Axis Bank launches WhatsApp Banking

 

Axis Bank launches WhatsApp Banking
Bank Anywhere, Anytime on your favorite chatting app

 

• Full scale integration with banking products across Savings Account, Credit Cards, Deposits and Loans
• Enabled for both bank and non-bank customers, FAQ handling enabled via integration with Bank’s chatbot Axis Aha!
• Accelerates customer engagement and turn-around time with a  personalized experience, while ensuring complete data security and privacy

 

India’s third-largest private sector bank, Axis Bank is embarking on a partnership with the popular chatting app – WhatsApp – to offer basic banking services to its customers. This will allow customers to seek information regarding their account balance, recent transactions, credit card payments, fixed and recurring deposit details, besides getting their queries answered in real-time. 

 

 

By using WhatsApp Banking, customers can now chat with Axis Bank for their queries related to their banking transactions, information like nearest branch, ATM or loan centre location, and can apply for various banking products as well. They can also block their credit or debit card using the secure end-to-end encrypted messaging channel.

 

This initiative is in line with the Bank’s ‘Dil Se Open’ philosophy, to build sharper customer focus and greater convenience through constant innovation. Axis Bank WhatsApp Banking is available 24x7, including holidays, and the service will be available for both customers and non-customers of the bank.  It is completely safe, as it works on a secure end-to-end encrypted messaging channel.

 

Commenting on the launch, Sameer Shetty, EVP and Head – Digital Banking, Axis Bank said: “Our objective is to re-define the role we can play in the life of our customers, by elevating digital banking to new domains of customer engagement. This technology will not only enhance customer experience, but also provide a seamless and personalized experience to all our customers, as well as non-customers.’’ 

 

To get started with WhatsApp Banking, customers simply need to send ‘Hi’ to 7036165000 on WhatsApp. If you are viewing this from Mobile or Tablets, just click here.

 

For more detailed information regarding Axis Bank’s WhatsApp Banking, click here.

Breakthrough Digital Banking Innovations

Breakthrough Digital Banking Innovations Recognized in
Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2020

Infosys Finacle, part of EdgeVerve Systems, a product subsidiary of Infosys, today announced the winners of the annual Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2020. In its sixth edition, the awards recognize breakthrough innovations in digital banking and their impact on key banking business areas. 

Close to 300 nominations were received from banks, across eight award categories. This was the highest number of nominations since the awards program was instituted. The eight award categories are – Product Innovation, Channel Innovation, Customer Journey Reimagination, Corporate Banking Digitization, Ecosystem led Innovation, Process Innovation, Transformation Excellence and Modern Technologies led Innovation. An expert jury comprising of global banking and technology leaders evaluated the nominations on the basis of three criteria – Innovation Quotient, Benefits Quotient, and Complexity Quotient.

The winners include banks across six continents. The winning entries came from - incumbent and emerging banks; global, local and regional banks; traditional and digital-only banks – reflecting the universal focus on innovation.  

Commenting on the innovation stories nominated for the awards program, Sanat Rao, Chief Business Officer and Global Head of Infosys Finacle, said, “The old adage ‘Innovate or perish’ has never been more applicable than now. Traditional banking business practices were already under scrutiny for relevance and competitive advantage, the ongoing global pandemic has further accentuated the situation, underlining the need for deep flexibility for adaptive innovation.  The nominees and winners in the Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2020 clearly display that capability, creating some of the most impactful technology led banking innovations from across the world. The scale and variety of nominations this year, indicate the sustained investments and focus on innovation by banks across the globe. My heartiest congratulations to all the recognized banks and I wish them continued success in 2020 and beyond.”

Michael Vallance, Managing Director & Head of Transaction Banking, Santander Corporate and Commercial Bank – “We are delighted that Infosys Finacle has recognized Santander Corporate & Commercial for our digital transformation projects delivering new customer centric international and domestic payments services for our UK clients. Working with Infosys Finacle, we have redesigned our digital channels around our customers’ needs to offer a simple and informative payments experience. Our vision is to use customer insights to provide proactive digital prompts and notifications, allowing our customers to make and manage their payments more efficiently and securely. By incorporating Infosys Finacle into our technology strategy, we have been able to create operating efficiencies across products and channels to accelerate digital transformation, introduce new customer features and take advantage of emerging technologies”

Jayash Patel, Head of Liv. by Emirates NBD – “We are honored and absolutely delighted to be recognized for our efforts on a global platform such as Infosys Finacle. We congratulate and thank the incredible dedication, trust and support that we continuously receive from our customers and partners. As ongoing digital transformation continues to sweep across the financial sector, we look forward to continue to reimagine banking in the region by bringing innovation, finance and lifestyle together.”

