach out to its customers, both the current and the potential ones to establish what it is that they needed so as to make it available and keep business on the run. In this regard, it was prudent to include clients from all walks of life to take part in the study so as to get first-hand information from the real clients of the bank. 2.4. Study population and sampling The globe being the study area is made up of people of all kinds. There are very many people in the world who speak entirely different languages. These people belong to differen cultures and have different norms and beliefs. They even have different religious views or none of it. Based on these huge diversities, the study was compelled to incorporate a very neutral approach that would not indicate any form of favour on any particular side or raise any form of criticism against any particular group. This was essential so as to ensure that all the groups gracefully take part in the study without much contempt. 2.5. Research instrument, Data collection techniques and analysis The process of data collection was done through a number of mechanisms. The main research instrument that was used for the collection of data was the questionnaire. This was so because with the use of a questionnaire one is able to cover a huge number of respondents all at the same time to collect data without having to spend much energy explaining to them anything if the questionnaire is well prepared. Based on the fact that the target population is made up of numerous people, questionnaires were the best tool to reach out to as many respondents from the target group as possible with much convenience. The questionnaire was specially designed in a manner that it would be globally acceptable and effective. It for one used very basic and simple language which would be understandable to all individuals with ease. It was administered at strategic locations such as schools, colleges, parks and markets where there are several people at any one point in time. This increased the chances of high data collection. A copy of the questionnaire was also posted on the internet and the link was highly popularized to increase the correspondence from the general public. The questionnaire on the internet was linked to online translation software which would translate the questions to different languages across the globe and hence increase the data collected. Other than the use of questionnaire, data collecting technique that was employed by the study was the conduction of interviews. Interviews are a very effective tool of data collection as they create an environment where one can collect very personalized information from a specific individual which only suits him and no one else. It gives a platform for the interviewer to frame the questions in the best format and tone which can only be done verbally as opposed to in writing. The same thing applies to the interviewee who is also able to frame his answers in the best format and in the right tone which can only be done verbally as opposed to in writing. It is a source of much customized data which perfectly suits specific portions of the research. For the sake of this study, interviews were used to collect data from the experts in the industry and those who had been in major clients of the banking industry for long. These people have special information which needed to be collected in a special way and hence eliminating the risk of contaminating this information. Another data collection technique that was used for the study is observation. This is where our team researchers set out into the field to physically asses the scenario in the ground first-hand. Observation is a very special way of data gathering as it takes the research right into the source of the data. It collects data while it is still raw and hence eliminates completely the risk of data contamination. Data from secondary sources such as books is always passed through a series of hands and minds and hence by the time it hits the research desk it has had enough manipulation and contamination. This fact puts the research at the risk of utilizing wrong information to make conclusions regarding research questions. In order to safe guard against this, the research made use of observation as a fact determination technique of data collection. The collected data was analyzed systematically by the use of tabulation, graphical analysis, and pie charts. The tables were instrumental in organizing the findings and making them more sensible and easy to comprehend. The graphs and the pie charts gave a clear visual impression of the data collected and indeed led to the drawing of the most appropriate inference. 2.6. Ethical consideration Like in any activity that involves interacting with human beings, ethical considerations had to be made in the research. It is crucial that the research is conducted in a manner that conforms to the ethical expectations of the society. Otherwise it shall be met with a lot of criticisms and shall not be able to pull through. In the event that it somehow pulls through in disregard to ethical considerations, it can have criticisms following it which might lead to penalties on the bank either directly in a fiscal manner or indirectly in terms of loss in market share. Bearing the implications of ethical considerations, the research sort for permission prior to its visit to any institution or establishment that it went to collect data from. The research also saw to it that it obeyed all the cultural believes of the people from which it collected data. It did not in any way show contempt to any given cultural group based on their beliefs and practices. The research also respected all religious views of the people from whom it collected data. It was essential to observe religious restrictions of the various groups from where data was collected. The research also respected the national and local government set rules that govern every jurisdiction from where it collected data. 2.7. Limitations of the Study The study faced a number of challenges which were responsible for a possible slight error in the inference drawn. One of the major challenges which the study faced was language barrier. If it were possible, the research would have liked to collect data from all the people across the world, this was however quite challenging on the account of language barrier. There are some minor languages in the world which do not comprehend English. The internet packages for translations were only effective in translating the questions of the questionnaire into the major languages of the world. The other languages had to be sadly disregarded in the study. Another key limitation to the study was the bulk of data. With data being collected from all across the globe, there was a huge volume of data which was available at the end of the study. This had to find both physical and virtual space to be placed before and during