Tag: ATM

IT Support Services to Banking Sector

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With the other industries the banking industry is also growing at a significant good rate today. The main reason behind this is the use of the latest technology tools. In the olden days banking was done on paper but now it is done electronically with the help of computers. Many IT Support Company are giving their IT services to the banking sector.

It has been observed during the last few decades that IT infrastructure services have been taken by the banks and other financial institutions. In the early 80s the banks started to make their branches computerized and were purchasing the software packages. In the early 90s replacement of the computer systems with the inexpensive and latest technology powered PCs began. Information technology opened up the way for the banks to make their products sophisticated, diversified and adopting new techniques and make better market infrastructure. The internet has become the remote channel of communication between banks and its customers.

The E-Banking came to the United States of America and the United Kingdom in between 1020 to 1030 and now India is also following it. Most of the banks have made their services based on these technologies and equipments which are offered by many IT support companies. Now the customers can view their account summary, status, receipts, transaction records, can make online funds transfer and many more online options like these. Undoubtedly today banking has become more fast and easy and the customers expectations are also increased. Now the customer needs not to have its account summary on registers because everything is now online with the advent of the internet technology which is providing many benefits to the customers as well as the banks.

A customer can take his cash fast and easy with the use of an ATM machine. He can use his debit or credit card for purchasing purposes. He can use e-cheques, mobile banking, telephone banking and internet banking for remote transactions. He can also make payment transfers when the bank is closed. Easy to keep an eye or monitor the account status. It is cost effective for the bank because thousands of customers can be handled at a time and no need to use so many clerks.

We can say that technology has always played an important role in the growth of financial organizations and banks. It has shortened the paths of long transactions to smaller ones. It is giving proper service quality and satisfaction to the customers.

Branchless Banking The Financial Services Of The Future

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There are some exciting and innovative times ahead for the banking industry. The world’s financial organisations always looking for new ways to offer customers the sophisticated levels of service they want while simultaneously cutting costs, and one exciting area of development is branchless banking.

Customers are already extremely familiar with the functionality on offer at the average ATM machine and a large proportion have also got to grips with all of the excellent services available through online and mobile banking. Now, there are engineers and inventors quietly working on ways to boost the brilliant services provided by these technologies, making it possible for people to find a full range of banking functions on offer from a computerised terminal.

There was once a time when such a proposition seemed unlikely to take off, but that was long before the days of self service checkouts at local supermarkets and swipe cards to get on and off public transport. As the world becomes increasingly technologized, a far greater portion of the population is highly computer literate and on the look out for all innovations that can help them better utilise their free time.

The convenience of branchless banking services is one of its major selling points. The ability to access financial details on the go or at a conveniently placed ATM machine rather than having to set time aside to visit a physical branch is something that greatly appeals to today’s time-poor workers. What’s more, the range of different online and computer facilitated services available means that there are a good range of options for people to choose from.

While some customers will always prefer the option of speaking to a teller, others welcome the anonymity of sorting out their finances at a fully functional ATM machine or paying bills via their phones. It’s up to banks to consider the needs of their far reaching customer bases and provide the most appropriate service for them all. As technology continues to grow, it is increasingly likely that more and more customers begin looking for branchless solutions for their banking needs.

Retail teller machines are huge development when it comes to the potential of branchless banking. These, unlike ATM machines, tend to be cashless, and are instead designed to talk customers through the various policies and services the bank offers in a no pressure environment. This will appeal to customers who want to learn about the products open to them, but who want to have plenty of time to consider their options as well as avoid a potential hard sell.

RTMs can already reduce queues and pressure in bank branches and the fact that they could be installed and maintained in areas where a full branch isn’t feasible means they’re sure to offer ever greater options to customers in the future. The further development of RTM and ATM software designed to simplify financial services will help make it increasingly easier for the average customer to get the information and services they need while also helping banks cut costs.

