aa newsletter - pshrm - pakistan society of human ...m sure the humor and cartoon sections will help...

AA Newsletter July-November 2003 First Issue

The Human Resources Department wishes all ABN

AMRO staff a joyous and Happy Eid

.

WIN Rs. 5,000/- Coin a name for this

Employee Newsletter of AABP. Please send the

suggested * name to Babar Ahmed in our Human

Resources Department by December 31, 2003

* conditions apply.

Message from Naveed A. Khan

Country Representative

Dear Associates,

I am extremely pleased to see the launch of our Employee Newsletter at ABN AMRO Bank Pakistan. In our constant struggle to bring service excellence to our customers, we sometimes forget our most important customers – each other! This Employee Newsletter is an effort to refocus on people and personalities at work, and to nurture the bonds we share with each other. Our employees are the prime reason for our success and we certainly consider them our most valued asset.

The Employee Newsletter will serve to highlight important events and challenges at our work place, discuss business directions, and provide relevant information along with an insight into the workings of different departments of our bank.

We sometimes forget our most important customers-each other!

In our endeavors to maintain a result oriented work environment, we at times, tend to ignore the human side of the enterprise, which results in building work stress.

Copyright © 2001 ABN AMRO Pakistan HR All rights reserved.

I'm sure the humor and cartoon sections will help us build our tolerance levels and would also help us focus on the lighte r side of life. Remember, knowledge is power and dissemination of knowledge results in empowerment of people, which is critical for our personal growth. I am sure this Employee Newsletter will go a long way in promoting our inter-bank communication. Our primary objective is to provide a work environment to our employees where they find ABN AMRO Bank Pakistan

a great place to work in and take pride in the success of our organization.

I commend our HR Department for taking this important employee communication initiative. I would also like to express my personal thanks and appreciation to the Employee Newsletter Team comprising of various BU Representatives who made the instigation of this newsletter possible. I wish them success in their future endeavors in this context. I would encourage all of you to make regular contributions to the Employee Newsletter. I look forward to receiving future issues of this Employee Newsletter on a regular basis.

Happy reading!

Newsletter November 2003

Karachi

Back: Mohd.Nauman, Lindsay Lobo, Saad Ullah Khan, Anjum Amin & Babar Ahmed

Front Row: Mustafa Mohsin, Kiran Abrar, Zainab Dadabhoy, Omar Z Magoon

Lahore

Abubakkar Liaquat, Ali Pervaiz & Nabeel Saleem

Islamabad Shehyar Zafar, Sajjad Uz Zaman &

Ahmed Jameel Malik

BU Representatives for the ABN AMRO Employees Newsletter: WCS Sevices Human Resources (Editorial Team): Anjum Amin - Karachi Minhas Bhojani - Karachi Babar Ahmed – Karachi Working Capital: Hasnain Fancy - Karachi. Zainab Dadabhoy - GTA Sales & Ops, Karachi. C&P Ops: Lindsay Lobo - Karachi IT: Sarosh Ghaus - Karachi Finance: Omair Zafar Magoon -Karachi Property Services: Sajjad uz Zaman - Islamabad Abubakar Liaquat - Lahore Ahmed Jameel Malik - Lahore Compliance: Ali Ahmed Ansari – Karachi SVB: Kiran Abrar - Karachi. Nabeel Saleem - Lahore Shehryar Zafar - Islamabad Financial Markets: Saad Ullah Khan - Treasury Ali Pervaiz – CPM - Lahore. Mohammed Nauman - Credit Administration, Karachi. Country Risk Office: Mustafa Mohsin, Karachi . Country Client Coverage: Inshan Ali Nawaz - Karachi .

Message from The Newsletter Team: It is better to smile at something you don’t understand than to take it seriously and end up giggling hysterically in a padded cell, off Jail Road. The entire newsletter team welcomes you aboard in your journey into the labyrinth of the ABN AMRO newsletter. Happy Reading!

Executive Leadership: If you are trying to decide which leadership style to use,your search might well be over. Evidence is mounting (including your own common sense) that some leadership practices are fundamental.