Craig Bouwer, Head Client Journeys, Personal and Business Banking Africa Regions, Standard Bank – “It is an honour for Standard Bank’s digital [unsecured] lending platforms to be recognized at the Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2020. As Africa’s largest bank by assets, we have undertaken to bring innovation to every aspect of our IT systems and the employee experience to enable rich interactions with our customers. Being able to reach customers across our African footprint in innovative and convenient ways is now more important than ever. Our partnership with Infosys is supportive of our vision to become a fully automated, and universal financial services organisation.”

To access the list of award winning banks, details of their recognized innovations and quote from winning banks, please click here.

Bank of Baroda Advocates Digital Banking for

Bank of Baroda Advocates Digital Banking for Safe and Secure Future

Bank of Baroda has on boarded 41 lakh new users on its digital platform during Q4FY20, out of which 34 lakh users were boarded between April-May 2020, a testimony to the wide acceptance and traction of digital banking services. Additionally, 88% of eligible saving bank accounts were opened through TAB banking.

The bank has witnessed a 16% growth in UPI transactions in the fourth quarter of financial year 2019-20 and an 8% growth in mobile banking transactions. As such, Bank of Baroda Mobile app now ranks among the top 3 among large banks. Significantly, the bank has registered a 280% Q-on-Q growth in UPI channel on-boarding of merchants, a 118% jump in Bhim Aadhar and 36% in payment gateway, due to the push of government on digital India and the increasing preference of consumers to shop online.

Bank of Baroda announced its Q4FY20 earnings on June 23. The bank reported a net profit of ₹507 crore for the January-March quarter as against a loss of ₹8,875 crore in the same period last year. The bank, with its well diversified credit portfolio across corporate, MSME, retail, agriculture and others, witnessed a growth across all these businesses in the January-March quarter vis-à-vis the corresponding period in 2019.

The bank is also among the top three PSU banks that are offering MSME loans under Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat economic stimulus package. The bank will continue to focus on providing lending support to the MSME sector and ranks highest in terms of sanction, disbursement under the PSB59 portal.

The bank has a strong domestic presence through 9,482 branches & 13,193 ATMs and cash recyclers supported by self-service channels and a committed workforce of 84,283 employees. The bank’s financial inclusion outreach spans to 51.2 million accounts, with total deposits of ₹18,731 crore and average balance of ₹3,658.

Bank of Baroda's provisions declined 36% on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis to ₹6,844 crore. Its provisions for bad loans also declined 69% on a y-o-y basis to ₹3,190 crore. The bank's gross bad loan ratio or total bad loans as a percentage of total advances, fell 103 basis points (bps) sequentially to 9.4%. The bank does not expect slippages in FY21 to exceed that of FY20. Currently, 65% of loan book is under moratorium and this ratio is expected to drop to 35% by August.

New cards issuances grew by 65% from Q4FY19 to Q4FY20. As of Q4FY20, the bank continues to be the 10^th largest issuer in terms of incremental monthly Credit Card issuances. Interestingly, Q4FY20 spends grew by more than 100% compared to Q4FY19.

The bank’s efforts towards innovation in digitization, include that of introduction of dedicated start-up branches, with customized banking products specially designed for the start-up ecosystem to target the young entrepreneurs and satisfy their financial needs. Bank of Baroda has connected with over 1500 start-ups successfully and continues to increase this reach.

On the integration front, the bank has successfully migrated all corporate and common NPA accounts into Bank of Baroda. All ATMs from eVijaya Bank and eDena Bank have also been migrated to Bank of Baroda. Constant customer communication ensured that no major customer grievances related to integration was reported.

Baroda DigiNext Cash Management has also seen rapidly increasing market-share. 2,341 customers across CFS, PSU, Government departments and Emerging Corporates used Baroda DigiNext in 2019-20.

Baroda Global Shared Services in GIFT City at Gandhinagar lent support to the bank’s efforts to sustain banking operations during lockdown to ensure business continuity without any adverse impact while taking all required precautions. Uninterrupted digital operations were ensured by maintaining ATM uptime higher than 88%. The bank initiated cross selling of agri products, while Aadhar Enrolment centres at branches was managed through automated platform to provide better services centrally. CKYC remediation for the Bank undertaken, ensured clearing of 10,000 cases on daily basis to address the pendency within aggressive timelines.

Other key highlights of the Q4FY20 earnings were:

·         PCR continues to be high.

·         Slippage ratio fell to 2.97% in FY20 compared to 4.34% in FY19.

·         Global advances increased by 5.95% led by international and domestic retail loans (ex-portfolio purchase) which grew by 21.4% and 16.05% respectively.

·         Within retail, home loans (ex-portfolio purchase) and auto loans increased by 11.48% and 41.24% respectively.

·         Domestic cost of deposits in Mar’20 is lower by 33bps y-o-y at 5.20% on the back of higher domestic CASA ratio at 39.1%.

·         Capital Adequacy Ratio of the Bank stood at 13.30% and CET-1 at 9.44 % as on March 31, 2020.