Consulting business refers to the service activities carried out by commercial banks relying on their own advantages in information, talents and reputation. Collect and sort out relevant information, and through the recording and analysis of these information and the capital movement of banks and customers, form systematic information and programs and provide them to customers to meet their business development needs.
Consulting business is the need for the survival and development of small and medium-sized commercial banks (collectively referred to as joint-stock commercial banks and city commercial banks in China). At present, the profits of commercial banks mainly come from loan income and intermediary business. Due to the diversification of investment, the diversion of deposits and the narrowing of spreads, the loan income is getting less and less. Therefore, the deposit and loan business should no longer be the main business of small and medium-sized commercial banks. With the continuous improvement of residents' income level and the gradual change of consumption concept and culture, intermediary business and private business should become the future goals of small and medium-sized commercial banks. In addition, customers' needs are diverse and changing rapidly. Single daily banking business such as deposit, loan and settlement can no longer fully meet the needs of customers' development, and customers' requirements for financial services have become comprehensive needs. Consulting business embodies the social, systematic, high-tech and value-added characteristics of financial services, and deepens the connotation of financial services. The professional knowledge and skills of consulting service personnel can be regarded as the core competitiveness of banks, which will become the basis of banking business innovation and the source of sustained profit growth.
I. Target market of consulting business
Generally speaking, the consulting (financial consultant) business of China's commercial banks is still in the primary stage, but the competition has become increasingly fierce. Considering the risks and benefits, banks of different sizes should have different majors, which is called "short feet and long land". For example, for the financing of large-scale infrastructure projects, large financial institutions can play a prominent role in the financing scheme design of such large-scale projects because of the particularity of financing methods and the complexity of operating means. Therefore, how to occupy a place in the highly competitive market is very important for small and medium-sized commercial banks to choose the target market.
At present, the institutions providing consulting (financial consultancy) services in China mainly include joint venture investment banks, domestic securities companies, trust and investment companies, investment consulting companies, financial asset management companies and commercial banks. The target customers of joint venture investment banks are mainly domestic large-scale red-chip enterprises, and their main business is also locked in the international capital market, generally not doing small business; Foreign companies are the most powerful consulting companies, but they still need to know more about the actual situation of domestic enterprises; Domestic securities companies also serve as financial consultants for enterprises, but they are only active in the capital market and lack understanding of the medium and long-term credit market, so it is difficult to formulate a comprehensive financial service plan for enterprises.
Compared with other institutions, the advantages of commercial banks in consulting business are mainly reflected in the following aspects: (1) customer resources and information accumulated by long-term cooperation; (2) Network of institutions all over the country; (3) Strong financial strength; (4) trustworthy bank reputation, etc. Of course, commercial banks also have some disadvantages in consulting business, such as not being able to directly provide services related to capital operation.
For small and medium-sized commercial banks, because of their small scale and weak financial strength, they cannot independently undertake the capital needs and related consulting services of large-scale projects and enterprises like the four major state-owned banks or foreign banks. Therefore, small and medium-sized commercial banks should choose small and medium-sized enterprises, self-employed, private business households and local residents as the target markets for consulting services.
At present, the management ability of small and medium-sized enterprises in China, especially the financial management ability, is very weak, and the standardization level of management is generally not high. With the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, management bottlenecks are increasingly prominent. Once this bottleneck is cleared or broken, the development of small and medium-sized enterprises will have an amazing leap. Because of this, the demand for management consulting services for SMEs is very urgent. Small and medium-sized enterprises can't afford the high cost of product development and industry research because they don't have the conditions of scale economy, and banks have certain advantages in this respect, especially in industry and macroeconomic research. The demand of small and medium-sized enterprises for management consulting business and its trend are: in the short term, management consulting services will be mainly financial consulting, and financing contradiction will remain the most prominent problem that plagues small and medium-sized enterprises for quite some time. Due to the high operating costs, small enterprises will do everything possible to reduce costs, such as reasonable tax avoidance, loan discount, tax reduction and exemption for imported equipment, etc. In the medium and long term, small and medium-sized enterprises will pay more attention to improving their management defects for their long-term development, such as misunderstanding or lack of strategic objectives and business philosophy; Department posts and responsibilities are not clearly defined; Management control and decision support exist in name only. At the same time, with the growth of enterprises, SMEs need counseling services such as mergers and acquisitions, listing, bond issuance and even overseas investment and financing.
Small and medium-sized commercial banks have concentrated business areas and are familiar with local conditions, so they can have more energy to understand the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Through the communication with small and medium-sized enterprises, we can master a lot of "soft information" beyond the credit requirements and provide them with tailor-made financial services. Small and medium-sized commercial banks should make full use of the limited business outlets in the community, base themselves on the community, and provide comprehensive financial and consulting services around the expansion, extension and cross-supplement of financial products according to the financial needs of enterprises and residents in the community.
Second, the content of consulting business
According to the relevant provisions of the People's Bank of China, consulting services include:
Enterprise information consultation, including project evaluation, credit certificate, enterprise management consultation, etc. ; Asset management consultant, including portfolio suggestion, investment analysis, risk control, etc. Financial consultants, including financial consultants for large-scale construction projects and consultants for enterprise mergers and acquisitions; Cash management, that is, assisting enterprises to manage cash account positions and current deposit balances scientifically and reasonably, and improving capital liquidity and efficiency. The work that a financial adviser can do can be comprehensive or a certain aspect or link. Small and medium-sized commercial banks can try to break through from the following aspects.
