1

1
Janat Shah (Professor, IIM Bangalore), Vikas Bansal and Ashis Sahai (PGP Batch of 2008-10 IIM Bangalore) prepared this case in
2009 as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation.
Data in the case have been disguised. This is a test case and should not be distributed without prior written permission from the
authors.
At 7.30 pm on a Thursday evening in 2008, Mr. Pramod, Vice-President at UAE Exchange, was getting ready
to go home. He collected the report submitted by the Operations Review team from his table.

UAE exchange had built a solid reputation and has managed to corner 50% market share. A strong loyal
customer base, who valued services provided by UAE Exchange, was a key reason for their success. As an
exchange house, UAE Exchange was fully conscious of the fact that customer service was an important
differentiator to maintain market leadership. High Quality of Service had led to an increase in customer
base over and above their target. Though this was a welcome change, it had led to various problems like
increased queue lengths at counters and waiting time for customers.

Mr. Pramod was aware of the fact that improving staff productivity and reducing customer waiting time
were never-ending challenges. To address these issues an Operations Review team was formed with a
mandate to suggest ways to reduce customer service time and improve operational efficiency. During the
Review meeting various suggestions and improvements were put forth by the team.

Remittance Industry
With the ever increasing business volumes in UAE and with increasing population of expatriate population
in UAE, the exchange house industry in UAE is an attractive industry. Dubai, which is already thriving in
business being a free economy, is also promoted as a tourist destination, adding to the growth prospects
of business and growth of expatriate population.

The exchange houses in UAE are predominantly used by expatriates and Multi National Companies in UAE
to transfer money across countries. UAE has a huge proportion of population as expatriates who use
exchange houses to remit their earnings as money to their native country. Also, UAE being an open
economy and promoter of free trade attracts many MNCs who need to transfer money across countries
and/or convert currencies. Owing to these factors, exchange houses are proliferating in UAE. The main
transactions done by exchange houses fall into two categories: a) either as money transfers, also called
remittances, or b) as currency conversion, also called as foreign currency conversion or FC.

Labour Camps
The emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai have had huge boom in the real estate industry. The newly found oil
deposits and new oil refineries are a major source of demand for labour force besides the construction
companies. Also to peck itself as the destined tourist spot, there has been large scale construction in UAE
in the past years. This has led to migration of labours from nearby countries predominantly India, Sri Lanka,
Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. These labourers are provided accommodation and food by
the construction companies along with wages. All of these labourers reside in a common place called
Labour Camps. There are more than 1000 of such camps in Abu Dhabi and Dubai area itself with a total of
7, 17,871 labourers. Most of these labours do not get a chance to visit their homes much and the only way
of remitting money back to their homes is Exchange house.

These labourers account for the majority of the customers of UAE Exchange and the company has made
sure that it provides good level of service to them too. For their comfort, the company has also opened
many branches in the locality where there are big labour camps.

About UAE Exchange

UAE Exchange Centre LLC, an ISO 9001:2000 Company, is one of the leading exchange houses in the Middle
East, primarily focusing on money transfers and money exchange, and is part of the NMC Group, one of the
biggest and the most prestigious business conglomerates in the UAE.

It has pioneered new standards in fund transfer services since its establishment in 1980, ever staying ahead
of competition with advanced and slick enhancements in the technology, operations and customer service
spheres.

The Company's portfolio of services include Draft cheques, Swift transfers, Express transfers, Xpress Money
transfers, Western Union money transfers, Travelex money transfers, Credit card settlement services &
cash advances, Inter-Emirates money transfers, purchase and sale of foreign currency bank notes, and
Traveller's Cheques in retail and wholesale.

UAE Exchange celebrated 28 progressively successful years of commitment to quality products and an
unblemished image, which has empowered it to become an acknowledged force in the world remittance
market. In UAE alone it has a vast presence with total of 68 branches.

As shown in Exhibit 1, the company has grown almost three folds in the past three years and boasts to
have the maximum number of branches amongst all the Exchange houses in UAE (Exhibit 2).

