From corporate market research to bank profit maximization

The purpose of this article is to study the target segment of the corporate bank market in order to reveal the demand for financial products and to incorporate this demand into solving the problem of bank profit maximization. Instrumental guidelines for conducting market research that allow to study the aspects of the problem specifically dealing with the efficiency of a bank’s cooperation with corporate customers has been developed as a technique for studying target corporate market customers. A target retail trade market sector and a client base of corporate customers including 430 trade network operators functioning in the northwest region of Russia were chosen as objects of research. The article defines the retail market demand potential for bank products, analyses the prospective viability of providing additional bank products to retail market customers, and identifies the corporate customer’s informational portrait. On the basis of obtained results, the problem of maximizing the bank’s extra profit from serving trade network operators. The research is confined to the client base of one major Russian bank operating in the northwest region of Russia; it will be useful to adapt the material of this article to studying target sectorial markets nationwide. The results of market research were used to assess the economic potential (estimated optimal profit) of the commercial bank’s cooperation with trade network operators. This article constitutes the groundwork for organizing effective bank marketing that guarantees a congruity of the bank’s resources and capabilities with the demands and requirements of the market in which it operates.