Opposition for Khandelwal panel recommendations

The Syndicate Bank Staff Association (SBSA) has decided to gear up the agitation against the recommendations of the Khandelwal Committee. The Khandelwal Committee had recommended abolition of the 40- year-old method of bi-partite negotiations and collective agreement at the industry level for improving the wages and service conditions of the bank employees. 

Mr K.S. Bhat, All-India Secretary, SBSA, said that the recommendations of the committee for bank-wise wage revision in place of the industry-level agreement, would cause problems in the banking sector, besides unrest among the bank employees, he said in a statement. Opposing the committee's recommendations, the Association has also decided to support all agitation programme of UFBU.

sajeevkumar@thehindu.co.in

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BoI launches online remittance service for NRIs in UK

Bank of India has launched an online remittance service for non-resident Indians in the UK. Using this service, the customer no longer has to visit a branch and can execute the online money transfers from the comfort of his home or office, said a press release issued by the bank.

The bank is offering the service jointly with TimesofMoney.

BoI has an overseas presence of over 65 years.

It has offices in 19 foreign centres spread over five continents, where its services are extended through 49 outlets, including seven in the UK.

Almost 25 per cent of the bank's business is contributed by its foreign offices, the release said.

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Debit cards based on RuPay platform launched

State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, and Union Bank of India on Monday formally launched debit cards based on the indigenously developed RuPay payment platform.

The RuPay platform has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India as a rival to global payment product companies such as MasterCard and Visa.

The RuPay branded debit cards will be accepted at all 91,000 ATMs and over six lakh point of sale (POS) terminals in the country. In due course, these cards would be accepted on Internet and also at ATMs/POS terminals abroad, said a NPCI statement.

NPCI plans to partner banks to introduce RuPay-based credit cards by March 2015.

“Several banks are in the process of testing and certification and we expect all major banks to be a part of the RuPay network in six months time.

“Smaller banks which were not in a position to join the card payment system due to high cost of initial participation fee and quarterly minimum processing fee would henceforth be able to participate in RuPay because there are no such fees under RuPay,” said Mr A. P. Hota, MD and CEO, NPCI.

Since the transaction processing will happen domestically through NPCI's retail payments and settlement platform, it would lead to lower cost of clearing and settlement for each transaction.

Banks will have to pay almost 40 per cent lower fees to the RuPay scheme as compared to the international schemes. Besides, banks will pay only in rupees instead of foreign currency.

kram@thehindu.co.in

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Citibank's multi-channel drive to boost retail growth

As it embarks on growth through retail banking for the second time around, Citibank is looking to acquire customers through multiple channels. No longer will the foreign bank be solely dependent on direct selling agents (DSAs). It is building its own sales force, called ‘universal bankers'.

Universal bankers

This concept (universal bankers) has been introduced for the first time in India, as a pilot project for the Asia-Pacific Region. Over the last 18 months, the bank has appointed about 350-400 universal bankers nationally.

This universal banker model is expected to ensure ‘higher quality of customer acquisition with enhanced customer experience,' said Mr Anand Selvakesari, Head Consumer Banking, Citibank India.

“In order to acquire and bank the right profile of customers within our segmented strategy, you need to have the right distribution channel. We are building on that through our team of universal bankers,” he said.

The universal bankers differ from DSAs as they are trained to sell all products — credit cards, personal loans and deposits. They are employees who are fresh from school or have two-three years' experience.

“They have been provided with extensive training and are capable of handling the entire suite of products and services available with us. It is a client-centric approach. It is not selling a product. It is basically a relationship with the bank,” he said.

Currently, the channel of universal bankers contributes to 50-60 per cent of card sales, about 30 per cent of loan sales and about 40-50 per cent of liabilities, that is, deposit sales. Going ahead, this share will increase as the bank expands the sales force.

However, the bank will still continue to use DSAs, given that it is present in 27 cities in India.

“We still need multiple channels for customer acquisition. Even in the 27 cities that we operate in, it is not enough to acquire customers with 300-400 universal bankers. While we will continue to expand the universal bankers channel, we want to leverage as many channels as we can.

“At the same time we want to ensure that all channels are getting the right profile of customers. Our end focus is acquiring a customer with the right profile and a differentiated customer experience,” Mr Selvakesari said.

priyan@thehindu.co.in

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SBI plans one more zone in Bangalore circle

State Bank of India plans to restructure its Bangalore circle to include one more zone.

The move will enable the bank to focus better on the Bangalore zone, which contributes to 70 per cent of the circle's business, Mr Ashwini Mehra, Chief General Manager, SBI – Bangalore Circle, told Business Line.

“We want to create a separate zone for the coastal belt, as we feel there is scope for expansion there. This way, we will have a separate zone for Bangalore city,” he said.

SBI – Bangalore circle has two zones currently: Bangalore and Hubli. “The accent is also on opening more branches in metros where growth and turnaround is faster,” said Mr Mehra, adding that the bank has good presence in the rural and semi-urban areas.

The bank has about 550 branches in Karnataka, and wants to take it up to 600 by next fiscal. “We want to open the branches by September 2012 in order to stabilise them by the fiscal-end,” he explained.

Areas such as Chitradurga and South Canara would also be under focus for the bank.

The idea of expansion is to get more business from Bangalore, which contributes to 70 per cent of the bank's business. SBI – Bangalore Circle has seen a business of Rs 90,000 crore this fiscal, and “our target is to grow advances and deposits by 20 per cent,” said Mr Mehra.

According to him, agricultural loans are facing a setback as 120 taluks in the State have been affected by drought. Agri NPAs are at Rs 650 crore, and Mr Mehra hoped to bring it below Rs 500 crore.

“Recoveries are challenging,” he said, adding that cash recovery during the current year is Rs 201 crore. “Farmers were hoping to come into money with a good harvest, and that hasn't happened so far,” he explained.

anju@thehindu.co.in

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