Press Coverage- Banknet India's CTO summit
(CTO summit has got widespread coverage in the media. Summit highlights were covered by The Economic Times, Business Standard, Financial Express, Hindu-Business Line, Asian Age, Free Press Journal, Times of India, PTI, rediff.com, bobsguide.com, sify.com, Garp.com, CNBC, CTV, Doordarshan etc)
Technology is key to managing risks in banks
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SBI to focus on core banking
The Economic Times
FEBRUARY 21, 2005
State Bank of India is planning to shift about 85 per cent of its total business transactions under core banking solution by the end of next fiscal.
"SBI is taking serious initiatives to get 75-85 per cent of the total business under CBS," SBI Deputy Managing Director (IT), R N Ramanathan told reporters here on Monday on the sidelines of technology summit organised by Banknet India.
SBI would roll out core banking platform in 1,000 branches by March this year and would continue to extend the core banking operations to other branches and its associate banking entities, he said.
"With Basel II norms coming in, banks need to gear up activities to meet the requirements and meanwhile they need to enhance the IT infrastructure," Ramnathan said.
Banks need to address issues like setting up of centralised IT infrastructure, designing customised software solutions, training personnel, business process re-engineering and ensuring seamless integration of multi channel strategies, he added.
IT tools must for Basel II compliance
The Hindu Business Line
Mumbai , Feb. 21
TECHNOLOGY will be the key for banks in their effort to implement the Basel II norms was the consensus at the CTO Summit, a seminar on technology in the banking sector, organised by Banknet India.
Experts from the banking sector and the information technology industry agreed that data collection, networking and risk management will be the key areas where banks will need to implement technology, in their efforts to achieve standardisation.
Mr R.N. Ramanathan, Deputy Managing Director, Information Technology, State Bank of India, said: "Inducting IT is required in a big way for preparing for the Basel II norms. One of the requirements for Basel II is to build up 10 years of data of all our customers. This includes both retail customers and corporate clients. This is a big exercise and it is too early to discuss the costs involved."
Mr Ramanathan also said, "State Bank of India will extend the same IT solutions to all our associate banks as well. But we will have to wait and watch for total automation to extend to all 14,000 branches of the group."
SBI plans to shift about 85 per cent of its total business transactions under core banking solution (CBS) by the end of next fiscal. The bank is taking initiatives to get business under CBS, Mr Ramanathan said. Until March, SBI would rollout core banking platform in 1,000 branches.
Mr R. Gandhi, Chief General Manager, Department of Information Technology, RBI, said, "Basel II norms came into effect because central banks all over the world wanted to bring a co-ordinated and standardised approach. Very soon the distributed processes of banks will have to go for centralisation."
He added, "IT helps banks in data collection in a big way. That is why core banking solutions are essential for strong risk management. This will also include profiling of customers and their transactions."
Asked if the RBI will advise banks to implement IT solutions through application service providers, Mr Gandhi said, "That is left to the banks. The RBI cannot suggest how they must implement the solutions."
Mr Hanuman Tripathi, Managing Director, Infrasoft Technologies, a banking and financial solutions company said, that Basel II norms are a big opportunity for companies like his, as banks will look to implement IT solutions. He said, "Technology is essential for Basel II norms because of needs like data collection, computation of the audit trail and reporting between the various departments and across the ranks within banks."
SBI scales up core banking linkage for Basel II
Business Standard
Mumbai February 22, 2005
State Bank of India (SBI) plans to cover nearly 85 per cent of its business under its core banking solution by end of March 2006. The planned quantum jump in coverage of branches under core banking is a step towards adopting Basel-II prudential norms.
SBI will add 1,000 more branches to the core banking network by March 2005 and keep scaling up branch connectivity to ensure 75 to 85 per cent of business transactions are covered by March 2006, SBI deputy managing director (IT), R N Ramanathan, said on the sidelines of Banknet India's CTO Summit here today.
SBI has only a few hundred of its branches on the core banking platform. It has 9,071 branches, which represents about 13.5 per cent of the bank branches in India.
The bank is also technologically integrating its eight associate banks and will also cover the associates’ 4,599 branches with its core banking solution.
The country’s largest bank completed computerisation of all the branches of the SBI group in January 2004 and it plans to hasten up the networking of its branches in urban and semi-urban areas so that 85 per cent of its business is processed real-time.
About 45 per cent of its branches are in rural areas, 27 per cent in semi-urban areas, 17 per cent in urban areas and 11 per cent in metropolitan areas.
Ramanathan said banks need to enhance their information technology infrastructure to be able to meet Basel-II norms.
A centralised IT infrastructure, customised software solutions, personnel training and seamless integration of multi-channel strategies are the imperatives for management of credit, market and operations risks.
The Reserve Bank of India too is monitoring the implementation of technology strategies by banks in the run-up to the implementation of Basel-II norms.
RBI chief general manager R Gandhi said the central bank would also act as an advisor to banks for adoption of technology.
Gandhi said Basel-II has advanced the urgency for banks to put in place automation systems and build the basic technology foundations to face the challenges of Basel-II.
SBI to shift 85% biz under core banking
rediff.com
February 21, 2005
State Bank of India is planning to shift about 85 per cent of its total business transactions under core banking solution by the end of next fiscal.
"SBI is taking serious initiatives to get 75-85 per cent of the total business under CBS," R N Ramanathan, SBI deputy managing director (IT), said on Monday on the sidelines of technology summit organised by Banknet India.
SBI would roll out core banking platform in 1,000 branches by March this year and would continue to extend the core banking operations to other branches and its associate banking entities, he said.
"With Basel II norms coming in, banks need to gear up activities to meet the requirements and meanwhile they need to enhance the IT infrastructure," Ramnathan said.
Banks need to address issues like setting up of centralised IT infrastructure, designing customised software solutions, training personnel, business process re-engineering and ensuring seamless integration of multi channel strategies, he added.
SBI to roll out core banking operations
Sify.com
Monday, 21 February , 2005
State Bank of India is planning to shift about 85 per cent of its total business transactions under core banking solution (CBS) by the end of next fiscal.
''The bank is taking serious initiatives to get 75-85 per cent of the total business under CBS,'' the SBI Deputy Managing Director (IT), R N Ramanathan, told reporters here on Monday on the sidelines of technology summit organised by Banknet India.
SBI would roll out core banking platform in 1,000 branches by March this year and would continue to extend the core banking operations to other branches and its associate banking entities.
''With Basel II norms coming in, banks need to gear up activities to meet the requirements and meanwhile they need to enhance the IT infrastructure,'' he added.
CTOs and Business Heads from more than 16 banks to come together ... Read More
Banknet India's CTO Summit on the 21st February 2005 was attended by more than 100 senior level participants from 51 0rganizations. 28 Speaker/Panelists comprised of 20 CTOs, CEOs and Business heads from 15 major banks, RBI & IIB.
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