Do Bank Managers still exist?

Yes saw one last week ;-)

But they have more limited and specified field of resp> Just wondering if there are still Managers, perhaps at the branch where an

Some, like Lloyds TSB, have travelling advisers/managers, who you can see by appointment. Last time I saw my 'branch manager' by appointment, he was a couple of minutes late in emerging from his office. I think he was changing out of his school uniform.

Toom

Natwest business managers only have a limited role that seems to be not enough for small businesses. When it comes to overdrafts and loans they press buttons and the computer tells them what they can do for the customer. Managers in halifax branches seem to be able to do nothing at all to resolve specific issues. Perhaps they are personell managers only.

Some might say when that happens, its a sign of getting old.

On the other hand, there's a fair chance that, when you go to see a bank manager now, you're ushered into some general-purpose meeting-cubicle to see the white-shirted ex-Dixons-assistant dealing this week with the four letters of the alphabet that include the first letter of your surname.

In some form, they now exist to motivate staff to ensure they hit their sales targets, they basically punish people for not pushing enough credit upon the public. Lloyds are about the worst.

Well, I can tell you all about Natwest business managers. I've run a business that has banked with Natwest since we first started in 1999. A couple of years ago, I found that the credit limit on my Natwest business card wasn't adequate, so I phoned Natwest to ask them to increase it, assuming that this sort of thing was all done via call centres. They told me that it couldn't be done centrally and I had to contact my "customer relationship manager" (I guess that's an approximate 21st-century equivalent of "bank manager"). I didn't even know I had a customer relationship manager until then, but they were able to tell me who he was and his phone number (he wasn't based at the branch I bank with, but I guess that makes it easier for him to hide from me for 5 years or so).

I phoned him up and he said he'd be happy to increase my credit limit if I'd just fill in a "little form" first. The form ran to several pages, and included, among other things, my girlfriend's date of birth. Now if my girlfriend were a shareholder, director, or employee of my company, you might just imagine some way in which that could be vaguely relevant. But she isn't. I explained that this was none of their business and that they would need to find a way to increase my credit limit without it or lose my business.

So I don't have a Natwest business card any more.

So to sum it up, I do have a customer relationship manager, whose job seemed to be to hide from me for 5 years and then to "manage" our relationship by losing part of my business.

Adam

I think you are missing the point. A Customer Relationship Manager is there to manage a customer's personal relationships! ;-)

Yes but the form was designed by the summer temp. I know. You just needed to fill in not applicable.

Jim A

I suggested that, but the Customer Relationship Manager wasn't having any of it. He made it quite clear if I didn't fill it in I wouldn't get my credit limit increased.

BTW, I don't have a company credit card at all any more, I just use one of my personal credit cards exclusively for business use, have it registered at my business address, and pay the bills from the company bank account. The only downside is that I'm personally liable for any balance if the company goes under, but frankly that's a tiny risk that I'm quite willing to take.

Saves me a fortune in bank charges too.

Adam