ICICI Bank to add Facebook as Transaction Platform

Hyderabad, September 5: ICICI Bank will soon add another online platform for dispensing its banking transaction services — Facebook. The country’s largest private sector lender was the first bank in India to use the social media site to provide services such as account enquiry and request for cheque.  Now it is preparing to take this initiative one step forward by offering transaction services, such as deposit or transfer of money, to its Facebook customers. This is part of its efforts to provide next-gen banking solutions, in line with its ‘Khayaal Aapka’ (your care) philosophy.
Next-Gen solutions: It has recently added tablet banking and e-locker services to its range of technology products such as Internet and mobile banking. E-Locker is a virtual online locker, which can be used to safely store electronically scanned copies of important documents in various formats. Mukesh Kumar Jain, the bank’s Chief Technology Officer, said the bank was working on this technology and indicated that it could come out with this new service in the next few months.
Social media channels will, in the near future, form an important platform for banking services, he told media-persons here today. He was in the city to launch the bank’s electronic branch, Tab Banking and E-Locker services, as part of the bank’s nation-wide rollout of next-gen banking solutions.
Security issues: In response to a question, Jain said security was not a challenge in offering transaction services through the social media platform. He said this platform will not only make it easier for customers to make use of bank services but will also help the bank expand its customer base.
Jain said although mobile banking customers formed a small group today, two-thirds of the bank’s transactions were being done through ATMs and the Internet. He said the ICICI Bank page on Facebook already has seven lakh fans. A recent study by global consultancy major KPMG had revealed that businesses in India and other emerging markets are using social media platforms more than their developed market peers to expand customer relationships.

SBI officers protest against 7-day schedule

Lucknow, August 28: Officers of the State Bank of India held a demonstration in front of the bank's local head office on Tuesday to oppose the reported move of the bank's management for introducing seven-day banking in SBI.
Addressing the meeting, BK Awasthi, general secretary of State Bank of India Officers' Association said that in the present times when services of alternate channels like ATM, internet banking and mobile banking etc are available to customers, introduction of seven-day banking is not feasible. The move will not only adversely affect the staff of the bank but also drain out the valuable energy resource of the country.
He said that central government offices, secretariat and apex banks like RBI, Nabard etc are having 5-day week, where no difficulty is being experienced at their end. Besides employees' organisations in the banking industry are pleading for a 5-day week in the banking industry and the proposal is pending with the Indian Banks' Association, he added.

Self-service banking gaining currency

Mumbai, August 26: Banks are increasingly launching self-service banking in the front lobby of their branches to increase customer convenience and reduce transaction time and costs.
Self-service banking in the front lobby of branches enables customers to use alternative banking channels — ATMs, phone banking, cheque deposit machine, and pass-book printer — without entering the branch, any time of the day, irrespective of whether the branch is open or closed.
The per transaction cost incurred on one customer in the physical branch is Rs 50 on an average, while e-banking costs about Rs 10 for a similar transaction.
Recently, ICICI Bank launched 25 electronic branches across 18 cities. The electronic branch, located within the brick and mortar branch, is a one-stop shop for all banking transactions. Among others, it has an interactive kiosk through which services can be accessed by swiping a debit card and provides video-conferencing with the bank’s customer care personnel.
One of the first banks to start the e-lobby facility is Mumbai-based Greater Bombay Cooperative Bank. It is offering all banking transactions to its customers through fully automated lobby banking.
Greater Bank has deployed a single machine called ‘MegaBanker’ in its lobby for 24x7 banking. Customers can use this machine, among others, to deposit cheque/cash (with real time credit to the account), withdraw cash, printing of savings and current account statements, and fake note detection. Currently, Greater Bank has lobby banking in 17 of its existing 21 branches.
Public sector lender Union Bank of India has launched ‘UnionXperience’ branches, where customers can use alternative banking channels any time of the day, irrespective of whether the branch is open or closed. It has implemented these services in 160 branches across 10 cities, with automation through self-service machines. “Today, more than 50 per cent of our transactions get done via e-banking. This saves time and costs for the bank,” said Lalit Sinha, General Manager, Alternate Delivery Channel, Union Bank of India.
A senior ICICI Bank official said the bank wants to expand its technology platform beyond ATMs and desktop devices to mobile and tablet devices.
Challenges
Replenishment of cash in the ATM machines and infrastructure are major problems, Sinha said. “Indians are more comfortable with human interface and hence the customer adaptation to alternate channels is slow,” said Narendra Behere, CEO, Greater Bank.

ICICI Bank launches 25 e-branches

Mumbai, August 23: Private sector lender ICICI Bank announced the launch of 25 electronic branches and other technology-based banking solutions here on Thursday. The 24x7 electronic branching facilities will offer cash and cheque deposit machines with instant credit, interactive kiosks with phone and internet banking services and video conferencing among others. The investment and cost-benefit-accruals relating to the initiative were not disclosed.
Other initiatives include ‘tab banking’ that allows opening an account on a tablet without visiting the bank branch and e-locker facility that helps customers to electronically save scanned copies of their important documents and other value-added services at the ATMs. Charges on the e-locker services will be decided on the basis of the usage of the customers.
At present, the 25 branches have been rolled out across 18 locations including metros and Tier II cities. “About a third of our customers are using Internet banking services....These services will be complimentary to our physical branches,” said MD and CEO, Chanda Kochhar, ICICI Bank. “Today, handheld devices like mobile phones and tablet segment is growing at over 100 per cent every year as compared to the 20 per cent growth in desktops. We want to expand our technology beyond ATMs and desktop devices,” Kochhar said.

