Standard Trust / Estate Late

I honestly thought I had drawn the short straw with Standard Trust, however a simple search on Hellopeter.com or on Facebook clearly shows that thousands upon thousands of people are struggling with the same thing and sadly it's not just Standard Bank but the Turquoise, Green and Red one too! Shame on all of you!!!

This does highlight that the issues with the Master are causing the delays but as Captains of Industry why have the bank's executive not doing something about it? While the thousands of complaints are directed at the front-line, Standard Bank’s Leadership needs to answer to this!

This is not the first crisis you have dealt with but 2 years ago, when the pandemic hit, the Leadership of Standard Bank with all those MBA’s, degrees, diplomas and fat cat salaries together with a bit of common sense should have had some idea that a virus with that unprecedented high mortality rate would impact on Standard Trust.

Any man-on-the-street would have bet his retrenchment package that there would be a serious impact on Standard Trust, however looking at the headline earnings of R25 Billion, instead of ensuring that the Standard Trust Team was bolstered with experienced, competent, knowledgeable and empathetic staff / consultants, clearly, they were all sent to work in their pajamas for sales, credit and collections.

I am probably the worst person to be putting this in writing as I am an ex-staff member who has sufficient understanding of how deceased estates work. Yes, the “bank” has changed and also the Master with all their problems has added additional complications, that I am afraid is no excuse!

Come-on Standard Bank Leadership, what did you always drill into us as staff members:

“There are no such things as problems, but only opportunities”

“Customer service is the most important element of your job, whether internal or external” and so on and so on.

You have let many people down!

According to your mission statement you have missed the boat completely on the last portion thereof, for ease of reference the mission statement is copied below, you are unfortunately not doing anything at Standard Trust to “make life better for your fellow Africans by doing business the right way”.

“Our purpose is to drive Africa's growth; we are a catalyst for inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the countries we operate and we make life better for our fellow Africans by doing business the right way”

While I am on the topic, how about a look at Standard Bank’s Values:

1. Delivering to our stakeholders - You have let down Standard Trust's stakeholders? 2. Growing our people - For a select few maybe, but do yourself a favour, log onto Facebook, Hello Peter or talk to the Customer Relationship Centre and really understand the frustration of your customers, it is around the incompetence of people, are the right ones being grown? 3. Being proactive - Well, COVID dealt you a real low-blow on this one, but you did nothing to fix the problem at the Master even with all your influence and connections. With the clout of the executive of the Big Four Banks, surely a solution to the problem at the Master can be implemented together with government / Master of the High Court. Enough is enough stop blaming technology and COVID. The majority of estates are simple with only a very few with serious complications. Not too long ago it was all done manually and guess what it worked and relatively quick too! 4. Working in teams - Again COVID did put a spanner in the works here, but the reality is you chose to leave the “B” Team in play at Standard Trust during this time, where is the “A” team and your superstars that get massive bonusses and go sailing on the Mediterranean Sea every year for service excellence, get them off the bench or else you will continue to lose? 5. Respecting each other - I have no doubt that everyone lives this value, however by failing to or appearing not to be doing anything to assist bereaved families / beneficiaries to an estate especially in these times when many are struggling financially, is that showing respect, I am not entirely sure? 6. Constantly raising the bar - Perhaps (with those headline earnings) in the other business areas of the bank! At Standard Trust there does not appear to be much raising of the bar? 7. Upholding the highest levels of integrity - Much like Value Number 5, actions speak louder than words, a cliché but the unfortunate reality! 8. Serving our clients - Enough said, let’s leave it right there!

Well, there you have it, I have digressed somewhat, please address issue below:

My mom passed away on 2 March 2021, reported to Standard Trust in person on 4 March 2021 with all documentation. To date the LOE not issued, the list of excuses continues to grow exponentially, the level of knowledge, service and feedback is shockingly poor. It has just been a horrible experience and when I see that it is not only me, it does show that Standard Bank has lost its soul.

I shudder to think of the many more who do not have the means to complain or air their views.

Can it really Be, Standard Bank?