Since the 1920's, there have been decades of research on leadership and management styles. The most popular concept is the "Situational" or "Contingency" approach whereby managers and/or leaders tune their leadership style to accommodate the situation they are in - the "situation" being defined by many categories. These include needs, wants, preferences, maturity levels or other characteristics of the follower, as well as measures of the work being expected of the follower, the technology being used, etc! Therefore, for every "situation", a leader would choose the appropriate "style" or method of interacting with the followers.

Leader or Boss?

Considering the multitude of leadership styles around, being an effective leader becomes as confusing as trespassing a difficult maze. Interestingly, many managers and executives who profess to use a "situational approach" to leadership, can't enunciate what they really do. While there has been much research questioning the usefulness of a range of

leadership styles, there is evidence and strong argument for a unanimous way for managers and executives to lead people. Regardless of industry or discipline, an able leader should do the following:

1. Clearly define your role and the role of your peers. This includes outlining what you mutually expect from each other including job priorities, expectations, and behaviour.

2. Clearly communicate any expectations you want to meet, and

3. Recognize the success of your peers, praising their efforts.

Beyond these fundamentals, successful leaders act the way their own personalities direct them. It's strange that little mention is ever made of the ability of most "followers" to adjust themselves to the personality of their leader or "boss", as long as the three conditions above are satisfied. Often, people are more flexible tha they are given credit for.



Faces in our crowd

GT&A Trade Message Board

Enjoy the journey into the labyrinth of GT&A

New Releases

Where puritans had to squawk over inefficiencies of task related activities, the rubber giant monster, commonly known as Bank Trade, is reeling in, at break-neck speed & plans to launch itself in the last quarter of this year, God willing. Establishing itself as a global platform, it requires both effort and endurance from the trade members, both of which are present in a subsistence amount amid this lot. Its chimes had waved out vibrations when presentations were given by our senior member Abid Hussein, for people to have a feel of the overwhelming enterprise. As soon as the testing commences, its presence will be more earnestly felt.

To internally streamline processes and to perch our performance to near the standards, a couple of initiatives have been taken up by the trade team. Housekeeping rules have been actively reinforced and a couple of reengineering projects have been taken up to assist each unit in bringing their respective units to that benchmark. One of the most talked about initiatives in the global Trade lobby is of the increasing utilisation of the learning platform, commonly actively enforced in Pakistan.

Celebrations:

Good News

Under the dynamic leadership of Naved A. Khan, Faisal Anwar and Anjum Amin the following initiatives were taken by our Human Resources Department during 2003.

• Cross-pen gift upon successful completion of Probationary Period.

• Gold coins to ABN AMRO employees as "long Service Award" on completion of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 & 30 years of service with the bank as a token of appreciation & recognition of there long association.

• Introduction of Pilgrimage leave in our leave policy.

• Reduction of mark-up on all staff loans. • Enhancement of Social & Transport Loan Limit.

Management Walk-About

A new initiative of management walk-about has been introduced by Naved Khan, Faisal Anwar & Anjum Amin to meet and greet with all levels of employee. This initiative was started on September 2003 and will continue on-going basis.

AA Pakistan Launches Van Gogh Preferred Banking

ABN AMRO Consumer Banking, Pakistan achieved another milestone by rolling out the globally branded Van Gogh Preferred Banking (VGPB) offer. Welcome letters were sent out to all high net-worth customers inviting them to the Main Branch in Karachi and Lahore as the newly renovated Van Gogh Preferred Banking lounge opened its exclusive doors to customers on 24 March 2003. This has been designed in consultation with the ABN AMRO Business Development Team at the Head Office but almost entirely soared and constructed with local expertise.

Here’s a word game worth your time:

1. Code-Creator’s quine?

M S

2. Unrefined guy?

U E

3. Annoying invitee?

U P

4. Seasonal percussionist?

M R E

Answers on the last page



GT&A Trade Managerial Madness Over the last couple of months, the trade team has seen a number of rapid personnel changes. With the revised org. chart now in place, the senior departmental members are confident that these changes are for the betterment of the department in the longer ru n. Obviously, when push comes to shove, what is required needs to be done. As a resultant of which a couple of new entrants have been welcomed recently. Sadly, we bid farewell to a couple of old partners as well. Jan-e-Alam, a residing member of the Bills Unit, moved on to Bank Al-Habib, for career enhancement whereas Mohammed Yaseen moved on to Bank Al-Falah and Shehzad Ilyas to his own business..

