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Press Coverage- Banknet India's Bank Tech Summit

(Bank Tech summit has got widespread coverage in the media. Summit highlights have been covered by The Economic Times, Business Standard, Financial Express, Hindu-Business Line, Indian Express, rediff.com, sify.com, CTV, Sahara TV, Zee TV etc)


Banks asked to finalise vendors for cheque truncation by Oct
The Hindu Business Line
Mumbai , Sept. 22

THE Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to finalise vendors for their Cheque Truncation Systems by October.

Cheque Truncation System (CTS) allows transferring the electronic image instead of physical movement of the cheques.

RBI is likely to begin live testing of CTS in Delhi by January or February 2006 and roll out the pilot project by March 2006, said Mr Kaza Sudhakar, General Manager and in-charge of the Products and Developments Division of the Payments Department, RBI.

Mr Sudhakar was speaking at the Banknet seminar on information technology business benefits in banks.

The process of cheque truncation reduces the clearing time and also cost involved in physically sending the cheques.

Mr Sudhakar said that eventually only two major fund transfer products will remain, the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) for low value or retail transfers and Real Time Gross Settlement for high value transfers.

Other payment types such as like SEFT (Special Electronic Fund Transfer) would be migrated to NEFT by December, he added.

Mr Sudhakar also said that banks must have at least one fund transfer product linked to Real Time Gross Settlement on their Web sitesAs electronic fund transfer products work out cheaper than legacy or traditional products, banks must charge lesser for these services, he added.

Speaking about the security in case of technology, Mr G Padmanabhan, Chief General Manager and in-charge, Department of Information Technology, RBI, said that banks must look at Know Your Employee norms.

Wherever there is an employee related activity banks must have a good grasp of the employee's background prior to recruitment and even after that, he said.



IDBI plans info kiosks with trading facility
The Hindu Business Line
Mumbai , Sept. 23

IDBI Ltd is planning to set up information kiosks with transaction facility, which will allow customers to check their balance, transfer funds within the bank and even pay utility bills.

Unlike normal kiosks, which require username and password, these can be accessed either by using the debit card or ATM card.

For corporate clients, IDBI will be issuing Enquiry Cards, using which the corporates can take out their statements of accounts.

"The idea behind these kiosks is to reduce the workload for the staff at branches," said Mr Sanjay Sharma, Corporate Head-Technology, IDBI.

"We are trying to put kiosks as an additional facility for customers who come to branches only for enquiry," he said.

The bank is planning to set up over 100 kiosks and will start by the first week of October. One of them is currently being tested at the bank's corporate office in Mumbai. The investment for this project is less than Rs 5 crore, Mr Sharma said. He was speaking at a seminar on IT business for banks, organised by Banknet India.

The bank is planning to open unmanned branches within two months, Mr Sharma said, but declined to give further details.

IDBI is also investing Rs 56 crore in setting up a new data centre at Belapur, Navi Mumbai, and a disaster recovery site in Chennai.

There will be a 100 per cent duplication of the systems at the disaster recovery site, something that most banks in India do not have, Mr Sharma said.

"We will even train people at both the sites in Belapur and Chennai, because during the recent floods in Mumbai one problem most banks faced was to transport staff to their disaster recovery sites," he said.



Now RBI tells banks: Know your employee as well
The Financial Express
MUMBAI, SEPT 22:

If you think staying late in office till the wee hours will impress your boss, think again, especially if you are working in a bank. Your every movement after you enter the bank premises may be under the scanner of the authorities, for which the central bank may be announcing new regulations soon.

In order to put a curb on the malpractices by the bank employees, it may be necessary for the bank to have a watch on their employees. The recent cases of technological mishaps resulted in employee induced financial as well as reputation loss of the bank, may induce the banks to have such a system in place. These are the views of G Padmanabhan, chief general manager-in-charge of the Reserve Bank of India.

Speaking on the occasion of Banknet India summit held on Thursday, Mr Padmanabhan put a strong case for such a system to monitor employee movement of the bank.

