Question

Steven Jones is a credit manager at Safebank. He is currently considering the credit application of Martha Mulligan who is a technical specialist at the company Slidequick Mixes. Though Martha earns a good salary and is in the position to provide sound collateral, Steven has heard about the fact that Slidequick Mixes may be in financial trouble. Slidequick Mixes also banks with Safebank. During confidential discussions with the bank the management of Slidequick stated that the company may be forced into liquidation.

Required:
What should Steven Jones do in this situation? Select the best alternative.

a. Tell Martha Mulligan that she will soon be out of a job and decline the application.

b. Try and establish how difficult it will be for Martha Mulligan to find alternative employment before making a decision.

c. Decline the application and inform Martha Mulligan that the reason is confidential and cannot be shared with her.

Answer 1

As it is a confidential discussion between the safe bank and slide quick mixes so Steve cannot give any hints to Martha regarding the liquidation of her company. So option A is not feasible.

Option C is one possible way but in that case, a good relationship is not set and we might lose a potential customer from whom there could be multiple cross sellings or business brought into the bank.

So option B is a suitable one i.e. before making any decision try to know how difficult it would be for Martha to find an alternative.

Answer is option B.