UAE Exchange is one among the few exchange houses in the world to be a member of SWIFT. This
membership provides UAE Exchange with the capability to transfer money to any banking institution which
is a member of the SWIFT. SWIFT currently has over 8300 members in 208 countries most of whom are
banking institutions.

This facility to transfer money has given UAE Exchange an edge over the competition. This relationship has
been particularly effective in developing the corporate customer segment which has an immense
requirement of transfers in lieu of trade settlements, particularly to Western Countries.
Operations
For the purpose of efficient administration, the management has divided the whole UAE operations into 6
areas: Dubai I, Dubai II, Abu Dhabi I, Abu Dhabi II, Sharjah and Northern Emirates. Each area consists of 10-
15 branches and is headed by an Area Manager. Each branch is in the jurisdiction of a Branch Manager. The
overall organisation structure and the reporting structure in branches is displayed in Exhibit 3.

Management of operations thus is carried out broadly at two levels. One is at the Area level where the
macro level issues like new customer incentive policy, branch monitoring system and decisions on opening
of new branches are handled and the other is at branch level where micro level issues regarding counter
capacity, queue management and customer service are handled.

There are three types of branches in each area:

1) Street branches (meant for remittance and currency exchange for general customers)
2) Mall branches (mainly meant for currency exchange for foreign tourists)
3) Camp branches (situated near labour camps, mainly for the purpose of targeting labour class
customers looking for remittance).

Area Level Operations

Monitoring of daily remittance transaction counts
In the current systems of operations, daily performances of all branches are tracked in the following
manner. Based on the previous quarter’s performance, previous year’s performance and growth trend and
available opportunities, area wise targets of total number of Remittance transactions and Foreign Currency
margins and volumes, are set for the next quarter and are assigned to the Area Managers. Each Area
Manager then divides the total target assigned to different branches depending on the previous
performances and existing opportunities for different branches.

Now in order to monitor the branches’ daily performances, for every branch, on any day of the quarter, the
total transactions made or FC sales carried out till that day of the quarter is evaluated as a percentage of
the total target set for that quarter. This percentage is then compared with the days completed in the
quarter as a percentage of the total days in that quarter. If for any particular branch, the total transaction
done as a percentage of the quarterly target is greater than the days passed in that quarter as a
percentage of total number of days then the branch is assigned a green flag for that day, if it is less than
the required percentage but the difference is not much then the branch is assigned an amber flag and the
rest of the branches are assigned red flags. Red flag branches are then alarmed that the company needs to
push their total transaction and sales to come to terms with the required targets.
If the same procedure is followed, then for the first 10 days of each month, most of the branches in any
area are flagged green but in the subsequent weeks, the branches start turning into red as the month
progresses. Then even if the Area Managers start pushing the branches to increase their daily
performance, no effect will be seen in the target achievement.

The actual daily remittance, as carried out in the branches, is not uniform through the month. The lean and
rush periods in a month for various branches are shown in Exhibit 4.

Number of Branches
With the continuous boom in oil and real estate sectors in the pre financial crisis era, the demand of labour
was continuously increasing in UAE. Thus the number of expatriates in UAE had been increasing at a rapid
pace. So to tap into this increasing market, the company decided to open up more branches. Total growth
in the number of branches in UAE is shown in Exhibit 5. For Dubai Areas the total remittance counts vis-a-
vis the total number of branches in the area has been given in Exhibit 6.

Branch level Operations

Staff Scheduling & Staffing
To handle varying loads, staffing and manning of counters at branch becomes very crucial. Apart from the
varying loads discussed in the previous sections, each branch has different kind of customers (labourers
from labour camps, corporate clients, professionals etc) depending upon its location. Because of the
variation in kind of customers visiting the branch, there is variation in peak timings of all branches. The
weekly peak is observed on Friday and daily peak between 5-9 pm. One day’s data of number of customers
arriving every hour, along with total counters staffed, at one of the branches in Dubai is given in Exhibit 10.

Initially scheduling of manpower in branches was done manually by the Assistant Branch Head with the
help of supervisors. Manning the counters optimally according to the demand and also considering the
availability of resources/associates is a very important and challenging activity. Few branches followed
their own templates for scheduling the staff. But, in quite a few branches scheduling of counter staff was
done just before the day and is done on paper which is taking more time than necessary.

