Eight minutes, no more.

That’s the time within which international bank Standard Chartered Bank claims it will serve customers who walk into its branches.

And if it fails on its promise, it will donate Dh10 to ‘Seeing is Believing,’ a collaboration between StanChart and International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).

In a media statement this morning, the bank says: “The bank recently introduced an ‘8-minute teller service guarantee’ in the UAE. Teller service customers are now guaranteed to be served within an eight minute timeframe across six of its branches across the UAE. The pledge will be rolled out to all of its 11 branches by the beginning of 2013.”

The statement adds that, to monitor and track the service pledge, the bank has introduced a new queuing system to its branches.

“If the pledge is not met,” the statement says, “the bank will donate Dh10 to ‘Seeing is Believing’, Standard Chartered’s global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020.”

Is this another of the country’s banks’ marketing gimmicks that promise ‘revolutionised customer service standards’ or ‘a new era of service efficiency’ or is there real value in this latest initiative?

Here’s what Mohammed Al Mazemi, General Manager, Distribution – Middle East for Standard Chartered, had to say in the media statement: “Standard Chartered adopts a ‘customer focused’ approach when providing financial services to individuals. We review our service levels and customer satisfaction constantly and always look at ways to enhance their experience. The ‘8-minute teller service guarantee’ is a result of our continuous investment in improving our infrastructure and capabilities in the UAE.”

Don’t get me wrong – but would it really matter to you if you had to spend nine – and not eight – minutes waiting for your turn at the teller counter?

The pledge to donate Dh10 if the bank fails its promise is a noble one – Seeing is Believing has in fact set an ambitious target of raising $100 million by 2020 towards achieving the aim of eliminating avoidable blindness and visual impairment, and any contribution towards that goal should be welcome.

In addition, Standard Chartered has, globally, pledged to match every dollar that individuals donate to ‘Seeing is Believing’, in effect doubling the NGO’s kitty.

Still, does eight minutes at six branches (eventually 11) really raise the bar? Wouldn’t paying out a higher interest rate on deposits or charging a lower rate on loans be a better way to show a bank’s commitment to their customer’s well-being?

Or indeed completely doing away with the customer-dreaded asterisk (*) that says ‘conditions apply’ – and can in effect mean a huge difference between perception and reality?

Again, we’re not saying that the ‘8-minute teller service guarantee’ is a bad thing – but do you think there might be a better initiative to win over customers? You tell us in comments below.