Lately, GT&A Trade Ops is not the only place where job descriptions and personnel are being shifted. A significant shift was announced a couple of weeks ago when the Head of Trade Sales, Mohammed Aminuddin, suddenly felt a surge of love and admirable sentiments for a life abroad and jetted to Amsterdam for a regional assignment. His immediate successor is none other but our very own, Yousuf Hussain. We, at Trade Operations, wish the Sales team, Mohammed Aminuddin, and Yousuf Hussain the very best in their new posts.

As if workload wasn’t enough to deactivate the last bit of our brain cells left, our Trade Dept undertook another initiative in the form of training sessions, commencing right after 6 p.m. These were surely meant to be very informative and there were also, for those who bothered to listen to them. But in the dimly lit HR training room, the snores certainly didn’t catalyse the learning experience. Infact, the time, people actually did wake up from their deep slumber was miraculously during tea breaks. But with all due respect, trade members do feel gratitude towards the people who took this initiative. After all, it’s the spirit that counts!

To be or Not to be…A Chai Wala?

As I lift a tray laid with filled teacups, drops spluttered all over the edges, I commence what I anticipate would be another dreary day, in this gora bank. Pushing the glass door pass me, as I walk, the dull click of my heels perfectly complemented the semblance of disgust on my face. I, Lalmir Gul, the protector of tea culture in this bank, set out to serve people their morning tea. As I march through the busy, noisy corridors of the bank, I mutter to myself " Addressed to all the people I serve tea to, will I even be noticed if I simply disappear for one day?" With this query in mind, I stop at my first station; dump a cup of tea on the table, my facial disgust perfectly concealed by the wave of pleasantness on my face. As I passed by each station providing the necessary and exchanging usual pleasantries, a thought hit me like a thunderbolt. Instead of joining my other brethren and pouring into our wounds, the console of brotherly balm, I thought, what would these poor bankers do, if for one day, just one day, I wont provide them with tea. The idea of absolute torture generated an ear-to-ear grin on my face, and I, content with my whirling thoughts, stormed out of the hall, bearing an absolute magnificent soul, as if I was reborn. Just this moment, I saw life



To be or Not to be… Continued

basking in limelight. My mind was racing at the speed of a super computer and I analysed the condition of the people if they woke up one day to realize that they would have a tealess day.

How, self-glorified I felt, as I mentally calculated each percentile, I can’t begin to contemplate.

Whenever, I used to pass to gather all the empty cups or roam aimlessly, the distant voice of an officer, saying "bhai, ek chai ka cup tu la do, halki strong!" used to carry further across my vital signs. I felt as if I didn’t play a significant enough role in their lives, till this very moment. Feeling reignited, as I set out for another round of tea, I felt sorry for the poor souls, who were so dependent on me that some of them wont even be able to commence their days without my biggest asset and their biggest weakness; tea!

Muttering to myself as I passed a "Mr. I-Know-It-All", who would remain anonymous for reasons quite obvious, I mouthed, " Dil tu karta hai ke ek pora din, in ko chai ke baghair rakho!"

But suddenly the vice in me took a backseat, whereas the goodness in me sat at the driving seat. It said " No Gul, don’t test the poor souls…they are already at the very brink of their teetering sanities, don’t overdo it ". And suddenly, Gul, the Merciful, carrying a tray of empty teacups, walks out of the corridor, smiling away!

TCSS Online Interface with SCORE

ABN AMRO Pakistan (AAP) is currently using a software, developed in-house by AAP IT, called Teller and Client Services System (TCSS) as an online (core) consumer banking application. TCSS comprises of modules such as teller transactions, Pay Order/Demand Draft, Collection Realisation, Remittances, Clearing, Instalment, and revolving-based loan, etc in addition to interface with ATM and Debit card network.