“The need for periodical, IS audit and implementation of IS policies in banks need to be among the high priorities of the banks. It is in this context I propose a new requirement - KYE or ‘know your employee’. While all of us are experts on adhering to the requirements of KYC, the recent cases of technological mishaps resulting in mainly employee (or ex-employee) induced financial losses to institutions not to speak of reputation highlight the urgent need for banks to know each of its employee very well,” he opined. He also urged the banking community to enforce such a system not only prior to the recruitment of the employee but even more vigourously thereafter.

Under Close Watch

• Strong case for such a system to monitor employee movement of the bank
• Recent cases of technological mishaps resulted in employee-induced financial loss of banks which may have induced them to have such a system in place
• Need for enforcement of the system not only prior to the recruitment of the employee but even more vigorously thereafter



IDBI Bank plans kiosks for non-cash services
Business Standard
Mumbai September 24, 2005

IDBI Bank has drawn up plans to set up round-the-clock transaction kiosks for non-cash banking services. Trial runs are on at the Mumbai main branch at the IDBI headquarters in south Mumbai.

IDBI Bank will inaugurate the first 24X7 kiosk early next month and then extend the concept to 99 more locations.

“Our customers would be able to do transactions like paying utility bills and view the financial transactions but can’t withdraw or deposit money. Customers will also be able to make inter-account transactions. They will get prompt service,” the bank’s corporate head (technology), Sanjay Sharma, said.

The location of the kiosks will be decided on the basis of customer traffic. The bank could decide on locations such as premises of corporate clients or in the bank’s own branches.

These kiosks would work on round the clock basis and may not require Reserve Bank of India’s permission. The investment outlay for putting up 100 Kiosks is Rs 5 crore, Sharma said.

Under RBI’s revised guidelines for branch approvals, banks are required to present annual business plans for network expansion, including branches and ATMs.

The bank is also planning to add 150 more ATMs to its existing network of 350 over the next six to twelve months. The average cost of one setting up an ATM centre including connectivity is Rs 12 lakh.



RBI proposes tab on staff
Rediff.com
September 22, 2005

The Reserve Bank of India proposes to keep a tab on bank employees in the wake of the recent cases of technological mishaps resulting in employee-induced financial as well as reputation losses to institutions.

In view of recent spurt in technological mishaps, RBI has proposed a new requirement for banks – 'Know Your Employee,' which highlights the urgent need for banks to know employees very well," G Padmanabhan, chief general manager, RBI said at Bank Tech Summit in Mumbai.

"This process is to be enforced not only prior to the recruitment of the employee but even more vigorously thereafter," he cautioned.

Referring to the bank's annual policy statement 2005-06, which proposes bringing out a financial sector vision document aimed at providing banks with inputs on the approach being taken by the regulatory bank for the implementation of IT for the financial sector, he said that RBI has decided to move away from the prescriptive role to that of a guide.

"The vision of RBI in respect of the financial sector will enable banks to carve out their path towards implementation of IT-based systems at their end, which would synchronise with the RBI plans for the medium term of three to five years," Padmanabhan said.

However, the benefits ushered in by technology should spread to the rural sector, which has 'tremendous potential to sustain the growth of the economy at large and of banking sector in particular', he added.

There is also a need for optimal marriage between technology and traditional forms of banking, he said adding, the customers still prefer a face-to-face discussion oriented approach towards financial decision making.



RBI’s Vision on Technology in the Banking Sector- Opening address by Mr. G. Padmanabhan, Chief General Manager - in - Charge, Dept. of Information Technology, Reserve Bank of India at the Bank Tech Summit... Read More

Leveraging IT for business benefits in banks- Welcome address by Mr. Anurag Khanna, Managing Director & CEO, Banknet India at the Bank Tech Summit... Read More

Banknet India's Bank Tech Summit on 22nd September 2005 was attended by 300 participants from more than 100 banks and IT companies from India, US, UK, Australia, France & Singapore. 20 Prominent Speakers included- Mr. G. Padmanabhan, Chief General Manager - in - Charge, Dept. of Information Technology, RBI, Mr Simen Munter, Chief Operating Officer of HSBC Bank ... Read More

 

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