METROPOLITAN BANK AND TRUST COMPANY (METRO BANK)

Organizational Structure And Management Style

A carefully designed organizational structure is essential for success in a competitive business

climate. However, without a practical management system that can establish companywide
information dissemination, structure loses its full effectiveness.

Metrobank consider a organizational structure that will not baffle employees to know who they
will officially report to in different situations and who has the final responsibility. Indeed, with
their structure it makes easier for them to add new positions in the company, as well, providing a
flexible ad ready means for growth.

Metrobank believe that compliance is the responsibility of everyone in the organization.

Consistent with its mandate to create a robust compliance culture, the Bank ensures that the
entire organization – from the Board of Directors, Senior Management and employees –
consistently complies with applicable laws, rules, regulations and standards.

Organizational Communication Process

The Board leads in establishing the tone of good governance from the top and in setting
corporate values, codes of conduct and other standards of appropriate behavior for itself, the
Senior Management and other employees. It is primarily responsible for approving and
overseeing the implementation of the Bank’s strategic objectives, risk strategy, corporate
governance and corporate values. The Board ensures expeditious resolution of compliance issues
and consistent adoption of corporate governance policies and systems across the Group. Further,
the Board is also responsible for monitoring and overseeing the performance of Senior
Management.

The members have an independent access to Management and the Corporate Secretary as well as
unrestricted access to information and records of the Company to fulfill their responsibilities.

How Does an Organization Motivates Its Employees

Metro Bank's employee base has grown steadily year on year to reach thousands of employees,
but with rapid growth a typical way of life, the retail and business bank expects this number to
reach higher over the years. A key differentiator in Metro Bank’s operations is the convenience it
offers through its longer store opening hours: seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm on week
days.

Going through the annual reward review cycle at Metro Bank is an opportunity for the reward
team to emphasize the culture at the organization and the role that benefits play in this. Metro
Bank offer its employees the fantastic growth and career opportunities for they are growing so
fast in a culture that is very enabling and inclusive. Then, on top of that, the bank also offer a fair
salary, pension, variable [pay] and benefits.

A key aim within Metro Bank’s culture is to clearly and simply keep employees aligned to the
organization and its growth. The main way they do that from a reward perspective is through
their share options so that their everyone feels part of the organization and like an owner, a sort
of partnership.

The share options plan, MShares, is administered by Equiniti. All transactions are settled through
payroll to alleviate employees’ worries about tax returns. Metro Bank informs employees about
the details of the share options, and its other reward and benefits schemes, through video e-
learning, and its own employee version of Wikipedia, Metropedia.

The share options vest over a five-year period because Metro Bank wants employees to
appreciate, and feel part of, the bank’s growth story. It also feeds into the organization’s overall
mission of creating ‘fans’, says Harmer. This mission comes from the bank’s founder, Vernon
Hill, whose central idea is that fans, not customers, are essential to a growth organization, and
that great customer experience is at the heart of operations.

This helps to shape the bank’s variable pay model. The variable reward, which comprises a cash
bonus and share options, is calculated by the organization’s performance, as well as an
employee’s level of seniority, personal behaviours and delivery. Metro Bank’s aim of providing
great customer experience in its branches stems from its people strategy of aligning reward with
behaviours and delivery.

Metro Bank offers employees a bonus exchange scheme whereby they can exchange 25%, 50%,
75% or all of their cash bonus before tax for additional share options.

Moreover, the bank also offers access to an employee assistance programme (EAP) and the Bank
Workers Charity, an initiative that offers financial, physical, social or mental wellbeing support
to workers in the banking industry.

With its increasing stores opening this year, Metro Bank’s focus will clearly be set on driving
customer experience through its people, behavior and culture.

Critic About the Leadership Style of the President/CEO/Chairman

Every President/CEO/Chairman leads in their own management approach. As the company's

highest-ranking executive, he/she makes the major decisions that affect the business, establishing
a company culture, managing operations and allocating resources.

Metro Bank's Chairman, Arthur Ty focused on generating stable and diversified revenue streams
and developing innovative and scalable solutions through streamlining and modernization, thus
this enables him to received the Asian Banker CEO Leadership Achievement Award for the
Philippines at the recently concluded awarding ceremonies at Bangkok, Thailand.

Ty's leadership style was effectively influenced from doing simple daily tasks, learning from
mentors to leading the institution and from his MBA degree from Columbia University, and his
Western theoretical knowledge combined with his Chinese and Filipino street-smarts.

In 2018 Metrobank’s net income grew by a robust 21% (year-on-year) to P22 billion, which
represented the fastest growth posted among the top players in the local banking industry. This
was driven by healthy growth in loans complemented by margin expansion, higher fee-based
income, and manageable expense growth.

The Asian Banker CEO Leadership Achievement Award recognizes leaders of financial
institutions that are central to the economies of countries in which they operate. It is considered
as the highest honor for individual achievement in the banking industry of the Asia Pacific,
Middle East, and Africa. It is a highly coveted award that is handed out every three years due to
an extremely stringent evaluation process.

