By Morris Aron
On the first floor of Standard Chartered Bank, on Nairobi's Kenyatta Avenue, lies an inconspicuous banking hall.
To an unsuspecting eye, the hall may as well be one of the many banking halls or a special crisis meeting area given its exclusivity.
A curious eye, however, will notice the level of grace, the hallmarks of wealth magnified by extra pampering and decorations, the expensive laether seats and carpets spread to suggest class — complete with a big plasma television as pointers to the level of importance attached to the hall. Welcome to the Priority Centre.
It is the latest in a series of banking concepts targeted at Kenya’s nouveau riche. Here, the moneyed have access to specialised banking services from a team of relationship and investment managers.
Standard Chartered Bank Kenyatta Avenue branch in Nairobi. The branch houses the luxury banking hall. It is the latest in a series of banking concepts targeted the Kenya’s nouveau riche. |
The high-end banking concept is the brainchild of Jane Kimemia, the general manager, Premium Banking Services at Standard Chartered.
"Banks are experiencing a big rise in customer numbers as middle-income consumers exponentially grew their wealth in recent years," says Ms Kimemia.
"As a result, we are seeing a growing number of people demand more sophisticated financial services — a move that necessitated the creation of priority banking," she says.
Banking experts say such halls and services and exclusive services are the result of the level of sophistication in the financial scene that has ushered in a new group of bank clients who value privacy and adore being noticed and treated exceptionally by virtue of the positions they hold in society.
premium services
Industry watchers say a resurgent economy and growing optimism about the future has in large measure contributed to increased demand for premium financial services.
The development has fuelled strong growth for specialised banking services for the rich that now can be found in almost all financial institutions with varying degree of complexity.
"The financial landscape is quickly changing in line with consumer needs and only those financial institutions that are on the look out for new and innovative ways of doing things will keep the pace," says Prof Njuguna Ndung’u, the Governor of Central Bank of Kenya. To show the level of importance attached to this group of individuals — currently approaching the 3,000 mark in Nairobi — the bank issues them with VISA Infinite Debit card, the highest debit credit card class in the VISA family that allows one to a host of services never previously imagined possible both locally.
international centres
The members also have access to over 200 designated international banking centres worldwide for their customers, their spouses and children, in addition to a global recognition for the customers and their families to enable them maintain their priority status when opening an account or carrying out any transaction in any participating country.
Other treats include access to free international outward fund transfers, free ATM cash withdrawals from VISA ATMs worldwide in addition to global foreign exchange discounts at Travelex outlets worldwide.
And that is not all. Belonging to this class of banking entitles customers to a complimentary VIP access to over 600 international airport lounges, an emergency cash service, and an exclusive service offered to customers who require emergency cash when travelling overseas of up to $5,000 and household recognition.
A customer’s spouse and children are also entitled to full access to priority centres and have access to priority services, solutions and benefits.
Priority Centre Customers have also at their disposal specialist products at no charge including credit arrangements for buying properties or advise on investing in specialised investment instruments.
And with this facility — launched three months ago — Kenya has just entered the world of specialised banking tailored to suit sophisticated customer needs and lifestyles.
Resourced Kenyans can now join the exclusive club of top chief executives, top managers and wealthy landowners world over who are not put on hold for hours when they call their banks.
Holders of these accounts are treated with utmost respect: their phone calls to banks are handled by individuals and not transferred to call centres, neither do they have to queue for hours on end in banking halls.
Thanks to this personalised and innovative offering, the wealthy elite have access to specialised banking services from a small boutique of financiers who take care of everything from credit concerns for a new property to a new unit trust for their grandchildren.
International trends show that while the rich can afford to almost everything, there is one thing that they cannot do without: a private banker.
And with this trend, the private or specialised banking concept is no longer the reserve of the ultra-rich and no longer a western concept as it spreads like bushfire across the world.
The growing influx of new money: celebrities, city types who net huge bonuses, and rich foreigners who invested in the country is pushing banks towards highly specialised banking products.
management services
Several dynamics have served to stir the growth of specialised banking. Entrepreneurs, sportsmen and women who are too busy building their businesses to handle their own money are increasingly signing up to all-inclusive money management services that come with lofty annual fee structures and unspecified tax advantages
Under the Standard Chartered model, part of the consumer banking transformation aimed at capturing the emerging needs of high net worth individuals, the idea is value proposition to customers.
The hall has a team of specialised relationship managers and investment specialists to serve the priority customers on almost anything — investment ideas to the best property deals in the market.
"We carried out a market survey to understand the changing dynamics in the market," said Ms Kimemia.
"Instead of having the bank come up with products for our clients, what we decided to do is to ask our customers what they wanted and aligned our products to fit the needs."
Priority banking targets the affluent and entry level high net worth customers while its predecessor — Excel Banking — targets the emerging affluent customers in the Kenyan market.
With a single move, StanChart has pushed the limits of high-end banking experience to the next level, an area it has specialised for a long time.
The rest of the banks still charge Sh2,500 to Sh3,000 per month to offer such services and are mainly the premium banking level.
For StanChart, the boundary between the latest service and private banking is very thin indeed.
