Aug 20, 2001 06:30 PM
9631 Views
ANZ Grindlays bank has been bought over by Standard Chartered Bank and rechristened as Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank. I have been dealing with this bank since 1996, before the takeover by SCB. I previously dealt with them as a corporate while I was in Chennai and now I am dealing with them in Delhi as a corporate customer as well as an individual customer. I have also dealt with a vast variety of other banks in the last 8 years, so I would be drawing comparisons.
My previous company withdrew its account from them. My current company is on the verge of doing so. I personally have also not been very happy dealing with them as an individual.
I am listing down my areas of discomfort with this bank:
As a Corporate Customer:
1) Abnormally High Charges: After the ‘pathan’ moneylenders who charge interest higher than the principal, it is this bank, which robs you in the daylight. The differences being that they wear ties and are dressed in pinstripes. We used to avail packing credit (loan given to exporters for working capital at interest rates regulated by Reserve Bank of India) from this bank. As they were not allowed to charge interest higher than RBI’s stipulation, they found a novel way of charging more. They used to charge us packing credit loan charges @ Rs.5000/- for a loan upto Rs.10,00,000/- (even though it was within our sanctioned limit) and we used to avail at least 50 such loans in an year. State Bank of India in comparison charged nothing for it. In addition, they used to charge Rs.1,00,000/- for limit renewal charges, every year. State Bank of India in comparison charged us Rs.25,000/- for 4 times higher limit than ANZ Grindlays. This gives a birds’ eye view of their extortionist charges.
2) Highly Bureaucratic Set Up: To meet even a manager at the bank, we had to take an appointment at least a week in advance (this may not sound unfamiliar to people residing in developed countries, but is very strange in India), whereas, we could just knock and walk into the cabin of Assistant General Manager of the much maligned State Bank of India.
3) Indifferent Attitude: Our company which had more than 10 years relationship with ANZ, once approached the bank for an ad-hoc limit for 3 months to execute a large order which was offered to us. This order was so large that we could not have executed it without a commitment from the bank to back us. We asked them for an in-principle sanction within a week to be able to accept the order. This bank reverted with a positive answer after 3 months. Now, how could they have expected our customer to wait for 3 months to get an order acceptance from us. Needless to say, we lost the order. That was the last straw and they lost our account.
4) Incompetent Staff: My current company wanted to renew a bank guarantee (backed by a 100% security with the same bank). Their response left me totally speechless. They refused to do so on the grounds that they cannot renew a bank guarantee before its expiry, whereas they renew fixed deposits before expiry. This was the first time I had heard anything so ridiculous in my 10 years of dealings with various banks. When we threatened to withdraw our account, they immediately did it and charged us Rs.36,000/-. When we once again threatened them, they agreed to look into those charges.
5) No Value for Relationships: We were trying to negotiate cheaper auto loans, housing loans and personal loans for our employees, who are all in the highest tax bracket and have their salary accounts with this bank, by leveraging our relationship. They did make us their best offer, which were 150 basis points than the market going rates. When we expressed our unhappiness, they sent a Parker pen to my colleague and me, to pacify us. We of course opted for other banks. The interest they pay is also very low on fixed deposits.
6) Inefficient: We maintain the salary accounts of our employees with this bank, and the salary transfer takes 2 days.
As an Individual Customer:
1) High Bank Charges: I got a local pay order issued from Standard Chartered Grindlays for Rs.1,000/- and got charged Rs.75/- for it.
2)ATM: Most of their ATMs have a withdrawal limit of Rs.25,000/- but gives an error message citing low cash availability and allows you to withdraw only upto Rs.20,000/-.
However, to give the devil its due, it has the following pluses:
1) Highest Number of Branches: Amongst the foreign banks, this bank has the largest number of branches in India.
2) Wide ATM Network: It has a very wide ATM network in all the major cities of India.
3) 24 Hour Branch: They have a 24-hour branch in Connaught Place ‘E’ Block in Delhi.
Weighing both the positives and negatives, I feel that the scales tilt heavily in favor of negatives in the case of Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank.
