Banks take steps to deliver inclusive service

Singapore

SINGAPORE banks are training their front-line staff to better serve bank customers with disabilities amid growing awareness of the daily difficulties they face.

"Many of us take for granted being able to walk into a bank to attend to our banking needs," said Janet Young, head of group channels and digitalisation at United Overseas Bank (UOB).

"Through NTUC LearningHub's training programme, we break down the customer journey and look for the barriers our people can remove through their own actions," she said.

Last week, UOB and NTUC LearningHub launched a service inclusiveness training programme comprising role-playing and learning of common issues faced by people with disabilities, such as visual or hearing impairment, or dementia.

Some 900 UOB front-line service employees will be trained by the end of the year to serve such customers better. So far, nearly 400 of them have completed the full-day training programme.

The programme is a collaboration involving the Ministry of Social and Family Development, NTUC LearningHub, the Disabled People's Association and UOB.

At OCBC, it has been a "long-standing practice" for front-line staff to be trained to pay extra attention to customers who require special assistance such as the physically disabled, said Jean Oh, head of branch service and risk management.

Likewise, Yeo Wenxian, head of DBS and POSB branch banking, said the bank puts all customer-facing staff through "rigorous training" to serve customers with disabilities.

And since 2016, over 1,000 branch employees have gone through dementia-awareness training sessions, which guide them on engaging customers who display signs of dementia.

Heng Siew Pheng, deputy branch manager at UOB, 38, is putting what she has learnt into practice.

For example, she has seen visually impaired customers face difficulty finding their way around bank branches, from not knowing where to get a queue number or where to sit.

Previously, she would have guided such customers by holding on to them. Now, she has learnt that she should instead offer her elbow when guiding them so that they won't be taken aback.

"The training has opened my mind to the challenges faced by people with disabilities," she said.

Aside from employee training, local banks are also taking steps to make bank branches more accessible.

For example, UOB said it aims to make all branches accessible by ramps or lifts; three-quarters of its branches have already been so equipped. DBS said portable ramps are available at all its branches.