Flight attendants help banks lure customers

When Asahi Bank Ltd was looking for ways to boost fees from individual clients and cut staff costs, they turned to experts in customer service: Japan Airlines Co flight attendants.

Instead telling customers to fasten seat belts or offering beverages, Asahi Bank's six part-time "lobby ladies" hawk mutual funds and government bonds to customers using automated teller machines. The former Japan Airlines employees help pull in about ?300 million (US$2.5 million) a month each in sales, the bank said.

Asahi Bank, whose shares fell 79 percent last year, is focusing on retail clients, betting fees from selling investment products will help it stem red ink from lending. Japan's seven biggest banks posted a combined loss of <<4.07 trillion yen>> in the year to March as bad loan write-offs wiped out profit.

"Improving the quality of service and reducing costs at the same time -- that's what all Japanese banks have to do," said Yukiko Ohara, a senior analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Asahi Bank plans to hire more ex-cabin crew, said Toshiki Takashima, a spokesman for Asahi Bank parent Daiwa Bank Holdings Inc, Japan's fifth-biggest lender.

"We're taking advantage of women's strength," Takashima said. "We used to just let our clients run off after they used ATMs; now we can fence them in with ex-stewardesses who are good at talking to customers." Daiwa Holdings shares, which have gained 15 percent this year, rose as much as 2.2 percent to ?94.

"I wanted to do something professional again since my children are grown up," said Yoko Akasaka, former Japan Airlines assistant purser and housewife who's now qualified as a financial consultant.

The bank complements the advisers' communications skills with hand-held computers linked to the ATM system. The devices let advisers know how old clients are and how much they have in deposits even before talking to them.

"One of the great things is that the ex-stewardesses never panic even if customers complain," Takashima said. "They were trained to handle crises in the air." Asahi Bank this week also became the first large Japanese lender to abolish a two-track system that blocked most women from attaining senior positions. The bank hopes to save money by setting pay based on job title and merit instead of granting male staff pay raises based on age.