More SBI branches in Hyderabad

State Bank of India has launched two new branches in the city. The Chief General Manager of the Hyderabad Circe Rakesh Sharma inaugurated the branches. The branches are located at Liberty centre in Himayathnagar and D.D. Colony at Amberpet.  Speaking at the launch events, Rakesh Sharma said the two branches were equipped to cater to the personal banking and needs of NRI customers. They will have ATM, Internet and mobile banking services to suit individual customers. The branches will provide full-fledged services, including locker facility.

More SBI branches in Hyderabad

RBI opens mobile banking security lab in India

 Hyderabad, August 6: The Reserve Bank of India Governor, D Subba Rao, has inaugurated a mobile banking security lab set up by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology. The institute, established by the RBI, supports the Indian banking industry through innovative technology initiatives and interventions.

 

The security lab will explore solutions to the emerging challenges in mobile banking and security through research and development. Apart from providing guidance to banks in this regard, it will train participants from banks and financial institutions.

 

The RBI Governor also released the Information Security Framework draft prepared by the institute to help banks in benchmarking their systems against global best standards.

 

Stringent information security is vital as any breach in this could lead to several financial losses. The institute collaborated with 32 bankers to prepare the common framework and took inputs from ground level practitioners of information security to prepare the "easy-to-use" guidebook.

 

RBI also launched the Indian Banks' Technology Consortium that will guide banks in the realm of financial technological developments.

Now buy online rail tickets without cards or net banking

Mumbai, August 3: State Bank of India customers will be able to pay for online train bookings through mobile banking using the Interbank Mobile Payment System that is available to all depositors. After selecting their tickets on the IRCTC website, customers will be given an option to pay through mobile banking in addition to internet banking and through card. SBI customers can then enter their mobile number, the mobile money ID and one time password which can be generated through their mobile phone.

 

Until now customers could pay for online booking only if they had internet banking or if they possessed a payment card. An SBI official said that the bank expects the Interbank Mobile Payment System gain in popularity as a payment mechanism and expects the volume of transactions to growth because of the convenience and security it offers.

 

IMPS is a remittance facility that was launched by National Payments Corporation of India in 2010. This service offers round-the-clock interbank electronic fund transfer through mobile, internet or ATM. The facility is provided by NPCI through its existing switch which is currently handling more than 7 - 8 million ATM transactions on a daily basis.

 

Today, there are 50 banks integrated to this service and with RBI permitting Co-operatives and RRB's to join this platform, many more are expected to join in coming months. Although banks have been registering a large number of their customers for mobile banking awareness of this facility is still low and transactions are yet to pick up. According to data released by NPCI the month of June saw 34.37 lakh mobile banking transactions involving a value of Rs 306 crore.

ATMs may come loaded with more features

Third party service providers, which have won contracts to set up 62,000 ATMs on behalf of PSBs, are looking to incorporate special features such as multiple currency transactions.

Mumbai, August 2: Third party service providers are now seeking to incorporate special features in ATMs to meet the transaction needs of specific regions. This comes in the wake of nine service providers winning auction bids to set up a pan-India network of about 62,000 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) on behalf of public sector banks.

Tata Communications Banking InfraSolutions (TCBIL), US-based NCR Corporation and Mphasis are some of the service providers which have won contracts to set up ATMs across States and Union Territories.

TCBIL on Wednesday announced the signing of a contract to deploy and manage nearly 14,000 ATMs across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar, and Andhra Pradesh. These ATMs will be deployed over the next two years on behalf of 21 PSBs.



Currency converters

“We are evaluating the possibility of incorporating special features over and above the regular features in ATMs installed in tourist destinations. This, of course, will happen only after consultation with the banks,” said Sudip Kumar, President, TCBIL.

TCBIL is looking at introducing dynamic currency converters in these areas. This facility will allow customers to transact in multiple currencies. “Value-added features like airline ticketing, mobile top-ups and talking ATMs can also be installed in the ATMs if banks permit,” said Kumar. Starting October, TBCIL will roll-out ATMs according to their quarter-wise plan.

NCR has won auctions in popular tourist destinations such as Kerala and Lakshadweep, among other places. It will be deploying 7,400 ATMs (including in Bihar and Jharkhand) for 26 public sector banks in a span of two years.



Solar power

“In power-deficit rural geographies, we will install solar-powered ATMs. Nearly 15-20 per cent of the total deployment will be in this category,” said Navroze Dastur, Senior General Manager, South Asia Channel Partners and Strategic Alliance, NCR Corporation. NCR also plans to provide additional services such as utility bill and income-tax payments in multiple regional languages.

The banking space has seen considerable growth in ATMs in the last few years. Banks collectively have a network of about 90,000 ATMs at present.