Identify the Strengths and Weaknesses of Its Organizational Culture

a. Strengths
As one of the leading companies in its industry, Metro Bank has numerous strengths that help it
to thrive in the market place. These strengths not only help it to protect the market share in
existing markets but also help in penetrating new markets.

Strong dealer community – It has built a culture among distributor & dealers where the dealers
not only promote company’s products but also invest in training the sales team to explain to the
customer how he/she can extract the maximum benefits out of the products.

Strong Brand Portfolio – Over the years Metro Bank Plc has invested in building a strong brand
portfolio. The SWOT analysis of Metro Bank Plc just underlines this fact. This brand portfolio
can be extremely useful if the organization wants to expand into new product categories.

Successful track record of integrating complimentary firms through mergers & acquisition. It has
successfully integrated number of technology companies in the past few years to streamline its
operations and to build a reliable supply chain.

Strong distribution network – Over the years Metro Bank has built a reliable distribution network
that can reach majority of its potential market.

Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – Metro Bank is relatively successful at execution of new
projects and generated good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams.

Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the
company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.

b. Weaknesses

Weakness are the areas where Metro Bank can improve upon. Strategy is about making choices
and weakness are the areas where a company can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its
competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

The company has not being able to tackle the challenges present by the new entrants in the
segment and has lost small market share in the niche categories. Metro Bank Plc has to build
internal feedback mechanism directly from sales team on ground to counter these challenges.

Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry.
Even though Metro Bank Plc is spending above the industry average on Research and
Development, it has not been able to compete with the leading players in the industry in terms of
innovation. It has come across as a mature firm looking forward to bring out products based on
tested features in the market.

Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different
geographies the company is planning to expand into, Metro Bank Plc needs to put more money
in technology to integrate the processes across the board. Right now the investment in
technologies is not at par with the vision of the company.

Not very good at product demand forecasting leading to higher rate of missed opportunities
compare to its competitors. One of the reason why the days inventory is high compare to its
competitors is that Metro Bank Plc is not very good at demand forecasting thus end up keeping
higher inventory both in-house and in channel.

Not highly successful at integrating firms with different work culture. As mentioned earlier even
though Metro Bank Plc is successful at integrating small companies it has its share of failure to
merge firms that have different work culture.

Limited success outside core business – Even though Metro Bank Plc is one of the leading
organizations in its industry it has faced challenges in moving to other product segments with its
present culture.

Organization structure is only compatible with present business model thus limiting expansion in
adjacent product segments.

References

https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/how-hr-is-helping-metro-bank-to-buck-the-banking-trend/

https://employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/march-2017/metro-bank-engages-employees-with-
business-growth-plans-through-share-options/

http://fernfortuniversity.com/term-papers/swot/nyse/7370-metro-bank-plc.php

https://business.mb.com.ph/2019/06/14/metrobank-chairman-arthur-ty-conferred-the-asian-
banker-ceo-leadership-award/

https://www.metrobank.com.ph/corporate_governance.asp

Given all the items researched about the organization, would you still want to work in that
organization? Justify your answer.

Yes and one of the factors to consider is that Metrobank's employees have always been their
most valued resources as verified by the kind of motivation that they offer. Metrobank believe
that a happy and healthy staff deliver top results. Thus, their Human Resources Group, together
with the Learning and Development Division, implemented sustainable efforts across all
program dimensions to achieve their employee health and holistic wellness. They also launched
programs to help their people be among the best and the brightest in the country.
The next factor is that Metrobank seriously adheres to the highest standards of corporate
governance, exercising accountability, fairness and transparency across all operations and
dealings. They implemented structures and processes that would ensure that their business is
being run well and makes easier for their employees to know who will they report to.

Metrobank has earned the respect of many by making endurance its defining essence, not just
because of its size and financial muscle, but because of its flexibility - the adaptability that has
allowed it to transcend the tides of change. Metrobank, rooted yet flexile, showed the world a
brand of resilience that not only goes through change, but grows through it. The Metrobank does
not only prioritizes building its financial track record, but growing the nation as well. they focus
on making meaningful contributions to improve the welfare of the community and the larger
society.

Give recommendation so that your chosen company will improve.

In light with the information that we've gathered, we came up with the following
recommedations:

 There is always a room for improvement in both individuals and companies alike.
Therefore, Metrobank should always consider conducting trainings and seminars to their
employees as they will develop new skills, attitudes and take on new responsibilities that
could provide exceptional customer service for the betterment of the company.
 To further develop the products and services of Metrobank, they must embrace financial
technology. As banks and the financial sector as a whole catch up with advances in
technology, they are finding great opportunities to improve their bottom line and increase
customer satisfaction.
 Also, Metrobank should provide consistent and accurate information across channels. Yet,
in today's technological world, with customers banking online, on their mobile devices and
on tablets, providing consistent information is becoming more and more crucial for
institutions hoping to provide the best in banking customer service.