the analysis process. It made the research stall as information had to be sorted out slowly by slowly. A large volume of both paper work and softcopy data has the effect of making the researchers feel overwhelmed and it might cause some form of limited concentration on the details, with focus being just on winding up the heap and easing the load. CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The study found a host of data in jumbled up form which upon organization pointed to an interesting pattern. In a bid to establish solutions to the research questions, the study sort to establish the lifestyle that individuals lead across the globe and in turn establish customized banking products that would suit the lifestyles. The study also sort to establish some of the trends across the globe that are contemporary and hence in conflict with the traditional banking products. It would in turn use these findings to design new banking products that suit the contemporary needs of the clients. Given the fact that the globe has a wide variety of people who have a varied range of beliefs and desires, Bank of America was convinced that all these groups could not have a common desire in terms of satisfaction from banking products. The bank therefore sought to establish these different desires so as to design different packages that target each of the different groups. In this regard, the following findings were made: 1. From the data collected in regard to the lifestyles that individuals live all across the globe, it was found that different lifestyles had different impacts on the manner in which one comprehended the available banking services. It was found that 80% of those who are always travelling would require advice on how to go about banking services. 75% of those who are always around the home felt they needed no advice on handling banking issues. The findings are tabulated in the table below. Knows how to approach banking issues (%) Would like to be advised on banking issues (%) Partially needs advise (%) Always on the road 7 80 13 Always around the home 75 10 15 Partially at home 35 40 25 stationary location but away from home 55 35 20 2. Upon inquiring from the general public and experts on some of the contemporary factors that affect banking in modern day, it was established that top in the list was the increased internet usage which polled at 31%. The next factor was the contemporary young marriages which stood at 23%. More frequent & expensive partying activities, Higher level of literacy & Professionalism, Sophistication in communication & traveling professionalism and Others stood at 14%, 12%, 14% and 6% as shown in the table below. Percentage Young Marriages 23 More frequent and expensive partying activities 14 More Internet usage 31 Higher level of literacy and professionalism 12 Sophistication in communication and traveling 14 Others 6 3. The clients and potential clients of financial services were also required to provide proposals on some of the products that are currently not in the industry that they would like to see incorporated. These were put in different forms and in different words but in general they pointed to a couple of products. These were Loans and investments towards going to Hajj in Mecca for Muslims, Weekly and hourly emergency loans, Insurance services covering terrorist activities in Volatile Countries, Loans and investments towards Christmas festivities for Christians among others which were relatively less stressed and hence regarded as negligible. The level of stress in percentage form on each one of the products is tabulated below. Proposed Financial services by various groups (%) Loans and investments towards going to Hajj in Mecca for Muslims 27 Weekly and hourly emergency loans 43 Insurance services covering terrorist activities in Volatile Countries 12 Loans and investments towards Christmas festivities for Christians 7 Others 11 The analysis of the findings was done by the constructions of a graph and pie charts to give a visual impression of the information drawn from the findings. A clustered column bar graph was drawn to analyze the found data on the effects of lifestyle on banking activities. A pie chart was drawn to analyze the found data on the contemporary factors that affect banking. An exploded 3-D pie chart was drawn to analyze the findings on the proposed financial services by various groups across the globe. These are all respectively shown below. From the analysis it is clear that indeed lifestyle does affect the banking services. It is clear that people who are always out on the road find themselves in rather foreign places and would like to be advised on how to go about banking services. This implies that such groups of people rarely use banking services and it is a wide market that simply goes to waste. It is vital that banks stop to concentrate on the people at home in their traditional promotional fashion but to hit the road and focus on constant travellers. The Bank of America in this regard should come up with a banking package that is specifically suited for the travellers. This could be something like advisory centers across the globe or mobile banking that travels along with the travellers. The analysis also makes it clear that indeed contemporary factors affect banking products. The most effective factor in this regard is the increased internet usage. The bank of America should seek to be a leader in internet banking so as to move with the trend. Young marriages are also a major contemporary factor and the bank of America should come up with a customized package for the young marriages. Something like investment or loan for youth weddings or mortgages would be very welcomed. More frequent and expensive partying activities is another contemporary factor for which the Bank of America should create a customized package. In this regard the bank of America should offer loans and investments for throwing parties and attending major forthcoming concerts. Another factor is sophistication in communication and travelling. This should be a motivating factor towards the Bank of America striving to be a leader in mobile banking. Analysis of the findings on Proposed Financial services by various groups established that indeed the different groups in the world have different desires that should be put into consideration by the financial institutions. However one common proposal that cut across the board was the provision of emergency loans on short term basis that is as short as a couple of hours or even just a week. This ought to be embraced by the Bank of America. The other top ranking proposals in the various categories were Loans and investments towards going to Hajj in Mecca for Muslims, Insurance services covering terrorist activities in Volatile Countries, Loans and investments towards Christmas festivities for Christians among others which were relatively less stressed and hence