The company then started following a common template which all the branches could follow (Exhibit 12).
This helped the Branch Head/Assistant Branch Head to schedule the staff work timings for a week. This
template includes the name, role and their work timings for all the seven days in a week. This staff
schedule has to be shared by the Branch Head with the corresponding Area Manager before the end of the
first day of the week. So this also serves the purpose of monitoring the staffing issues in the branches and
keeps a check on the optimum resource utilization by the company.
Also, in the existing system, the company felt that there are wide differences across the branches in terms
of business potential, type of business, and practices. The company found that employees were working
with the same branch for long duration of time, which resulted in stagnation of the talent. It may also
result in employees becoming less aware of the overall business scenario. It is also to be noted that
incentives depend on the number of transactions, which in turn depends on the potential of the branch.

Customer Service
The company’s logo says “Service is our Currency” and it truly believes in it. Top management has made
sure that any feedback from the customer should be immediately acted upon. They have a feedback
system (Exhibit 13) in each branch and a customer service department which acts on customer complaints
and improves the service.

Through services like SMS notification (as soon as the beneficiary receives money or the money has been
deposited in beneficiary’s account), separate counters for queries where customer can find out the status
of their remittances and online query management software, they go out of the way to assure the
customer that his money is safe and will reach the beneficiary.

Immigrant labourers in UAE come from various countries and regions within countries. They are not well
versed in any language other than their mother tongue. UAE Exchange ensures that the staffs are able to
talk to customer in his native language. This is achieved by having multiple nationalities in their workforce.
Bigger branches allow more counters and more personnel; so a Srilankan can approach a counter person
who knows Sinhalese and a person from Kerala can converse to another staff in Malayalam. This is
important because UAE Exchange’s main area of focus is customers from labour camps whose families
depend on the remittance.

The company has tried to increase its availability throughout the country by increasing the number of
branches at a rapid phase. Also the number of staff members has been increased so that more counters
are manned every time to reduce the queue length. There has been a considerable increase in the number
of partnerships that company has forged with numerous banks. It’s the only exchange house to have a
SWIFT partnership. Technology and infrastructure has been rapidly scaled up to meet the increasing
demands.

In order to cope up with the increasing customer base and increasing the pie share, the company took
some initiatives. To increase the customer loyalty, the company started issuing Gold cards to the
customers which required only one time registration charges. For gold card registration, the customer has
to pay 10 AED as one time charge. During the registration, all the personal information of the user is
entered in the UAE Exchange system. This information can be easily retrieved later on by just entering the
Gold card number of the customer. This reduces the turn-around time for the transactions by avoiding the
re-entry of data when the customer wants to remit money. Apart from the improved service time,
customer also get other incentives like discounts on pharmacy, jewellery etc (part of parent group – NMC
pharmacy). As most of the customers are from the labourer class, they even feel privileged to own such
kind of card. As a result, the number of Gold card registrations has increased drastically in the last year
which has helped in comparatively fast and better service for the customer.

UAE Exchange with the help of its in house products and technology has been able to stay ahead of its
competitors by charging a lower transaction fee (Exhibit 8).

To augment their growth, UAE Exchange has been coming with many allied services and products (Exhibit
9). Some of these products like National Bonds are source of revenue for the company but the majority of
the services are for the convenience of the customer. Most of these services are free for their Gold card
customers and thus help in gaining customer loyalty.

All these factors cumulatively lead to increased customer loyalty. This in turn has led to an increase in new
customers (Exhibit 7).

Financial Supply Chain

The players in the remittance industry are not allowed to give credit to their customers. So, for all the
transactions they take cash from the customers before proceeding with the transaction.

For any remittance product, the exchange house transfers the funds of the customer to another exchange
house (by cash) or credits it directly in the bank account in the country of the beneficiary. In both the
cases, UAE Exchange need to follow a settlement procedure with the bank (may be 24 or 48 hours). The
mode of this transfer is electronic and is done instantaneously. The model followed is pre-funding. Because
of advent technology and demand of service, 99% of services are pre-funded and not reimbursement
based. The company parks funds with the banks depending upon the amount of business they do with that
bank and the duration for settlement varies accordingly.

