What does a professional customer relationship management look like? What are suitable training measures for qualified staff? How to optimize an institute’s offer of financial services and how to impart information about financial issues to broad segments of the population? These and other questions pertaining to financial sector strengthening were discussed during the first International Regional Conference, which took place at the Sparkassenakademie Hessen-Thüringen (Savings Banks Academy of Hesse-Thuringia) in Eppstein from 22 to 29 August 2015.
Deputy chairmen of the national respectively central Banks and other high-level financial sector representatives from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan followed the invitation to the conference: For a week they came to Germany to discuss and exchange views with representatives of the German Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (Savings Banks Finance Group) and get practical insights into the German Sparkassen model.
Learning from the German savings banks model: Central Asian banking-sector representatives in close contact with financial experts
Following the introduction into the history of dual vocational training in Germany, Matthias Fohs, Head of Division for Central Asia at the Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation (Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation), officially opened the conference on 24 August 2015. In the following, presentations were given, for instance on the importance of dual vocational training in Germany and in the international context, on the profession of bank clerk and on the structure of bank training and its integration into the practical work of a bank. A discussion round on the first experiences gained in the partner countries concluded the first conference day.
The next day was dedicated to the issue of customer relationship management (CRM): The guests from Central Asia learned valuable things about customer relationship management, its advantages for the bank, the customer and the overall economy – including measures for its practical implementation.
On Wednesday, 26 August 2015, the guests visited Frankfurt/Main. Following the lecture of Jörn Flegler, Senior Adviser Banking Supervision and Financial Stability at the Centre for Technical Central Bank Cooperation of the German Bundesbank on the topic “The German Bundesbank, new tasks and functions in the context of the European Union”, the delegation visited the Hessische Landesbank (HELABA) and the MAIN TOWER.
On the following day, it was time for interaction for the guests from Central Asia. In role games they went on a virtual trip to customers and were thus actively acquainted with the financial concept of the German Sparkassen and its practical implementation. Sabine Gabriel, Lecturer at the Sparkassenakademie Hessen-Thüringen, and Christoph Müller, the academy’s Sales Manager, guided the guests through the day and were on hand with help and advice. In the evening, Niclaus Bergmann, Sparkassenstiftung’s Managing Director, joined the delegation and exchanged views and experience with the guests from Central Asia.
On the last conference day, the participants visited the Kreissparkasse Groß-Gerau. Norbert Kleinle, the savings bank’s Chairman, welcomed the foreign guests and introduced them to his team. Thomas Münstermann, Head of the HRD Department, Philip Marx, Head of the Private Customer Department, and Hans Wieschollek, Head of the Public Relations Department, showed the delegation around and informed about the infrastructure and working processes of the savings bank. The conference was rounded up by the presentation of Sparkassenstiftung’s business games by Andreas Fabrizius, Project Manager for Southeast Asia of Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation, which attracted wide interest among the participants.
Of special interest: Introduction of the World Savings Day in Central Asia
Since its foundation in 1992, the Sparkassenstiftung has introduced the <link http: www.sparkassenstiftung.de en world-savings-day.html _blank>World Savings Day in many project countries. To this date, the implementation of World Savings Days has proven to be highly successful when it comes to spreading financial literacy among the population. Both the bank staff and the customers take benefit from activities and events organized within the scope of World Savings Day: financial services are described, possibilities of saving are presented and basic financial sector issues are explained.
The delegation members acknowledged the importance and the benefits of the World Savings Day and asked for active support. In turn, Sparkassenstiftung consented to help: In fact, the first World Savings Day will be introduced in Kyrgyzstan in 2015. Matthias Wangler, recently retired Chairman of the Board of Sparkasse Hasslach-Zell, will soon travel to Kyrgyzstan to prepare and plan the implementation of Kyrgyzstan’s first World Savings Day on site in Bishkek.
Summary of the one-week exchange: Central Asian banks want to catch up with international standards to professionalize their local banking sectors
On Saturday, 29 August, most of the participants returned to their home countries full of new experiences, ideas and insights. The majority of the Kyrgyz, Tadjik, Turkmen and Uzbek banks does not yet meet the general standards of an ideal customer consulting and servicing. To improve this situation in a systematic way, the central respectively national banks need to exert their influence in this regard in their capacity as service providers to the banking sector. And the first positive effects have already shown: The representatives from the central and national banks were not only strongly interested in the conference contents, but also forcefully endeavour to catch up with international standards in the banking sector –in particular in the area of vocational training. Unanimously they expressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation efforts on a regional level. Moreover, they agreed on a joint training seminar for local trainers to be executed in Turkmenistan. The first seminar is scheduled for the spring of 2016 and is supposed to be introduced in other Central Asian countries as well. All participants uttered the wish to continue this regional exchange between the countries in the following years.
Sparkassenstiftung’s Regional Project leads to intensification of long-standing activities of dual vocational training for bank specialists in Central Asia
Already in 2013, the Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation (Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation) has launched a dual vocational training project for bank assistants in the countries of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. <link http: www.sparkassenstiftung.de en projects projekt regionalprojekt-einfuehrung-der-dualen-berufsausbildung-zum-bankspezialisten _blank>The Regional Project for Central Asia on the introduction of dual vocational training for bank specialists , which started in October 2014, is based on these successful preceding projects and includes the countries of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The regional project targets to strengthen the banking sectors in the participating countries by professionalising the bank staff and introducing international standards. The ultimate goal is to make customized financial services accessible to the population, and here in particular to small and medium income-earners as well as micro and small entrepreneurs.
Contact partners:
Matthias Fohs / Carina Lau
Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation
Simrockstraße 4
53113 Bonn / Germany
Phone: +49 228 9703-6617 /-6608
Fax: +49 228 9703-6613