MBA Study Papers Thesis, Assignment, Class Note, Report etc.: A Research Paper on A Review of overall Banking Operations of Mercantile Bank Limited

A complete research/ thesis paper for the students of MBA

CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Prelude: Mercantile Bank Limited is a private commercial bank that established its operations in Bangladesh 11 years ago. But within a short period it has improved its position and now is still improving. It is a modern bank and provides all types of banking services that a bank can provide. Though there are some problems, it is a highly potential bank.

Research is a part and parcel to complete MBA program. It is essential to get experienced with real organizational situation and make a combination of theory and practice. In performing this research work, I have chosen Mercantile Bank Limited. I thought, it will be more successful to become familiar with various modern banking processes if I do it in a bank where I am currently doing job and it is also a fast growing private commercial bank.

1.2. General Discussion: Generally by the word "Bank" we can easily understand the financial institution that deals with money. But there are different types of banks such as; Central Banks, Commercial Banks, Savings Banks, Investment Banks, Industrial Banks, Co-operative Banks etc. But when we use the term "Bank" without any prefix, or qualification, it refers to the `Commercial banks'. Commercial banks are the primary contributors to the economy of a country. So we can say Commercial banks are a profit-making institution that holds the deposits of individuals & business in checking & savings accounts and then uses these funds to make loans. Both general public and the government are dependent on the services of banks as the financial intermediary. As, banks are profit-earning concern; they collect deposit at the lowest possible cost and provide loans and advances at higher cost. The differences between two are the profit for the bank.

Banking sector is expanding its hand in different financial events every day. At the same time the banking process is becoming faster, easier and the banking arena is becoming wider. As the demand for better service increases day by day, they are coming with different innovative ideas & products. In order to survive in the competitive field of the banking sector, all banking organizations are looking for better service opportunities to provide their fellow clients. As a result, it has become essential for every person to have some idea on the bank and banking procedure.

1.3. Objectives:

The objective of the Research work is to familiarize students with the real market situation. The main objective of this report is to have an assessment about overall banking operations of Mercantile Bank Limited. In addition, the study seeks to achieve the following objectives:

ð To apply theoretical knowledge in the practical field

ð To make a bridge between the theories and practical procedures of day to day banking operation

ð To relate the theories of banking with the practical banking activities

ð To study existing banker-customer relationship, particularly the efficacy of customer services of the bank

ð To know about the services provided by the bank

ð To appraise the suitability of existing banking systems followed by Mercantile Bank Limited.

1.4. Methodology: Preparing any report requires primary and secondary data this report is not exception. I collected secondary data from several sources and also here used primary data. I collected secondary data from several web sites and from financial reports of Mercantile Bank Limited and primary data from practical experience.

Primary data are collected from Mercantile Bank Limited, Sylhet branch. This data are basically from practical experience and also from financial reports of Mercantile Bank Limited, Sylhet branch.

1.5. Scope of the study: Mercantile Bank Limited is the modern technology based commercial bank is under general guidelines of the central bank framed for the banking system as a whole and for bank of individual sector. The concept of private sector bank i.e. Mercantile Bank Limited (MBL) in our country is not so old. MBL is now giving emphasis to create a constructive and meaningful competition with the private sector banking. The main scope of this study is to know about the primary concept of banking and operations of banking activities. This study makes attempt to cover with in its scope all most all the significant aspects of banking.

1.6. Collection of information: This report has been prepared through practical working experience, extensive discussion with bank employees and with the customers. While preparing this report, I had a great opportunity to have an in depth knowledge of all the banking activities practiced by Mercantile Bank Limited. It also helped me to acquire a first hand perspective of one of the fast growing private banks in Bangladesh.

1.7. Collection of secondary data:

Secondary data means data that are already available i.e. they refer to the data which have already been collected by someone else. Secondary data may either be published data or unpublished data. Usually, published data are available in : (a)various publications of the central, state and local governments, (b) various publications of foreign governments or of international bodies and their subsidiary organizations, (c) technical and trade journals, (d) books, magazines and newspapers, (e) reports and publications of various associations connected with Business and industry, bank, stock exchanges etc. (f) reports prepared by research scholars, (g) public records and statistics, historical documents and other sources of published information. The sources of unpublished data are found in diaries, letters, unpublished biographies, and autobiographies and also may be available with scholars and research workers, trade associations, labor bureaus and other private/public individuals and organizations.

Secondary data are collected from web site of Mercantile Bank Limited and also from different types of books and magazine and also from different web site such as www. mblbd. com.

We must be very careful in using secondary data. We must make a minute scrutiny because it is just possible that the secondary data may be unsuitable or may be inadequate in that context. By the way of caution, the researcher, before using secondary data, must see they possess the following characteristics:

1. Reliability of data: The reliability of data tested by finding out such things about the said data (a) Who collected the data? (b) What are the sources of data?

2. Suitability of data: The data that are suitable for one enquiry not necessary be found suitable for another enquiry. Hence, if available data are found to be unusable, we should not use them. In the context, we must carefully scrutinize the definition of various terms and units of collection used at that time of collecting data from the primary source originally.

1.8. Selection of appropriate method for data collection:

There are various methods for data collection. As such the researcher must judiciously select the method/methods for his own study, keeping view the following factors.

1. Nature, scope and object of the enquiry: The method selected should be such that suits the type of enquiry that is to be conducted. The factor is also important in deciding whether secondary data are to be used or primary data are to be collected.

2. Availability of funds: When funds at the disposal of the researcher are very limited, he will have to select a comparatively cheaper method, which may not be efficient and effective as some other costly method. Finance, in fact is a big constraint in practice and the researcher has to act within his limitation.

3. Time factor: The time at the disposal of the researcher affects the selection of the method by which the data are to be collected. Some methods take relatively more time, whereas in others the data can be collected in a comparatively shorter duration.

4. Precision required: Precision required is yet another important factor to be considered at the time of collection of data.

1.9. Limitation:

The limitations of this research report are various in shapes and dimensions. The constraints that limit fulfillment and total accomplishing of the research objectives are:

Limited time

Lack of enough experience

Budget constraints

I have completed my research from Sylhet branch of Mercantile Bank Limited and I prepared a report about “A Review of Overall Banking Operations of Mercantile Bank Limited”. I had faced a lot of problems since adequate information is not available and if available, in many cases they were hard to penetrate or are not supposed to expose according to the ethical guidelines of the bank for its employees.

As a newly recruited employee, it is not possible to work all side of banking activities and it is also not possible to understand every aspects of banking operations of practically which is desperately required for better research.

Availability of critical information is crucial to my analysis. Some of the information can be deemed too confidential by the management, especially the ones regarding corporate strategies, information on matrix system or credit scoring method and strategies they follow to hold its competitiveness in the market. Hence, access to that information will be restricted, which may limit the scope of my analysis.