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collection strike rates, which has proved
beneficial to the collections process. This
will be an area of continued focus, as it is
crucial to the business.
Customer service
The implementation of a new front-end
system (Ablink), has resulted in increased
speed in capturing and processing of
loans. The waiting time for clients before
a loan is disbursed has been cut down,
with a same day turnaround being
achieved in many cases. A new version
of Ablink is already being worked on to
increase the processing efficiencies and
further reduce the turnaround time.
The bank also successfully implemented
strategies to overcome high turnover of
our mobile sales consultants.
The consumer support Help Desk took
up the challenge to increase efficiency
and accountability to clients. As a result
the turnaround time has improved from
7-21 days to 48 hours for most categories
of queries and clients are given written
confirmation of having registered the
complaint with a contact number for
escalating their matter. In addition new
targets that are in excess of international
benchmarks have been set in the call
centre.
Pricing strategy
African Bank Retail has expanded the
skill set of its credit team to include
individuals with experience and expertise
in modelling and multivariate analysis.
This move brings the ability to perform
in-depth analysis, modelling and data
mining to identify and capitalise on
behavioural patterns and trends in a
timely manner. African Bank Retail is
moving to a risk-based pricing approach.
Substantial analysis was previously
performed to optimise pricing at a
product level. The required models have
now been constructed to implement riskbased
pricing at the customer level and
the approach will be implemented in the
coming year.
The year ahead
A review of the business model is being
undertaken to make it simpler and more
cost efficient. With the many changes
that have taken place over the past few
years, the business needs to assess and
re-engineer itself to be better placed to
serve its clients.
The division will also undertake a
significant change management process
to ensure that its employees understand
the vision and the strategic direction of
the company. More importantly, as the
division believes that employees are its
major assets, strategies to demonstrate
that they are valued members of the
African Bank family will be implemented.
The division’s plans for the coming year
include careful expansion into new
markets. Several profitable segments
outside its normal market have been
identified and it will be cautiously testing
into those populations. Considerable
controls are in place to closely monitor
performance. The next year will also see
a focus on continued stability, further
improving the turnaround times of
disbursements to clients, improving the
collection rates and looking for better
methods of collecting, automating and
simplification of processes where possible,
further improvements in employment
equity, and cost containment.
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African Bank Investments Limited