SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT ANALYSIS

An analysis indicating towards the organizations strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threat is termed as SWOT Analysis. Such an analysis is
very important for the management in retaining the strength, overcoming
the weaknesses, capitalizing over the emerging market opportunities, and
carving ways to successfully tackle with the threats and ultimately
converting them in the strengths for the organization.
During six weeks of my stay at Askari Commercial Bank, Shahalam Market
Lahore, I have come across the following SWOT analysis of the bank.

STRENGTHS

LEADING PRIVATE SECTOR BANK:

Askari commercial bank is the leading private sector bank in the banking
network in Pakistan with many of them online branches in major cities of the
country

AUTOMATIC OPERATIONS:
The operations performed by the bank are highly automated that result in
assurance for the customers that their transactions are completed reliably,
efficiently and securely.

FULL DAY BANKING

One can avail the benefit of the services provided at the bank till 5:00 P.m.
which is highly useful for those customers who find it difficult to leave their
officers in the morning..

ATM NETWORK
The bank has the largest ATM Network cross the country. The customers of
ACBL withdraw access their funds any time at all the ATM Sites with
ASKCASH Logo.
CUSTOMIZED SOLUTIONS
The management of the bank believes in customer focused banking rather
than the product oriented banking. The products and services designed by
the bank are specifically tailored to the individual needs of its customers.

CUSTOMER ORIENTED BANKING

The priority banking centres of the bank offer an unmatched where the
customer receives highly privileged services in a highly elegant environment.
It gives the chance of experiencing new standards in banking. Designed
specially for those who appreciate only the finest things in life, Priority
Banking offers the very highest levels of personalized banking to match
customer’s unique status.

ELECTRONIC BANKING
The revolution in the banking in the form of electronic banking operations
have opened avenues of excellent, efficient and quick services saving the
time and costs of the customers and fortunately ACBL is among those few
banks who are already reaping the benefits of electronic transactions.

ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER

ACBL management is quite prepared to adopt the latest advancements in
technology resulting in revolution in the banking operations such as check
clearing process, computer based teller equipment, automatic teller
machines, and electronic funds transfers among the others.
PHONE BANKING
Phone banking service is very attractive for those classes of customers who
don’t have time to personally come to the bank i.e. banking on the phone
line thus saving the precious time of the customers.

ETHICAL CONCERNS AND PUBLIC IMAGE

The organizations showing concern for the people, ethics, and environment
enjoy good public reputation and are able to reap the benefits in the long
run. ACBL management is quite sensitive to this issue.

WEAKNESSES

In my opinions these are the points that might be detrimental to the

efficiency and profitability of the bank.

NOT HIGHLY AUTOMATED

The bank has still some of the traditional ways of operations in this
advanced technological environment.

MANUAL BOOK-KEEPING
Although the bank has computerized accounting system but, still the
bankers use to make their entries in the accounting register.

LOW JOB SATISFACTION

Understanding and the effective management of the human resources is the
most difficult challenge faced not only by the bank but by all the
organizations. Even though the people have been sacrificed in the new
organizational developments, it is becoming clear that the true lasting
competitive advantage comes through human resources and how they are
managed. ACBL seems to not focusing on this highly critical issue as the job
satisfaction level of the employees working at ACBL, was quite low.

LACK OF SPECIALISATION
This famous and useful concept given by Adam Smith in 1776 seems to be
missing in the bank. The employees are constantly rotated from one job to
another job of totally different characteristic in the view of giving them the
know-how of the working in all the departments. But I think this is not a
very good tactics used by the management. Otherwise the situation might
be like this ‘Jack of all and master of none.’

CENTRALIZATION
There is a high degree of centralisation in the bank. Almost all the decision-
making is in the hands of the upper management. But centralisation is
effective up to a certain level otherwise it becomes inefficient and at times
costly too. I personally observed that delay occurred in the operations of the
employees only due to the fact that they had not got any instructions from
the head office.

LACK OF TRAINING FACILITIES

Presently there is no specific training program arranged for the new
recruiters. They have to learn based on their observations and also their
mistakes. It takes a bit time for the fresh one to learn the banking the result
is huge amount of blunders, mistakes etc. resulting in monetary and non-
monetary losses for the bank. There is pressure not only on the new learner
but also on the person placed upon with this responsibility.
 OPPORTUNITIES

Apart from the ones discussed in External Factors Evaluation Matrix, the
bank is facing the following threats and opportunities currently:

These are positive external environmental factors effecting the organization.

• It deals in bulk business.

• A large amount of foreign investment is attracted.

• Strong potential for growth

• Steady increase in Customer Deposits

• Overseas Operations

• Branches In Remote Areas

• Islamic Banking

• Sharp increase in imports and exports

 THREATS

High Employees Turnover

As discussed above, the job satisfaction level of the employee is very low
resulting in high turnover, which is bad for any organization as there are
huge monetary and non-monetary costs involved in the fresh recruitments.

High charges
The schedules of charges indicate that the fees charged by the bank on the
various services it provides are extremely high. It may result in decrease in
the number of its exiting customers. Further more, this could be very
alarming situation for the bank in case some of the competitors grasped the
opportunity and lowered its rates. The result would be either the lost of
market share or decrease in the charges resulting in lowering the bank’s
income.

Less attractive rate of return

Commercial banks face considerable competition in attracting deposits from
individuals or small investors. In contrast, the Govt. of Pakistan national
saving scheme offers attractive rates of return (approx. 16 to 18 percent
annually) on 10-15 year fixed accounts, which banks find difficult to match.

Stiff Competition
SCB is currently facing strict competition from the foreign banks especially
the American who banks enjoy a good market position. Collectively U.S.
banks hold approximately 9 percent of all commercial banks' assets. At
present, three American banks are operating in Pakistan: American Express
Bank; Bank of America and Citibank.

Less Experienced Staff

Owing to huge turnover of the employees, the no. of experienced and well
trained staff is very low. Majority of the staff working in the bank branches is
quite young and inexperienced. If the bank failed to bring down its high
employees turnover, then it would be lacking the most important resources
of any organization i.e. the experienced staff.