A Study on Marketing Strategy of Banking Industry in India-Allahabad Bank

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The Oldest Joint Stock Bank of the Country, Allahabad Bank was founded in April 24th of the year 1865 at the confluence city of Allahabad by a group of Europeans. At that occasion Organized Industry, Trade and Banking started taking shape in India. Thus, the History of the Bank spread over three Centuries – namely Nineteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-First. As a leading public sector commercial banks in India, Allahabad Bank offering banking products and services to corporate and commercial customers and retail customers. The Bank particularly focuses on the retail banking while serving all sectors of the Indian economy. Bank’s operations for corporate and commercial customers cater to large corporate customers as well as to small and middle market businesses and Government entities. Corporate and commercial products include Term Loans, Bill Discounting, Export Credit and other business credit and financing products. Also the bank offers a wide range of retail products including Home Loans, Personal Loans and Automobile Loans as well as Debit Cards. In addition, specialised products and services to the agricultural sector also one of entity of the bank. All the above products and services of the bank offered through extensive branch network, extension counters, ATMs, phone banking and the Internet. This article will be helpful in writing Project Report on Marketing.In Twentieth Century, The Bank became a part of P & O Banking Corporation’s group with a bid price of Rs.436 per share in 1920. The Head Office of the Bank was shifted to Calcutta on business considerations during the year of 1923. The Bank crossed its century year in 1965. In July 19th of the year 1969, Allahabad Bank was nationalized (with 151Branches – Rs.119 crores of Deposits and Rs.82 crores of Advances) along with 13 other banks. United Industrial Bank Ltd was merged with the bank in October of the year1989. The Bank made a foray into merchant banking activity in 1984 and subsequently instituted AllBank Finance Ltd as a wholly owned subsidiary for Merchant Banking in the year of 1991. The Official Language Implementation Committee of Calcutta awarded the Rajbhasha Shield to the Bank as Second Prize for its best performance for the year 1991. During the year 1995, The Bank had entered into an MOU with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for financing small-scale industrial units. In 1996, The Bank had set up Information Technology Centre to provide in-depth computer training to Officers at Calcutta and Lucknow. Consequent to the SEBI Rules and Regulation the company surrendered its merchant banking registration in 1998 and got it registered as a Non Banking Financial Company (NBFC) with Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In the same year of 1998, the bank had received permission from the RBI for gold trading. Allahabad Bank has entered into an arrangement, informally though, with IDBI and ICICI in regard to funding of infrastructure projects. During the year 1999, Allahabad Bank has launched two new schemes to increase the pace of credit off take and in the same period TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) has entered into a contract with Bank for implementing the Integrated Standard Banking System (ISBS), a branch mechanisation package at 60 branches. The Bank bagged three major core sector clients, namely the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Power Grid Corporation and Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd (IRFC). This report shows that Allahabad Bank has performed well which is reflected in its Ratio Analysis Reports In Twenty-First Century, Allahabad Bank has launched its new personal loan scheme for pensioners in the year of 2001. As at October of the year 2002, the bank came out with Initial Public Offer (IPO) of 10 crores share of face value Rs.10 each, reducing Government shareholding to 71.16% and in the same year 2002, Allahabad has tied up with National Institute of Banking Management, Crisil and Earnst & Young for development of HRM, risk Management and general business strategy. The Bank has seized the commercial assets of the Guarantors of Ramolene Fabrics (P) Ltd in 2003 at Mumbai and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Corporation Bank for mutual sharing of their ATM Network. The Bank has entered into an MOU in the year of 2004 with the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) for distribution of their products to the exporters. UTI Mutual Fund and Allahabad Bank on April 5, 2004 announced a strategic tie-up for distribution of UTI MF schemes. During April of the year 2005, the bank made Follow on Public Offer (FPO) of 10 crores equity shares of face value Rs.10 each with a premium of Rs.72, reducing Government shareholding to 55.23%. The Bank has signed MoU with Mahindra Gujarat Tractor Ltd in the identical year 2005 for financing Hindustan brand tractor under special finance scheme. Allahabad Bank transcended beyond the National Boundary, Allahabad bank had opened a representative office at Shenzen, China in June 2006. In October of the same year 2006, the bank rolled out its first branch under Core Banking Services (CBS). During February of the year 2007, The Bank opened its first overseas branch at Hong Kong. During the calendar year of 2007, 100 more branches opened throughout the country, the total number of branches were stirred from 2042 to 2142 of which rural are 983 (46%), semi-urban 402 (19%), urban 450 (21%) and metropolitan 307 (14%). There is no doubt that reading Banking Industry Reports is essential for knowing the history of a bank. Allahabad Bank has opened its 2154th branch in at Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu during March of the year 2008. The Bank has 211 ATM’s and Card members can now have access at over 16500 ATM’s all across the country under National Financial Switch. One of the premier nationalised banks of the country, Allahabad Bank has commenced the process of implementing the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme-2008 in June of the year 2008. The Bank has improved its performance and established its visibility and strong presence in the market. The Bank is steadily moving at a faster pace to consolidate its position in the coming days introducing extensive computerization to ensure the state-of-the-art service comfort for its customers. The Bank has already in hand 116 authorizations for opening of new branches. Bank’s plan is to expand in areas where the Bank’s presence is not very much visible now and where business potentiality is good.