For settlements, the company takes position depending on the market exchange rate which is different
than the rate at which transaction takes place. Treasury has to manage the positions well taking care of the
transaction rates at the same time.

Exchange rates used for transactions at branch are inter-bank rates (IBR) and are very dynamic. They
include risk margin, volatility margin and spread that the company wants to take. It’s updated multiple
times a day. UAE Exchange is a retailer in dealings but their positions are wholesale.

Margin that the company earns, change from customer to customer from time to time based on what it
quotes. Also, they give some discounts in the exchange rates based on the remittance amount (Exhibit 14).
That is why on a larger level they make sure that the spreads are in sync. The company doesn’t go on deal
by deal but on aggregate as a whole.

Each branch is a profit centre in itself and has to pay 8% interest for holding currency internally. So, the
branches have to be very efficient in holding currencies. In spite of the interest rate, during the festive
seasons and peak durations of the month, they have to stock more amount of currency to meet the
increased demand. So the company has system in place to ensure that profit centres are driven both by
turnover and margins. Treasury is regionally centralized to save time. If customer comes and ask for a
currency and the branch is not able to give him in time, it would lose the opportunity.

Issues to be addressed
A major factor that affects the customer loyalty in this industry is the customer service which the company
provides. Service time thus becomes a very important issue. The Operations Review team has come up
with some suggestions to address the issue of reducing customer service time and improving staff
productivity.

Crowding of customers at the counters results in delay in customer service. The two ways in which the
team was planning to address this issue were:

• Reduction of Turnaround time for transactions

• Increased capacity at the branches

Opening up of more branches is one option that is under consideration. But the team was worried that
more branches may lead to staffing and other issues.

Staffing was also a major area for improvement. It is imperative that staff productivity must go up.
Currently the staff productivity level varied from 60% to 120%. UAE Exchange had initially followed the
straight shift concept, wherein an employee worked continuously for 8 hours (including lunch break).

Off late to meet the needs of the customers, UAE Exchange had to increase the operating hours of its
branches. Hence it went in for the split shift concept. Under this concept employees worked for 4+4 hours
with a break in between (Exhibit 12). In the past, Operations Review team and the HR team had had a lot
of discussions over ways in which staffing can be made more flexible to improve productivity.

The various options put forth by the Operations Review team for reduction of turnaround time for
transactions are:
 1) Single window system 2- UAE Exchange is experimenting with the concept of single window system
where the entry of transaction details and cash payment is done at the same window by a single
person. This will lead to an effective saving of around half a minute per transaction and will also
reduce the hassles for the customer as he needs to stand only in one queue now. The company is
constrained by the number of employees who are capable of handling cash and have passed the
cashier training.

2) Automatic Kiosks – The kiosks will be used for bill payments and thus the load on the counters will
be reduced. The Operations Review team feels that this will lead to improved customer satisfaction.

3) Queue Management System - This is followed by global companies where the customer would
come and collect token and wait in a single line. He would then go to the counter where his token
number is announced.

4) Gold Card – The Gold card system introduced earlier was a great success. The Operations Review
team had suggested using this service to help reduce customer waiting time at the counters.

The Operations Review team believed that if they can maintain a high level of customer service they can
further improve their market share. But there is always the question of whether in the long run the
customer would visit a branch at all since he can just transfer money online. Hence one has to ponder if it
is worthwhile to invest so much effort in creating multilingual workforce, differentiating services etc.

He had to analyse and take decisions at both the strategic and operational levels. The various options that
need to be evaluated were opening of new branches, improving the monitoring system and measures to
improve operational efficiency.

Pramod knew that he had a long weekend ahead.

