INSTITUTE OF BANKERS IN MALAWI

DIPLOMA IN BANKING EXAMINATION

SUBJECT: CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

(I0BM – D215)

Date:Wednesday, 3thMay 2012

Time Allocated: 3 hours (13:30 – 16:30 pm)

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

1This paper consists of TWO Sections, A and B.

2Section A consists of 4 questions, each question carries 15 marks.

Answer ALL questions.

3Section B consists of 4 questions, each question carries 20 marks. Answer ANY TWO questions.

4You will be allowed 10 minutes to go through the paper before the start of the examination, you may write on this paper but not in the answer book.

5Begin each answer on a new page.

6Please write your examination number on each answer book used. Answer books without examination numbers will not be marked.

7DO NOT open this question paper until instructed to do so.

SECTION A(60 MARKS)

Answer ALL questions from this section.

QUESTION 1

The ultimate goal of customer relationship management is to acquire and retain customers profitably better than competitors. With examples, explain how commercial banks in Malawi strive to achieve this goal. (15 marks)

OUESTION 2

  1. Explain five challenges to banking and business that make customer management a necessity. (10 marks)
  2. Suggest ways by which banks can enhance long term relations with their customers? (5 marks)

(Total 15 marks)

QUESTION 3

It is said that if it is not cross-functional, it is not CRM.

Taking a named bank of your choice, describe the role that Sales, IT and Marketing departments play in an integrated customer relationship management programme.

(Total 15 marks)

OUESTION 4

It is widely agreed by professional marketers that effective customer profiling is the cornerstone of effective market segmentation and targeting.

a.What do you understand by ‘customer profiling’? (5 marks)

b.Why is customer profiling important?(10 marks)

(Total 15marks)

SECTION B(40 MARKS)

Answer ANY TWO questions from this section.

QUESTION 5

With the ever-increasing competition, banks have come to accept that they need to be both customer- as well as competitor-oriented in order to excel in business.

Explain why both customer and competitor analyses are important to business strategy development and implementation. (Total 20 marks)

QUESTION 6

Business captains including marketers agree that in the face of heightened competition, service quality is becoming an all-important basis for competition in Malawi’s banking industry.

In the context of a named bank, critically examine with specific examples, the major determinants of service quality.

(Total 20 marks)

QUESTION 7

You work for a modern commercial bank and you have just been approached by a business traveler who has a complaint about the level of service which she has just experienced. It has taken the customer too long to receive the required foreign exchange. It is figured out that the main emphasis of her complaint was lack of information.

  1. What are the practical approaches which could be undertaken by this bank to improve its standard of customer care? ( 10 marks)
  2. Explain the practical steps in establishing an effective customer care programme. (10 marks)

(Total 20 marks)

QUESTION 8

Electronic commerce, the use of electronic technologies and systems to facilitate and enhance transactions between different parts of the value chain, has been widely adopted by Malawian businesses over the past decade.

  1. Discuss the benefits that underpin the growth of e-banking in Malawi.(11 marks)
  2. How can a bank use the Internet, intranet and the extranet to improve customer relationships? (9 marks)

(Total 20 marks)

END OF THE EXAMINATION PAPER

1

A qualification examined by the Institute of Bankers in Malawi