Project investment (financing). It can help enterprises to study the feasibility of investment projects, design financing plans, formulate the credit structure of financing, contact other financial intermediaries or participate in financing negotiations. Financial advisor. For the daily financial management of enterprises, we can find suitable investment projects for their idle funds, assist in designing capital risk control and comprehensive management schemes, and make adjustment suggestions to enterprises at any time according to changes in financial markets and enterprise capital conditions. The demand for career investment consultation in family finance is increasing rapidly. Consultants can also provide low-risk, low-cost and high-yield services to residents from all walks of life with their rich professional knowledge and advanced technical means. Strategic management consultant. It mainly includes the following contents: analyze the business management and financial situation of the enterprise, make business and financial diagnosis, and put forward improvement plans; Analyze the organizational structure and business process according to the requirements of the enterprise, and draw up the reengineering plan; Investigate the market, industry and competitors, and provide suggestions for business decisions. National policy consultation. In order to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, governments at all levels in China have issued many preferential policies to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, but many enterprises do not understand this. Third, the marketing of consulting business.
At present, most small and medium-sized commercial banks in China adopt the following market positioning strategies. The market positioning is similar to that of wholly state-owned commercial banks, and its development direction is not determined according to its own advantages and disadvantages. Limited by financial strength and geographical characteristics, small and medium-sized commercial banks mainly serve small and medium-sized enterprises. Small and medium-sized commercial banks should choose the positioning strategy of seeking difference and following. In order to gain competitive advantage in the rapidly changing market environment, we must analyze and study the advantages and disadvantages of our bank realistically, and choose the best strategy in line with our own reality by combining the four aspects of region, customers, products and services.
Considering the particularity and complexity of consulting business, banks should set up the position of product manager in consulting business, and establish a marketing system in which account managers collect market demand, product managers provide professional services and jointly form project teams. Consulting service is a complicated mental work with high intelligence and intensity, and it is also a profession called "company doctor". This determines that consulting service personnel must have profound theoretical knowledge and rich practical experience in finance, finance, taxation, law and management, and have received good consulting professional training and mastered skilled consulting skills. Small and medium-sized commercial banks should establish and reserve a team of high-quality talents who are proficient in new businesses such as securities, trust, insurance, leasing, wealth management, consulting and evaluation, so as to prepare for mixed operation in the future and realize expert management, expert management and expert governance.
The consulting business of small and medium-sized commercial banks should also strengthen cooperation with external professional institutions. For example, establish strategic cooperative relations with professional intermediaries such as securities companies and venture capital companies, and explore specific ways of cooperation between the two sides in investment banking, project information exchange, customer recommendation, corporate financial consultants, personnel training and other fields. If the bank itself does not have the ability to provide consulting services for certain businesses, it can consider establishing a strategic alliance with experienced and powerful management consulting companies to operate projects with their help. In addition, small and medium-sized commercial banks should strengthen contact with non-bank financial institutions, industry associations and government departments, understand peer information and relevant government policies, and capture and meet customer needs. For example, using its close relationship with government departments to help enterprises handle various preferential policies, so as to achieve the purpose of expanding the consulting business market.
The core of consulting enterprise marketing is to establish a good relationship with the consulted enterprise, so that both sides can benefit from cooperation. Consulting business marketing not only emphasizes establishing good relationship with customers, but also emphasizes maintaining this good relationship. For example, in daily communication, commercial banks can provide training in macroeconomics, finance and credit, finance and taxation, marketing and other aspects for small and medium-sized enterprises in their communities to improve their management level and innovation ability. Because customers' demand for management consulting is perennial, the better the relationship with customers and the deeper the understanding of customers, the more opportunities they can get and provide better consulting services.
Fourth, several problems that should be paid attention to
1. The integration of internal resources of banks is the premise of consulting business. Providing credit services and consulting services to customers can extend the value chain of financial services of small and medium-sized commercial banks and increase profit sources. Long-term customer tracking service can also deepen understanding, reduce the degree of information asymmetry and prevent credit business risks. Due to the differences in business marketing emphases, risk management methods and business outlets of different departments, as well as the different needs of customers for financial services, the development of consulting business needs the close cooperation of credit, capital, risk management and even R&D departments, and only in this way can we provide customers with high-quality consulting services. If the bank's internal resources (including information resources, human resources, capital resources, etc. ) are not well integrated, which can be said to be a waste.
2. High-quality talent team is the key to developing consulting business. Consulting business is a knowledge-intensive business, which requires the personnel engaged in this business to have relatively perfect knowledge structure, keen perspective, extraordinary thinking and certain business experience. Only by establishing a first-class research team can we continuously improve the level of financial innovation and financial services, form a strong ability to develop new products and improve the core competitiveness of banks. The construction of scientific research team should not only pay attention to the continuous improvement of team quality, but also pay attention to the structure of scientific research team and the proportion of personnel level. Small and medium-sized commercial banks can adopt the strategy of streamlining their troops and simplifying administration, and paying high salaries to maintain honesty, so as to attract talents with strong research ability, rich experience and excellent quality.
3. Effective incentive mechanism is the basis of consulting business. Only by designing a reasonable and efficient incentive mechanism can we arouse the enthusiasm of cooperation among various departments, ensure the operability and effectiveness of consulting results and improve the level of consulting services. Operational efficiency can be improved through interest mechanism. For example, when the interests of different departments are distributed after completing the same financial advisory scheme, it is difficult to rely on administrative orders, otherwise it is difficult to form a cooperative game.
4. Look at the development of consulting business from a long-term perspective. Although the direct benefit of consulting business is not obvious, the indirect benefit is considerable. Considering the overall business marketing of the whole bank and the purpose of winning big customers, banks provide financial advisory services without charging customers, which is just a competitive means to gain a competitive advantage over other banks. However, some enterprises think that consulting business is an additional service that banks should provide and are unwilling to pay. Therefore, the direct cost of commercial banks to carry out financial advisory business is less. And the deposit settlement business brought by financial consulting business can make banks get greater indirect benefits.