Appendix

2
Currently there are only two types of service officers in the branch: cashier and non-cashier. Only the staff members
who have passed the cashier training are allowed to handle cash. Also, these staff members used to do only cash
transactions. So, a customer who wanted to do a remittance has to give all the details to the non-cashier staff, who,
would enter the same in the XCQ system and will generate a token for the customer. The customer would then
deposit the amount he wants to transfer to the cashier. Thus effectively he would go through two queues for a single
transaction and on an average it used to take around 3 minutes (service time on the counter) for the transaction.
Exhibit 1: UAE Exchange Business Growth
Indicators 2005 2008
Branch Network 28 68
Remittance Counts (in Millions) 4.10 10
Customer Base (in Millions) 1.26 2.30
Employee Base 847 2,400
FC Margin * 100 302
Gross Revenue * 100 301
* (Indexed with 2005 as base year)

Exhibit 2: umber of branches of major Exchange Houses in UAE

Exchange House name Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharjah & Total
N.E.
UAE Exchange 28 21 19 68
Al Ansari 28 22 17 67
Wall Street 18 3 4 25
Al Ahalia 5 4 2 11
Al Razouki 8 1 4 13
Al Fardan 7 11 4 22
Emirates India 7 4 5 16
Exchange
Al Rostamani 9 2 1 12
Habib Exchange 3 3 2 8
City Exchange 4 1 2 7
Total 121 74 63 258
Exhibit 3a: Organization Structure
Exhibit 3b: Area / Branch Reporting Structure

Area
Manager

Branch
Head

Service
Leader

Service
Supervisor

Service
Officer

Exhibit 4: Monthly transactions at various branches

Branch Rush Period of Percentage Lean Period of Percentage

the month Transactions the month Transactions
Abu Dhabi Main 28-12 56.24% 13-27 43.76%
Abu Dhabi Mall 28-12 61.09% 13-27 38.91%
Abu Dhabi Souk 28-12 55.67% 13-27 44.33%
ADCOOP 28-12 58.61% 13-27 41.39%
Ajman 1-15 56.75% 16-30 43.25%
Ajman NK Mall No Cyclicity
Ajman Sanayya 1-15 54% 16-30 46%
Al Ain 28-12 57.31% 13-27 42.69%
Al Ain-Souq Zafarana Br 28-12 58.69% 13-27 41.31%
Al Ain Hili Br 28-12 63.02% 13-27 36.98%
Al Ain Sanayya Br 28-12 54.98% 13-27 45.02%
Al Aweer 28-12 54.76% 13-27 45.24%
Al Barsha 28-12 60.17% 13-27 39.83%
 Al Falah Plaza 1-15 57.96% 16-20 42.04%
Al Jazeera 1-15 59.81% 16-20 40.19%
Al Muhaisanah 28-12 56.92% 13-27 43.08%
Al Quoz 28-12 54.44% 13-27 45.56%
Al Raha Mall 16-30 57.25% 1-15 42.75%
Al Sajja 6-20 54.65% 21-5 45.35%
Al Wahda 28-12 60.81% 13-27 39.19%
Al Falah Plaza Al Ain 28-12 60.70% 13-27 39.30%
Al Quoz II 25-9 58.89% 10-24 41.19%
Bada Zayed 1-15 56.06% 16-30 43.94%
Baniyas 1-15 56.82% 16-30 43.18%
Bateen Mall 28-12 59.41% 13-27 40.59%
Bur Dubai 28-12 57.31% 13-27 42.69%
Deira 16-30 59.72% 1-15 40.28%
Deira Gold Souk Br 28-12 57.74% 13-27 42.26%
Dhaid 1-15 58.56% 16-30 41.44%
Dibba 28-12 60.20% 13-27 39.80%
DSF Outlet Global Village No Cyclicity
Dubai DSS Outlet Br No Cyclicity
Dubai Lotus Boutique Br 28-12 58.15% 13-27 41.85%
Dubai Deira Neif II Br 28-12 57.06% 13-27 42.94%
Dubai Investment Park No Cyclicity
Dubai Mall Br Not enough Data- consider non cyclical for the time being
Dubai Oasis Residence Br 28-12 58.14% 13-27 41.86%
Dubai Outlet Mall 16-30 56.37% 1-15 43.63%
Fujairah 28-12 59% 13-27 41%
Gayathi Br 6-20 59.34% 21-5 40.66%
Gitex Shopper Br Not enough Data- consider non cyclical for the time being
Green Community 28-12 58.83% 13-27 41.17%
Hamriya Free Zone 1-15 59.65% 16-30 40.35%
Hor Al Anz Br 28-12 58.65% 13-27 41.35%
Jebel Ali 28-12 55.75% 13-27 44.25%
Jebel Ali II 28-12 60.1% 13-27 39.9%
K M Trading 28-12 57.88% 13-27 42.12%
Karama 28-12 60.69% 13-27 39.31%
Khalidiyah Br 28-12 59.50% 13-27 40.50%
Khorfakkan 28-12 57.35% 13-27 42.65%
Lulu Hypermarket 28-12 59.33% 13-27 40.67%
Mall of Emirates 28-12 56.10% 13-27 43.90%
Masafi 28-12 60.66% 13-27 39.34%
Media City 28-12 56.57% 13-27 43.43%
Mirdiff 28-12 62.38% 13-27 37.62%
Mizhar Mall Not enough Data- consider non cyclical for the time being
Musalla Mall Br 28-12 59.00% 13-27 41.00%
 Mussafah Sanayya II No Cyclicity
Mussafah I No Cyclicity
Mussafah II No Cyclicity
National Paints 1-15 56.08% 16-20 43.92%
Qusais 28-12 58.87% 13-27 41.13%
Ras Al Khaimah 28-12 60.50% 13-27 39.50%
Ras Al Khaimah Al Not enough Data- consider non cyclical for the time being
Nakheel
Rolla Souk 28-12 57.10% 13-27 42.90%
Safeer Mall 28-12 61.42% 13-27 38.58%
Sanayya No Cyclicity
Satwa 28-12 57.52% 13-27 42.48%
Satwa II 28-12 59.74% 13-27 40.26%
Shahama No Cyclicity
Sharjah 28-12 57.31% 13-27 42.69%
Sharjah Immigration Rd 28-12 60.59% 13-27 39.41%
Sharjah Sanayya 1-15 55.94% 16-30 44.06%
Sharjah Saif Zone 28-12 57.14% 13-27 42.86%
Showmax Br Not enough Data- consider non cyclical for the time being
Umm Al Quwain 1-15 59.16% 16-30 40.84%
28-12 means 1st to 12th and 28th to the end of the month