SCORE, on the other hand, is the international standard application that firms use in maintaining general ledgers. AAP uses SCORE as well to maintain balances, calculate interest/mark-up, etc. This international application has flexible credit facilities options, which enable collective limits on more than one account including sublimits. SMART is the sub system of SCORE that is used to book fixed term contracts for both money market as well as foreign currency (FX). Deals include FX Spot, FX Forward, Option Forward, SWAP, Call Lend, Call Borrow, Repos, Reverse Repos, etc. At day end, all TCSS transactions are uploaded into SCORE. AAP has recently implemented the first phase of TCSS online Interface with SCORE which means that the TCSS transactions are now upward to SCORE in real time (previously the uploading was done at day-end)



Interns Perspective

It goes without saying that interns at any organisation whatsoever, be it the White House, are considered more of a "nuisance factor" than a contribution. Supervisors probably see it as a wasteful investment of time and energy to groom us interns, only to see us leave after a mere 5 weeks. Thus, I was not surprised when a fellow intern related an incident that occurred between him and his supervisor, during the first week of his internship. Names shall remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

Supervisor: "Intern, tumharey liye buhat important kaam hai"

Intern: " Gee Sir!" (Really excited)

Supervisor: "Yey important documents le gao…"

Intern: "Gee Sir (excited)"

Supervisor: "… aur…aur inhey photocopy kar lao"

Intern: "Yes Sir (disappointed)"

Supervisor: "aur ek aur kaam. Yeh das ropey lo, aur ooper sey gram samosay ley ao".

As internees, we can expect to carry out menial tasks. It is up to us to take the initiative and make full use of this opportunity we have been awarded, and make it into a learning experience (as strongly advised by Mr. Naved A. Khan). It is also an opportunity to develop our people’s skills, which is vital for personal growth in an organisation.

A big thank-you goes toward the HR department for hiring us and trying their best to utilise us at our utmost. One can realise the pressure imposed on them by upper management to hire their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, nieces, nephews, best friends sons, best friends daughters, neighbours cousins daughters best friend, etc (I think you get the picture). This should be with done with the intention of recruiting worthy interns -rather than any Tom, Dick or Harry- who can then return to bank as full time employees. The tenure should be increased from 5 weeks to at-least 8 weeks, to give some credibility to the internship. The stipend given by the bank is way below the industry average. Having said all this, one final word of advice to the HR department: "PAY US MORE!"

The cafeteria food also leaves little to be desired. Apart from being non-appetising, it is grossly overpriced for interns (Rs60 as compared to Rs30 for employees). Strongly recommended is the "dhaaba" behind Marriott, nicknamed "Mini-Marriott" where one can get a decent meal for as little as Rs20 (beverages included). Speaking of beverages, it will be a good idea for the tuc shop to stock cold drinks as well.

Above: Interns at consumer floor:

Now, some positive points of the internship; getting the name ABN AMRO (One of the largest bank in the world- so the bank claims) on our resumes. The experience should probably add us in finding full time jobs once we are done with our degrees, be it at ABN AMRO or any other institution. However, the most memorable part of this internship would Above: Interns at consumer floor:

be the people- interns and employees alike.

A special thank-you to the "chai walas" whose constant supply of caffeine throughout the day served to keep us awake, and was one of the high points of our internship here.

I would certainly hope that the complaints cited in this article are treated as positive criticisms. Thank-you ABN!



BU Profile - Dealing Room

Operating under Dr. Naim Abdullah, Head of Financial Markets & Country Treasurer, and Fahim Ahmed, Assistant Treasurer, the AA Dealing Room is amongst Pakistan’s top-tier Treasuries and a significant contributor to the bank’s bottom line.

The Dealing Room is made up of the following key Financial Markets (FM) Value Centres:

1. Rates Markets ("RM") 2. Foreign Exchange Markets ("FX") 3. Corporate Distribution ("CD")

The table below outlines the various activities undertaken and areas of responsibility for the Dealing Room staff across the Value Centres.