Finacle Mobile Banking Solution

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With mobile devices becoming integral to people’s lives, banks are seeking to leverage the ubiquity of mobile phones to create a cost-effective distribution channel, rapidly innovate, extend reach across segments and improve convenience and security of use. However, due to consumer concerns regarding security, the adoption of this channel for value-based transactions has been limited. While some consumers prefer browser-based mobile banking, others use applications that can be downloaded to create a rich interface on the handset. Additionally, the diversity of hand held devices presents a unique challenge for banks seeking to optimize services delivery across the gamut of devices and customer segments.

A truly secure mobile banking solution built on open standards, for increased agility and flexibility, can prove invaluable for banks. The solution must also intuitively address the hurdles posed by multiple form factors and access mechanisms in the mobile space.

Finacle mobile banking solution empowers retail and corporate banking customers with access to banking services through SMS, GPRS/ 3G and USSD-enabled handsets, leveraging a single platform. The solution provides a secure, multi-lingual channel for banks to innovate by easily deploying new services with improved time to market. The end user experience thus created is richer and truly convenient.

Finacle mobile banking solution integrates easily with disparate host systems, core banking solutions, payment networks and third-party applications. The solution leverages Infosys mConnect, the indigenously developed middleware, which orchestrates mobile transactions between users’ devices and the Finacle universal banking solution. Infosys mConnect handles the multiplicity of form factors and access mechanisms on multiple devices to provide a context and device independent view to the transaction server. This presents banks with a powerful channel to service customer segments ranging from the mass affluent to the under-banked or unbanked, surmounting the challenge posed by the diversity of mobile devices.

The ubiquity of the platform adequately addresses the challenges of encryption, communication, synchronization, image resizing, downloading and security. This ushers in the advantages of reduced integration by leveraging common interface messages, maintenance and deployment costs.

Customer On-boarding

Finacle mobile banking enables the bank’s existing customers to be directed to use the mobile channel for banking and payment transactions through the following modes:

Mobile banking facility requested by sending SMS request in prescribed format

Registering for mobile banking through the bank’s Internet banking site

Phone banking leveraging the bank’s tele-banking call center

Mobile Banking and Payments

Customers are enabled to perform several financial transactions on their mobile phones using multiple languages and across multiple time zones. The functional capabilities of the solution include:

Account management and requests like balance inquiry, account aggregation (within and with other banks), mini statements, among others

Term deposit and renewal

Funds transfer (self and third-party accounts with multi-currency support)

Local and international payments with support for expedited payments

Bill presentment and payment

Remote deposit capture

Account origination, Forex rates and calculators

Cheque status inquiry, cheque book requests and stop cheque requests

Customer personalization including account setup and marketing preference

Transaction approvals for corporate customers

ATM and bank branch locator

Remittance request, enquiry and statement

Peer-to-peer payments

Business-to-business payments

Contactless payments

Support for administrative tasks like secure mails to relationship manager, approvals, password/ PIN change, block credit/ debit/ ATM card, customer billing, data synchronization and self-audit

Key Modules

Mobile Financial Management

The solution offers unmatched support to manage finances on the move. This helps banking consumers make informed decisions. A comprehensive set of tools is provided to enhance financial management.

Quantitative (such as EMI calculators) and qualitative analysis tools (such as budget vs. spend analysis)

Transaction tagging

Product selectors and comparators

Virtual financial advisory services through video chat on mobile

Alerts

This module empowers customers to subscribe and receive a wide variety of mobile alerts. The solution supports both push and pull alerts along with customizable alerts via integration with Finacle alerts solution. The module also allows the customer to set preferences and limits for alerts and configure ‘do not disturb’ timings.

Value Added Services

Finacle offers a gamut of value added services that provide extended convenience and comfort to the customer. These include:

Mobile commerce

Mobile ticketing

Mobile top-up for prepaid card recharge

Mobile advertising, based on location, user profile and actions

Mobile remittances to charity causes

Mobile wallet

Demat and stock trading services

Security

Finacle mobile banking solution offers state-of-the-art security through optimized measures. The solution offers:

Two factor authentication – PIN encryption

J2ME MIDP 2.0 support for SSL/ TLS

Encryption of data stored on mobile phone

Support for binary XML

Enabling and disabling of mobile numbers

Support for additional authentication mechanism

Business Benefits

Greater Customer Convenience

Finacle mobile banking solution empowers banking customers to make informed decisions by providing them with an invaluable set of financial management tools on the mobile handset. These tools help in quantitative and qualitative analysis, as well as in the selection and comparison of financial products.