Exhibit 5: Branch opening trend in UAE

Exhibit 6: Branch opening trend in UAE vis a vis transaction counts
Cumulative number of branches Average Daily Transaction Counts
Jan-08 55 20289
Feb-08 55 22501
Mar-08 56 22905
Apr-08 57 23212
May-08 58 25325
Jun-08 60 24967
Jul-08 60 25875
Aug-08 63 27726
Sep-08 67 30172
Oct-08 68 30470
Nov-08 68 30459
Dec-08 68 30292

Exhibit 7: Customer addition

1,000,000
900,000
800,000
700,000
600,000
500,000 Customer registration

400,000 Target

300,000
200,000
100,000
0
2006 2007 2008

Exhibit 8: Characteristics of Product Mix in Remittance: Cost & time for customer
% distribution Value Fees Time
numbers(Transactions) (volume)

Instant Xpress 32 13 15 Instant Customer is

Money likely to get
better rate
Western 14 6 25 Instant with Xpress
 Union Money

Bank DD 4 2 5 5-7 days

Transfer
TT 44 76 15* 24-48
hours

Express 6 3 15* 3-7 days Normal

Cheques transfer
may take
longer time

* Bank Transfers offer a higher conversion rate compared to Instant transfer but takes longer time for transfer

If a customer wants to transfer AED 10,000 to India, the net amount after transfer will be

1) Rs. 1,20,156 under instant transfer (conversion rate of 0.0831 – refer Exhibit 14)
2) Rs. 1,21,768 under bank transfer (conversion rate of 0.082)

Hence some customers do not mind paying the same fees for bank transfer as for instant transfers.