regarded as negligible. These are clear cut non-ventured market opportunities which the Bank of America should embrace with haste. CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION The Bank of America has achieved an internationally acclaimed top notch bank status. This is a status that is easier to achieve than to maintain. The bank has been in operation for decades and has established roots al across the globe over the years. In the event that the bank happens to go down, he damage to families and businesses across the globe shall be colossal. It is very vital that the bank is kept afloat and at the top of the park as it has always been. In an effort to see to it that this comes to pass, the research sort to establish some of the ways through which he bank can make adjustments in its operations so as to attract more clients and to maintain the current ones. The study has managed to establish that indeed lifestyle does affect the need for banking services in several ways. It has been found with no doubt that the people who are always travelling find it difficult to access banking services as compared to those who always stay at home. In this regard it is vital that banks stop to concentrate on the people at home in their traditional promotional fashion but to hit the road and focus on constant travellers. The Bank of America in this regard should come up with a banking package that is specifically suited for the travellers. The study has also established that indeed there are a number of contemporary factors that affect banking products. It was established that top in the list was the increased internet usage which polled at 31%. The next factor was the contemporary young marriages which stood at 23%. More frequent & expensive partying activities, higher level of literacy & Professionalism, Sophistication in communication & traveling professionalism are the other major contemporary factors. The bank of America is obliged to take into consideration these factors and to come up with mechanisms to take advantage of them in the form of customized banking services. The study has also established that indeed there are a number of varieties of banking products that are needed by the variety of clients. These were Loans and investments towards going to Hajj in Mecca for Muslims, Weekly and hourly emergency loans, Insurance services covering terrorist activities in Volatile Countries, Loans and investments towards Christmas festivities for Christians among others which were relatively less stressed and hence regarded as negligible. It is only prudent for the bank to jump start plans to incorporate these proposals into its operational services. RECOMMENDATIONS The Bank of America has gone through a lot of trouble undertaking this study. Experience has confirmed that one way or the other, these kind of information has a way of leaking into the hands of the rivals. The bank should therefore act with speed to implement the established banking products which the market is in dire need of. It is very unfortunate that any delays in so doing shall mean that the rival banks will implement them first. By so doing they shall take the market with a storm and shall with no doubt be on route to toppling the Bank of America. The management of the bank should therefore set up a special team to asses each of the established packages keenly and to put in place mechanisms that shall ensure the packages are implemented. They should also make a follow up to ensure that the packages are running smoothly and effectively with no hitches. REFERENCES Allman, B. (2006). Banking. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications Co. APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE INFORMATION SHEET Good morning/good afternoon. I am conducting a research regarding Banking Services. I would like to ask you few questions about the level of satisfaction that you get from the banking services you receive. You have the full right to refuse, withdraw or completely reject part or all of your participation in the study. But we encourage your full participation as the answers you give on this form are very important to this study and to plan ways to improve the banking industry. I would like to assure you that all of your responses to my questions will be kept confidential. Any of your information you provide will not be revealed to a third party. I will ask you questions in a place where other people or conditions can’t interfere. I would like to assure you that your participation on this research will not affect any of your treatment and other benefit that you get from any organization. I would be thankful if you spend some time with me answering questions related to the issues described above. The interview will take 5-10 minutes. (i) May I get your permission to continue my interview? Yes 1 Consent No 2 (ii) What’s your reason for declining to participate? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. Consent I have clearly understood the purpose and anticipated benefit of this research. I hereby need to assure with my signature below that I, without any coercion or undue pressure, have decided to voluntarily participate in the study to contribute my part in the effort being made for the betterment of world education service Signature ___________ Date___________ Starting time: SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC DATA No. Coding category Questioners and filter 101 Sex 1. Male 2. Female 102 Age in years 1. Age in years- 2. Don’t know 3. No answer 103 Marital status 1. Single 2. Married 3. Separated 4. Divorced 5. Widowed 104 Educational level 1. illiterate 2. Primary school 3. High school completed 4. Tertiary 105 Are you a current employee 1. Yes 2. No 106 Employment Status 1- Employed 2- Self-employed 3- Unemployed 107 Are you always around home? 1. Yes 2. No 108 Are you always travelling? 1. Yes 2. No 109 Are you partially at home and partially traveling? 1. Yes 2. No 110 Do you live in a stationary place that is away from home? 1. Yes 2. No 200. SERVICE SATISFACTION How can you gage the following factors based on their level of truth? Absolutely No No Maybe Yes Absolutely Yes You need advice on how to go about banking services Lifestyle does affect the need for banking services in several ways. There are a number of contemporary factors that affect banking products. There are a number of varieties of banking products that are needed by the variety of clients. 3. Kindly list any of contemporary factors that you think affect banking products. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Kindly list any package of financial services that you think shall serve you just right but is not available in the market_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Do you have any question or comment regarding issues discussed above? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. Have a nice day. Ending time: Read More