Reduced Turnaround Time

Finacle mobile banking solution has a robust integration framework which allows it to function in tandem with disparate host systems, core banking solutions, payment networks and third-party applications. This translates into reduced go-to-market time for the bank as well as support for legacy systems.

Robust Inclusivity Framework

Finacle mobile banking solution leverages Infosys mConnect to smoothly hurdle the challenges posed by the multiplicity of form factors and access mechanisms on multiple devices to provide a context-agnostic view to the transaction server. This enables banks to include, through the mobile channel, its various customer segments, ranging from the HNWI to specific unbanked communities, surmounting the complexities of diverse location and dissimilar mobile devices.

Maximize Innovation

Banks can leverage Finacle solution’s indigenously developed middleware Infosys mConnect, to configure an unlimited palette of services from any channel, to the mobile space, with ease. The need for development of new back end services is precluded due to the availability of a banking solution behind the mobile interface. Finacle also provides the flexibility to deploy services over the existing online banking platform or through a standalone delivery channel interfaced directly with the relevant host systems. This ensures the rapid delivery of a comprehensive range of financial services, embellished with new innovative features, on mobile devices.

Business Benefits

Robust Security

The solution offers extensive application security features like URL encryption, referral URL check and session management to provide a robust security framework. The solution also supports OTP (one time password), which provides a two factor authentication mechanism for users transacting with downloadable mobility client. This enables the bank to offer products that are highly secure and geared to withstand the onslaught of security threats associated with mobile transactions.

Cost Savings

The solution presents banks with the advantages of reduced integration by leveraging common interface messages, maintenance and deployment costs. This translates into significant cost savings without banks having to compromise on features or the range of devices supported. The mobile banking solution is inherently independent of the network service provider, obviating the need to build a business model that involves costs and profits sharing with them.

Customer Delight

Finacle mobile banking solution enables banks to offer the convenience of comprehensive anywhere anytime banking, using GPRS, mobile browser or SMS. It supports a wide range of mobile devices and mobile browsers. Banking customers can query on account balances and make fund transfers. Banks can also proactively send timely information to customers in a completely secure environment, whenever a customer-defined event occurs. The solution’s self-service capabilities empower customers to manage their banking activities better. The solution also addresses data transmission and storage related security concerns adequately, delivering a truly streamlined customer experience.

Effective Features Of Breeze Mobile Banking

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One of the most interesting things about technology is that when developers introduce different applications to the public, they mistakenly believe that the more features and the more complex the features, the more impressed customers will be. Unfortunately, many uninformed consumers are sucked into buying products because they are loaded with what appear to be incredible and robust features. However, these people soon discover that all the fluff is just that, meaning the features are usually over-rated and rather than making the experience smoother, they actually make things more complicated and time-consuming.

When Standard Chartered Bank developed Breeze, the online and mobile banking solution that runs on iPhone and iPhone, they wanted bank customers to have a genuine, user-friendly application with features that added true value to the overall experience. The final product rolled out to beta testers in Singapore and Malaysia achieved the banks goal.

However, for the primary features seen on other mobile banking applications, the bank developed Breeze so these were enhanced. In addition, Breeze provides bank customers with new features, one in particular called eCheques, which is the worlds only electronic check processing system. Along with these features, Breeze has something unexpected in the form of functional but also fun features.

Some of the standard features that have been made more robust on Breeze include things like viewing account balances and transferring funds. Along with the new eCheques feature, Standard Chartered Bank also incorporated an ATM finder, which makes it possible for people to find the closest ATM anywhere needed in a matter of minutes. Instead of making unnecessary phone calls or driving around aimlessly, the information can be pulled up using Breeze with no effort at all. Standard Chartered Bank will also be introducing new features as time goes by to meet growing customer demand.

The entire online and mobile banking application enhances the customers banking and financial experience but the designers and developers added a few fun features just because they were just that fun. When people look at the enhanced conventional features, the revolutionary features, the future features, and the fun features, it is clear that Breeze is unlike any other mobile banking application ever created.

One of the fun features is the background of the iPhone when Breeze is downloaded. During the day, the background is bright, sunny skies that represent daytime but then at night, the background changes to a dark sky filled with shiny stars. Although the application is not necessarily something that adds value, it is fun.

Another fun feature of the Breeze application is the ability for users to personalize their accounts by using different icons, colors, and even avatars. Some people appreciate the ability to add a little personality into the way their account appears while others are not as concerned but either way, this feature is fun. Then one of the most interesting features is moving money by shaking the iPhone. Standard Chartered Bank wanted customers to enjoy the experience with Breeze while also having a mobile banking solution that would save time and effort when managing accounts.