Exhibit 9: Allied services and products of UAE Exchange

Year Remittance
2006 • Smart Padala
• National Bonds
• Smart Pay
2007 • Collection of the insurance premium of ICICI Prudential
holders
• Du SIM Cards (Visitor’s Pack)
• Sale of Etisalat SIM Cards
• Window 2 India
2008 • Accepting cash top ups for cash U cards of Maktoob group
• Acceptance of PAN application form
• 7 Secrets Promotional 3D Packs
• Collecting Mashreq Millionaire applications
• Smart Pay Premium Service with RAK Bank
• Postcard Millionaire Instant & Postcard Millionaire 60,
90 & 150
Exhibit 10: umber of customers arriving per hour along with number of counters operating in one of the
UAE Exchange branches at Dubai
Time Incoming Customers Number of counters
8.00 AM - 09.00 AM 138 12
9.00 AM - 10.00 AM 183 15
10.00 AM - 11.00 AM 153 16
11.00 AM - 12.00 PM 245 17
12.00 PM - 01.00 PM 231 17
01.00 PM - 02.00 PM 413 18
02.00 PM - 03.00 PM 468 18
03.00 PM - 04.00 PM 308 17
04.00 PM - 05.00 PM 654 17
05.00 PM - 06.00 PM 431 17
06.00 PM - 07.00 PM 110 17
07.00 PM - 08.00 PM 593 14
08.00 PM - 09.00 PM 498 13
09.00 PM - 10.00 PM 172 15
10.00 PM - 01.00 PM 330 15
Total 4927 16

Exhibit 11: Average time and margin for various transactions

Average time taken at counter

Service % of customers Relative margin*
(in minutes)

Remittance 55 4.5 1

FE 12 2 2

Bill payment 28 3 3

Allied activities 5 3 3

100 %

*1- highest margin per transaction

The average time is calculated using standard time taken in all the branches under normal operating environment
(i.e. without the usage of kiosks and gold cards)
Exhibit 3: Template for staff scheduling
Exhibit 13: Feedback Mechanism
• Dedicated Customer Care Centre
• Mystery Shopping
o Telephonic
o Surprise Visits
• Mechanisms to get customer feedback
o Fill & Win Scheme
o Customer Surveys
o Share with us
• Through several touch points
o Emails
o Telephone
o Website
o Suggestion Forms
• Internal Activities
o Service Champion Selection
o Quarterly Service Champion Awards

Exhibit 14: Discount allowed on Remittances

Remittance Fixed Charge
Date Instrument Std Final
amount (in AED)
Rate Rate
28-Apr-
XT INR 4,000.00 0.0833 0.0832 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 4,000.00 0.0833 0.0832 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 10,000.00 0.0833 0.0831 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 13,000.00 0.0833 0.0831 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 16,686.00 0.0833 0.083 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 20,000.00 0.0833 0.08273 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 20,000.00 0.0833 0.083 15
08
 28-Apr-
XT INR 23,500.00 0.0833 0.08305 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 24,096.00 0.0833 0.083 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 25,000.00 0.0833 0.083 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 50,000.00 0.0833 0.083 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 60,000.00 0.0833 0.08273 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 70,000.00 0.0833 0.0829 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 100,000.00 0.0833 0.08285 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 100,000.00 0.0833 0.0829 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 108,564.00 0.0833 0.0829 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 168,799.00 0.0833 0.08285 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 174,834.00 0.0833 0.08285 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 200,000.00 0.0833 0.08278 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 200,000.00 0.0833 0.08285 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 241,400.00 0.0833 0.08285 15
08

28-Apr-
XT INR 422,524.00 0.0833 0.0828 15
08

XT – Express Transfer

The table captures the exchange rate at on a particular date. The std rate is what is displayed in the
branch and follows the interbank rates. The final rate is the discounted conversion rate offered to
customers based on the remittance volume. The std rate will vary continuously and hence discounts
will have to be adjusted accordingly. The more discounts one offers the higher will be the number of
remittances, but it is also important to continuously monitor the discounts to see whether they eat
into the margins.

Exhibit 15:
5: Customer survey results

60 Qulaity Of
Service (QOS)
50
Reliability
% OF RESPONDENTS

40
Rates

30
Ambience
20
Location and
10 Timing

Reputation
0
SURVEY 1 SURVEY 2 SURVEY 3 SURVEY 4

There were four different surveys conducted to gauge the reasons why customers preferred UAE
Exchange over its competitors. It was found that the result of all the surveys were similar.