Annual Report 2012 - National Savings Bank

36HOW WE PERFORMED IN 2012ACHIEVEMENTS AGAINST STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES FOR THE YEAR 2012Attaining Objectives; RealisingTargetsStrengthening roots and spreadingour reach, point to fundamentalsbeing in place; these fundamentalslead NSB to analysing emergingtrends and planning strategies for theyear ahead, where paradigms wouldlead to solidifying our roots in thecontext of quantiably realising ourtargets. However, as was characteristicof the instability displayed in theglobal economic environment, somemandates introduced to the nancialservices industry and NSB also lookinginward prudently to ensure consistentsustainability in a transformingenvironment, some planned activitieswere either not achieved, deferred orchanged accordingly.Having planted our roots rmly, weplanned the spreading of our branchesstrategically at the beginning of the year.This involved channel optimisationencompassing the addition of fortybranches to our branch network,strategic relocation and forging andnurturing global relationships. However,in observing the external environment,it became necessary to maintain thisfocus albeit on a smaller scale. There wasimmense competition prevailing in themarket especially in the deposits arena,which saw NSB change emphasis onmobilisation instead of expansion. Byend 2012, NSB nevertheless maintainedits core focus working on a strategy thatwould be aligned to the transformingmilieu, opening nine branches, whilerelocating thirteen others. NSB alsoestablished ve new arrangements thatwould gain more access to the foreignremittance market in France, whileenhancing accessibility into Bahrainand Korea and collaborating with aglobal exchange company as well.Research and Development form thefertile ground upon which our rootsprosper and hence, there was addedmomentum into this scope when adedicated team was identied withinNSB, conducting far reaching marketresearch studies to add value to theBank’s operations.This focus on R&D also gave impetusto our plans for re-launching existingproducts and enhancing productpromotion, while also focusing on thecore-products that were re-launchedin 2011. The forty year celebrationsformed the core of the specialpromotional campaigns conductedduring the year including the launchof a two year Fixed Deposit. Addingto this, product focus was furtheraugmented with post re-launch reviewsfor the products launched in 2011 wherecontinuous promotional campaignsadded the necessary impulsion and topof mind recall among our customers.The plans to establish a TechnologyManagement Work Group whilebenchmarking technology began takingshape with the IT strategic planningprocess integrating various kinetics intothe planned agenda. These includedstrengthening Disaster Recoveryinfrastructure, implementation of anIT Security Policy, a comprehensivereview of the SMS Banking Systemand the upgrading of both card andPOS banking solutions. Other areasNATIONAL SAVINGS BANK . ANNUAL REPORT 2012