Financial Markets Value Centres & Teams

Activities

Rates Markets ("RM") Pervez Shahbaz Khan (ext. 2803) Amir Ghous (ext. 2804)

Management of the commercial banking book Repo Trading Market-making in T-Bills & GOP bonds

Foreign Exchange Markets ("FM") Salman Arshad (ext. 2802) Shahid Abdullah (ext. 2805) Mohammad Faisal (ext. 2806)

Management the banks commercial FX flows Market making in USD/PKR Short-term interest trading (through swaps) Cross currency sales to local banks.

Corporate Distribution ("CD") Saad Ullah Khan (ext. 2808) Muslim Reza (ext. 2807)

Provide solution-based coverage to WCS clients across the following FM products: FX Deposits GOP securities

Our goal is to provide our clients with excellent foreign exchange, money market and derivatives risk management services enabling them to create and manage their

preferred risk profiles.

Do you like your job

Above: Dealing Room Copyright © 2001 ABN AMRO Pakistan HR All rights reserved.


Quotable Quotes"

Don’t limit investing to the financial world. Invest something of yourself, and you will be richly rewarded.

Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless

treasure?

Answers to Word Game: 1- Morse House 2- Crude dude 3-Guest Pest

4-Summer drummer

No Man has a chance to enjoy permanent success until he begins to look in a mirror for real cause of all his mistakes

Napoleon Hill


The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything. Do not be afraid of mistakes provide you do not make the same one twice.

Roosevelt

Frequently Asked Questions "FAQs" 1.What does the acronym "WCS" stand for?

a. World Class Service b. Wholesale Client Services c. World Cocktail Society

2. How many Strategic Business Units ("SBUs") does ABN Amro have? a) 3 b) 2 c) 1 3. Which of the following are ABN Amro SBUs?

a. FM, WC and SVB b. WCS, C&CC and PCAM, c. CPM, TOPS and NSBC

4. How many branches does ABN Amro Pakistan have? a) 3 b) 4 c) 7 Answers: (1) b (2) a (3) b (4) C

Newsletter July 2003Volume 1, Issue 1

Training Courses

As part of Human Resource Department initiative a inhouse course on Winning Through Service was conducted on July 10, 2003 to achive the following .

• To increase efficiency and enhance service level of employees • To create enhanced harmony among all Business Units. • Culture were team work is developed between different BU’s. • Awareness of our ABN AMRO Corporate Values and Business principles to new hires.

• Development of Trainers.

The course as kicked off by Naved A. Khan (Country Representative) who gave a brief outlook of the purpose of the course, importance of all the employees and AAP core values. Naved addressed few question of the participants mainly highlighting the overall strategy of AAP and contributions made by AAP in Pakistan in the Banking and Financial Sector. He highlighted that ABN AMRO Pakistan is in forefront of Electronic Banking and 1 Link Network is testament to this fact. Even the time spent by Naved A. Khan in the end with the participants was a treat for the participants and his emphasis on various critical and key views on Service were appreciated by all the participants.

The trainers Kenneth Lobo and Shehlale Jawed engrossed the diversified group of participants which were selected from various Business Unit and Branches of Karachi into various interactive role plays. Needless to mention the efforts and hard work of Kenneth Lobo and Shehlale Javed, who had come all the way from Lahore, were a treat for all the participants. The participants were enlightened by various inputs from Salman Butt, Ebrahim Ghaffar, Shahbaz Ahmed & Salman Naqvi who also added few insights in to the importance of Service principles in AAP.

Going forward Human Resources intends to conduct these training courses for the up country branches as well. On part of Human Resource we thank Naved A. Khan, the trainers Kenneth Lobo & Shehlae Javed, respective Business Unit Heads and the participants who made this a great success.



Strengthening the Value Chain

In the third quarter of 2003, Faisal Anwar -CAO had taken an initiative in co-ordination with our Compliance Department to organise a six-module in-house program to enhance the awareness level of all employees of AAB Pakistan with regard to key organisational concepts.

A team of trainers was put together with the help of HR. Individuals selected as faculty for this program from different BUs demonstrated an excellent teamwork and co-operation for the success of this initiative.

