(the reasons why changes can be difficult and the conditions for their successful achievement) The economic, technological and methodological changes of C.I.S. banks necessitate a human resources change in the behaviours, but also in knowledge’s, skills, competences and qualifications of employees.
A model for the understanding of reactions to change Let us start by some universal observations, showing, first, a conceptual frame that is currently used in western enterprises to deal with the difficulties of change.
In an EBTRA survey carried out by the Irish Management Institute, it turned out that in most CIS countries banks do consider competitive pressure non-existing or of secondary order. This is a bad sign for the banking sector as such and again highlights that most banks still function on behalf of government.
In the CIS, there are three kinds of firms: SOE’s, privatized firms and private small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s). As pointed out before, large SOE’s and many privatized firms that are controlled by entrenched management receive preferred treatment by those banks that have emerged through spin-offs of former state banks.
Everybody who has ever visited a bank in the CIS knows that there is an obvious lack of consumer orientation. Opening up a bank account or even the simple withdrawal of money from an account can be a very time-consuming activity. This is mainly due to over regulation by government agencies that are undertaken in […]
This section links the analyses of systemic changes, of developments of the banking sector in CIS and the possible scenarios with questions of optimal bank management in a CIS country.
Stabilization leads to the creation of a completely convertible currency. The government manages to keep a balanced budget. Subsidies are cut to a large extent. The initially inefficient allocation of ownership rights is corrected on the financial markets that become highly liquid and attract foreign capital.
Governments manage to stabilize their currency to some high-level but less volatile inflation rates, and the real interest rate (nominal interest rates minus anticipated inflation) converges to some stable rate.
A number of issues will be crucial for the development of the banking sector: Will governments be able to stabilize their currency? Will they manage to cut subsidies? Will they be able to commit not to intervene in the business of banks, but provide the necessary regulatory environment?
The development of the banking sectors in most countries of the CIS as of today has led to a number of severe shortcomings that has two main effects. First, banks do not fulfils their important function of facilitating the transfers of resources from savers to investors.
