‘The rules of competing on the private individuals’ deposit market are as standard as on any other one. You can beat your rivals with the help of a product’s price or through better service,’ URSA Bank’s Ural branch’s Vice President Alexei Sannikov reports.

The bank executive feels the first stage of market competition is usually characterized by pricing policy adaptations, like offering better interest rates on deposits.

‘Small banks normally focus on introducing higher interest rates; larger banks follow suit, but not too fast, since they can afford to compete through non-price components of their deposit offers. Now, during the next competition stage, the quality of the product is brought into the limelight. Banks are starting to come up with additional options and better terms, some of them offer the interest rate indexation, allow their customers to withdraw their money before the deposit period expires and to top up their deposit accounts any time, while still others launch more frequent interest rate capitalization,’ he explains.

‘I’m positive that we are going to witness some very serious improvements in the field of customer service at the next stage. More attention will be paid to the accessibility of offices and sales outlets, to how comfortable they are, and to how professional the personnel are. We can see some of these improvements already, while the rest are bound to arrive in the very near future,’ Sannikov says.