An exercise was conducted to draft the course contents to maximise the output of this effort. The course layout was made interesting by the introduction of surprise quizzes. (This idea was the brain child of Mr. Farhan Farooqui, ITLM Pakistan).

The six modules covered critical topics like Code of Conduct, Business Continuity Planning, Information Security, Fraud Prevention, Money Laundering and Operational Risk Management. The sessions were conducted by the following individuals.

1. Nauman A Ubaid 2. Changez Jan 3. Babar Ahmed 4. Erum H Khan 5. Dhunjishaw Jagus 6. Mohammed Zahid Ahmed 7. Kenneth Lobo 8. Minhas Bhojani 9. Ali Ahmed Ansari

CMC Team Building Offsite - Dubai

On October 10 & 11, 2003, an Off-site Seminar on "Teamwork & Trust Building" was conducted by HR for Members of our Country Management Committee at Dubai. The CMC Members participated in various experiential learning exercises and held candid discussions for purpose of bonding as one big team. The open discussions on identifying and resolving issues for ensuring the success of our Strategic Plan resulted in bringing greater clarity and goal congruence. This seminar was organised by Country HR in coordination with Naved A. Khan, Country Represenatative and Faisal Anwar, CAO, AAB Pakistan, for purpose of creating open lines of communication and a supportive organizational environment. This was the first Off-Site Seminar held at an overseas location for our CMC Members. It was very well received by all the participants and the active participation and contributions of all the CMC Members were found to be of immense value. At the end of this Seminar, all the participants signed a Pledge to stand together as one team for ensuring the future success of our bank. It was decided to continue the unfinished agenda of the Seminar through a follow -up session at Karachi in January 2004.

The Members of the Country Management Committee of ABN AMRO Bank Pakistan,

standing together as one team with a focused vision on the future success of our bank in

Pakistan.

From Left: Anjum Amin, Salman Malik, Adnan Q.Khan, Salman S.Butt, Shahbaz

Ahmed, Naved A.Khan, Faisal Anwar, Kazim Ali, Naim Abdullah and Mohammed Zahid

Ahmed



Employee Profile

As a part of each issue we plan to do a personality profile. Emphasis would be given to individuals who have displayed high aspirations and active persuasions to improve their potentials that have enabled them to achieve personal / professional development.

The Personality Profile for this issue is Rao Sarwar.

Sarwar joined the bank in 1997 as a runner in Treasury Back Office (TBO). Coming from a modest family background Sarwar always aspired to work in a large reputable organisation that would help him realise his potentials and have a satisfying carer. This being the primary reason why he left his previous job as an Assistant Accountant and joined ABN AMRO. Sarwar was confident that with his hard work and dedication he would prove his mantel. His efforts and perseverance bore fruits and in recognition of the same the management confirmed him in 2001. Sarwar is currently working as a processor in TBO and his assignments include various internal and external reporting, reconciliation, various queries etc. In pursuance of his goal, Sarwar while working for ABN completed his graduation.

His stay with ABN AMRO so far has been very satisfying and it has helped him both professionally and professionally, to quote him " The bank has helped me gain immense self confidence and has helped sharpen my decision making ability, that has been very helpful in both my professional and personal life". His confirmation has been his happiest moment with ABN AMRO so far.

Sarwar believes that better education is the key to his carer enhancement. Putting his money where his mouth is, he completed his graduation while working for ABN and is currently pursuing his MBA form the Asian Institute of Management. He has also undergone English Language courses from PACC and has completed Level 5 of the same. His interest in computer has led him to self teach and attain fluency in various Microsoft Office products.

A happily married man with three children, Sarwar is ever thankful to God for providing him the right opportunities in life. The birth of his first child has so far been the happiest moment of his life, while the death of his parents has aggrieved him the most.

He would like to be remembered as an individual is fully conversant in his job and who is a problem solver and people in this capacity are the one that inspire him the most. Ten years from now Sarwar would like to see himself as the Operations Head for Karachi and hopes that he can realise his aspirations.

We wish Sarwar best of luck in all his endeavours and hope to see him reach the pinnacle of his care. Copyright © 2001 ABN AMRO Pakistan HR All rights reserved.

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