Senior citizens seek better treatment at banks

BL :Coimbatore/Mangalore,: L. N. Revathy& A. J. VINAYAK : 11 Sep 2013

Most banks in the country want to catch their customers young — a desirable objective, given India’s young demographic profile.

But in the process of welcoming the young, banks are overlooking the needs of older customers.  According to SBI’s annual report of last fiscal (2012-13), of its 286 lakh savings bank accounts, 34.7 lakh were pension accounts.

Some bankers, especially at the senior level, are considerate and treat the aged with respect. But they are  a vanishing tribe who would be retiring soon.

Narrating his bitter experience, Jayaram, a former Central Government employee, said: “When I went to collect my pension from the branch of a public sector bank in Mangalore, a staff member asked for my PAN (Permanent Account Number). It would have been nice if it had stopped at that, but the person went on to say rudely that my pension would be withheld if I did not produce my PAN card.” An obviously pained septuagenarian felt that the staff could have been more polite.

For Ramakrishna Rao (81), also from Mangalore, the experience was no better. “After a couple of minutes, I approached the desk for help, not seeking preferential treatment but explained my age-related issues and he was considerate. If I hadn’t done that, I would have stood in the queue at the cost of my health.”

Krishnaoorthy (79), who has an account in a nationalised bank in Mumbai, says a separate queue for senior citizens as in railways booking counters would be in order.

Also, because of their age-related problems their signatures tend to become a little shaky at times. Bankers, he says, should understand such problems.

Quoting his experience in serving senior citizens during his tenure in a branch in northern Karnataka, a manager of a public sector bank in Mangalore, said: “I used to tell my frontline staff to give priority to senior citizens. If the staff members were occupied with other work, these senior customers could wait in my chamber.

 This gesture helped us. A number of pensioners shifted their accounts to my bank.” Banks, he added, shouldn’t see everything only from a business angle. Old customers, especially senior citizens, have an emotional bonding with their bank — and they usually turn up at annual general meetings and other social functions. 

At a recent function to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the City Union Bank’s Ramnagar branch in Coimbatore, one of the senior citizens recalled his family’s patronage of the bank for generations.

P. K. Rao (65) from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh says that senior citizens like him who prefer to deposit and withdraw money at the counter than going to the ATM need more personalised service.

“I want to see more interaction with the staff at the counter,” he said.

Many banks launch new savings accounts for children. For instance, Kotak Mahindra Bank introduced a savings bank account for them in Coimbatore recently.

When asked about the bank’s offering for senior citizens, the Executive Vice-President and Head (Branch Banking) of the bank, Virat Diwanji, said: “Now that you have made a suggestion, we will come up with something soon.” According to him, 15-20 per cent of the bank’s customer base comprise senior citizens.

(This article was published in the Business Line print edition dated September 11, 2013)