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.

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.