Value Chain of OCBC Bank

Primary activities
Operations
The customer service officers conduct anti-money laundering searches to check whether new
customers are eligible to open an account with the Bank. It is necessary to conduct this check
so to ensure that there are no criminal records or any ongoing litigation. These requirements
are set by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to ensure that there are transparency in
the daily transactions.
The deposits that a bank received can be used to make loans and investments in order
to earn profit (Burton and Brown 2009). This is one way that OCBC Bank makes its profit
over the year.
According to Securities Investors Association Singapore (2011), OCBC Bank was a
runner-up of Most Transparent Company Award in Finance category. Information such as
annual reports, financial results, internal business review, researches are all clearly stated in
their official website. This allows its shareholders and stakeholders to be informed of its
various information easily.
Marketing and Sales
The competition in banking industry in Singapore is intense. Other than the other two local
banks, DBS and UOB, OCBC Bank has to be aware of foreign banks like Citibank and
HSBC as well (Vandenbrink and Hew 2005). OCBC Bank has to differentiate itself from
the competitors.
OCBC Bank leverages on social media to connect to customers directly as this is a
way to promote themselves. For example, OCBC Bank uses twitter or facebook to send first-
hand news to its customers’ mobile.
According to OCBC Bank (2011), they conducted intensive market research through
surveys with customers. After the market research, Frank by OCBC was released to attract
the Generation Y with its new cards with 130 over cool designs.OCBC Bank conducts events
to promote their financial products. Example is the upcoming OCBC Cycle Singapore April
2013 that aim to attract more customers to sign up for credit cards.
Service

Service is the key success factor for a bank to strive in the environment. Educated customers want
good customer service being provided to them. By providing good customer service, OCBC Bank can
have the competitive advantage against other competitors. One of the competitive advantages is
OCBC Bank has 20 branches opened on Sunday for full banking services which provides convenience
for customers (OCBC Bank 2013)

The after-sales service is to follow up with customers whether the financial products and services
being provided to them are satisfactory. This way, it makes customers feel important and OCBC is
able to receive feedback from them to make further improvements.
Secondary activities

Human Resource

Customer service is essential for a banking industry. A well-trained staff is able to deliver good
customer experience for the customers. It is essential to provide the adequate training for front line
staff, so that they are able to handle customers, and satisfy their needs. According to OCBC Bank
(2011), they increased training-related expenditure by 35% to focus on providing the best training
skills to its staff. Other than gaining product knowledge and providing good customer service, these
front-line staff are trained to collate these feedback and report to the management for further
improvements.

OCBC Bank offers career advancement opportunities for different talents across different
entities and regions (OCBC Bank 2011). This shows that OCBC Bank values its employee
through employee engagement and assist as much as possible for these employees
Technology development Customers are able to do money transaction through internet
banking or mobile banking nowadays. There is no need to be physically at the ATM machine
or at the branch. OCBC Bank introduced a “Scan and Pay” function for Android users in
March 2011. Thus technology is important for OCBC as this will ensure smooth transaction
for customers to execute, and at the same time ensure customers that the transactions are
successful.

Conclusion of value chain

OCBC Bank should focus on its operations, marketing and sales, human resource and
technology of both primary and activities in the value chain in order to maximise its profit
margin. There is a linkage between the primary activity, Service and the secondary activity,
Human Resource Management. For example, customer service officers are the front line
staff. Human Resource Department has to provide training programmes to educate the
customer service officers to execute excellence customer service and relevant product
knowledge to the customers