In the summer of 1986 Mr Agha Hasan Abedi, BCC President visited a number of the bank's branches in the Far East. It was during this journey that the idea of EMP - External Market Place - was born. It was to have important consequences for the future of BCC and a substantial increase in the volume of the global business handled by BCCI.
Mr Abedi was in Tokyo, Japan for the official opening of the new BCCI branch there. He was well aware that the branch's profits would come primarily from business generated for Tokyo by other parts of the BCC group.
When Mr Abedi arrived subsequently in Seoul, South Korea where BCCI already had a branch, he found that the nature of the market there gave further encouragement to the idea of mutual interdependence and later in Hong Kong he realised that the same market forces applied.
Indeed, it occurred to Mr Abedi that the phenomenon of the Group's interdependence would create new markets for branches anywhere in the world. From this, the concept of EMP was born.
EMP – A GLOBAL MARKETING THRUST
The central concept of EMP involved a far-reaching human network in which dedicated members of the BCC family would seek to acquire business for the bank on a global scale, with the clear understanding that each member of the Group was an expression of the Totality of BCC.
Thus an officer in Hong Kong would establish a relationship with a prospective client who needed the BCCI's services in, say, Vancouver. Similarly, a London-based officer makes contact with an organisation in the United Kingdom which he found had a significant presence in 20 other countries. In line with the philosophy of EMP, the marketing officer would direct his/her efforts at persuading the organisation to establish relationships with BCC in each of those countries.
In essence EMP was a simple concept, and this was a source of its immense strength. What was intrinsically new about EMP was the expanded vision of the marketplace that EMP gave BCCI. There was a sense of pioneering an entirely new marketplace with enormous potential.
As international bankers BCCI served in a complex, interconnected market where an increasing number of clients have banking needs that cross national boundaries as a matter of course. EMP focused on this fact.
BCCI was present in practically all the world's major financial markets. These constituted the major recipient countries for EMP. The marketing of EMP, however, was not confined to countries with an established BCCI presence and this realization immediately opened up a wealth of new marketing opportunities.
BCC's corporate philosophy had always emphasised the importance of relationships which are the essence of existence. As such, EMP officers were charged with being creators of relationships in this new marketplace. Through creating an increasing number of relationships, BCCI approached the totality of the market.
EMP was both an expression and a cause of the BCC Group's interdependence. The recipient country depended on the marketing country for business while the marketing country depended on the recipient country to provide clients with a first class service. Furthermore, EMP added a business dimension to Giving where it had previously been seen purely in a moral dimension.
The Total Marketing Concept required a region to live for itself through its Internal Marketing efforts and live for other regions through its External Marketing efforts. In this concept BCC family members worked for themselves, worked for others and let others work for BCC.
The concept of Totality made and permitted one to be an officer of a branch and an officer of BCC Group simultaneously. EMP was an effort to make use of BCCI’s global network as its market place and view BCCI as one bank, one region, one subsidiary, and one branch operating in 73 countries.
In these ways EMP was an extension and an enrichment of BCCI's philosophy. The realisation of EMP was the realisation of many of BCCI’s most cherished desires.
THE PILLARS OF EMP
SENSE OF NEWNESS
'The reality of EMP existed previously, but we had not discovered it. Now there is a newness about EMP.'
'We are founding a new BCC and we are its pioneers-we are doing something which no one else has done.'
'BCC is becoming something new and becoming is a key concept in the meaning of founding. The founder and what is founded become one and the same.'
'The sense of the newness of EMP comes from a sense of newness in ourselves. We are pioneers in a market that is always new. This sense of newness in ourselves and in the marketplace allows us to rediscover quality in others.'
EXCLUSIVITY FOCUS AND EFFORT
‘Exclusivity is the cornerstone of EMP.'
'Full time EMP means an exclusive focus on the EMP process. No other responsibility will be allocated to that person.'
'It is exclusivity that would facilitate and create the clarity of vision and perception.'
'It is only through exclusivity that a human EMP can swim like a fish in the water of the market place.'
'Exclusivity is the key note of this programme.'
SUCCESS LINE
'Drawing and creating the Success Line is clearly and precisely identifying the clients and interfacing and interacting with them.'
'Interfacing and interacting is the most crucial and vital step in drawing the success line.'
'Ensure that the success line is crossed on the side of success.'
'Success line is a thrust of the desire and urge in you to identify and determine and face difficulties and know the pleasure in resolving them.'
HUMAN EMPs
'Human EMP is relationships.'
'Human EMP is Quality.'
'Human EMP is one where the person becomes the product, the client, the professional and technical ability, the target and the personal qualities of dignity, genuineness, respect for others and humility. He becomes Quality itself.'
'For making human EMPs we need organised effort and organised management.'
'It is a question of converting ourselves into organised human beings-into human EMPs.'
'Human EMPs as an organised personality.'
'Human EMPs are like fish who swim in the water of the market place.'
'If a person becomes a human EMP, he cannot fail'
ORGANISED PROCESS
'Human EMPs are organised people with organised and articulated thinking whose professional and personal psyches are well organised.'
'There is a clarity of perception and fullness in them about their objectives and how these are to be achieved.'
'EMP is a clearly defined structure of organisation and emphasis on disciplined operation.'
'We are concerned with results. We are more concerned with the people and their quality. We are as concerned with organised effort. People have to pass through the drill and discipline of organised effort. We need organised effort for making human EMPs and making a process of each a success.'
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the organisation with the process of EMP Flooding the EMP process with Quality and intensity of relationships within the process.
EMP PRODUCTS
EMP represented a new, broadened perspective on BCCI’s banking activities. Without doubt it called for an expanded awareness and a renewed vigour on the part of all concerned. The first stage was the globalisation of BCCI’s marketing efforts.
In the second stage, new products were introduced as market conditions changed. Since EMP was in essence a process and an instinct, it was not confined to a limited product range.
The choice of suitable products for EMP was based on the bank's focus on deposits and on trade related business. Over the years BCCI had developed a very considerable expertise in these two areas. The initial product range for EMP was:
- Non Resident Accounts (deposit accounts in countries with government sponsored schemes)
- External Accounts (accounts obtained from individuals and bodies at one location (source country) for BCCI’s operations at other geographical locations (recipient countries)
- Correspondent Banking Relationships and Business (encashing on BCC’s relationships with banks, and initiating new relationships where necessary, for generating business for BCCI branches globally)
- Central Banks (BCCI's long-term relationships with Central Banks coordinated through the EMP network).
