SBI tops ATM expansion in non-metros: Assocham

Mumbai, September 19: Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) is more aggressive in expanding its ATM (automated teller machine) network in the non-metro and semi-urban centres as compared to its peers, according to a study by Assocham. "Unlike other banks, the State Bank of India (SBI) is expanding its ATM network in non-metro and semi-urban centres, faster than expansion in the metros," the study based on the recent Reserve Bank data said. As compared to the 5,783 ATMs in metro cities, SBI has 7,511 and 6,419 ATMs in non-metro urban areas and semi-urban areas, respectively, the Assocham statement said.
SBI's peer in the state-run banks space, Punjab National Bank is the only other bank which has more ATMs in non-metro cities than the metros, it said. The objective of financial inclusion can be better achieved by the usage of technological interventions, including ATMs, and public sector banks have an important role to play in the objective, Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat was quoted as saying.
Overall, the private sector banks, led by Axis Bank have gone about expanding their network through ATMs in a much more aggressive way than their public sector peers.  Be it, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank or HDFC their bias and preference for ATMs is for the metro cities, followed by tier two cities.Among the private sector banks, Axis Bank has the largest (10337) ATM network, followed by HDFC Bank with 9709 such machines and ICICI Bank - 9366 ATMs.
Excepting the SBI, the other banks have to go a long way before achieving the financial inclusion in the semi-urban and rural areas.
“The Finance Ministry is rightly very keen of achieving the financial inclusion of a large number of people in rural areas.  This can best be achieved by leveraging of technology and use mobile telephony and ATMs. Somehow, the public sector banks will have to take a lead in these areas. Even their brick and mortar branch network is wider in the rural and semi-urban areas than the private sector banks,” ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat said.
He said while a good beginning has been made, pooling of technology resources like the ATMs should be encouraged so that optimum use can be made to the advantage of the people. The ASSOCHAM quoted honourable Finance Minister Mr P Chidamabaram who recently noted how even the trade has not been fully brought into the banking network.
“As was pointed out by the Finance Minister, today traders are not able to deposit their cash of sales proceeds at night in any bank. In the process, they have to keep it either in the shop premises or at home taking the risks of theft and other insecurity issues. We must have technology-driven day and night banking so that a wider section of the informal economy is brought into the banking network,” Mr Rawat said. While the RBI has been expressing concerns over regulatory issues over the mobile banking, sooner or later different technology platforms have to converge and the regulators need to equip themselves to deal with new challenges and opportunities.
The ASSOCHAM said a large number of Indians still remain outside the banking network.  It is because of lack of the organized banking that the gullible people in semi urban and rural areas fall prey to unscrupulous money-lenders. “The institutions of micro-finance did make a good beginning. However, because of certain corporate governance issues, the entire experiment has become rather overshadowed by controversies. The use of technology to reach out to the bottom of the pyramid promises a lot of scope,” the ASSOCHAM Secretary General said.

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.

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.

OnlineSBI on Mobile

OnlineSBI on Mobile is internet banking service optimized for mobile browsers. You can connect at https://m.onlinesbi.com. Currently this service is available only for Retail Internet Banking customers.

At present, these services are available

• Instant Term Deposits – e-TDR/e-STDR
• View Account Balance 
• View Mini Statement
• Fund Transfer to own accounts

Other services would be introduced gradually.

Existing users of www.onlinesbi.com can use this service with their existing username and password. "OnlineSBI on Mobile" is accessible from any mobile phone having internet connectivity.