IDBI Bank reinvents itself

Implementing a core banking system helped the bank pull off a retail revolution

According to Sanjay Sharma, IDBI Bank has seen its retail banking business grow many times over after deploying Finacle

IDBI Bank, which began with an equity capital base of Rs 100 crore in November 1995, was earlier catering primarily to corporate clients. In 2001, the bank decided to focus on retail banking and began framing a new strategy.
The need of the hour was to have a technology platform that would seamlessly scale up and let the bank reach its customers through multiple delivery channels. The ability to offer seamless delivery channels was another factor as customer demand was not restricted to maintaining accounts with the bank. Being fully aware that typical core banking implementations took as long as 8-12 months, the bank was keen on choosing a solution that gave it a time-to-market advantage.

Evaluation

The bank did a rigorous evaluation of various core banking solution providers. The first round of short-listed vendors was based on the products being able to meet the exhaustive requirements of the request for proposal. The shortlisted providers were then asked to meet the exacting requirements of the test case scenarios laid down by the bank.
In the end, IDBI was drawn to Finacle Core Banking solutions from Infosys due to its new generation technology and the use of Web technology. With features like straight-through processing, 24x7 banking and e-Xtensibility tool kit, Finacle proved up to the task. Besides, Infosys had a track record of rapid deployments.

Seven branches a week

The implementation project started in January 2001 with the training of the project team that comprised 25 members, both bankers and technical folk, from Infosys and the bank. The bankers were those with a strong inclination towards banking software, and who before coming to the implementation team were exposed to the software. The core team was sent for training at Infosys, Bangalore, for 45 days. During the training sessions the team got acquainted with the product set-up and categories. The quick roll-out of the solution in all the branches of the bank was a big challenge. After its return to Mumbai, the project team imparted training to 600 employees of the bank at IDBI's training facility at Belapur in Mumbai. These 600 were trained in batches of 30-35 people, with training for each batch lasting a week. The training sessions took up 21 weeks. The Finacle roll-out in branches started on May 2, 2001, with the first pilot branch of the bank in Mumbai going live on the same day. After this, every week saw the product being deployed at seven to eight branches. By June 18, all the 53 branches of the bank had gone live on Finacle.
Infosys had done it. They deployed the solution in a record five and half months across the entire bank without a single extension to the agreed project time lines.

Rapid roll-out of new products

Finacle has helped the bank scale up to handle over 300,000 transactions a day from 750,000 customer accounts at 92 branches with seven extension counters and 291 ATMs. Today, IDBI has emerged as the third largest private bank in India in terms of distribution of branch networks, number of ATMs and product distribution. Says Sanjay Sharma, head, IT, IDBI Bank, "After deploying Finacle, IDBI Bank has seen its retail banking business grow many times over. By seamlessly interfacing to the
multiple delivery channels of the bank, the solution offers our customers a unified view of their relationship with the bank, thus helping us achieve customer satisfaction.”
Finacle also helped the bank increase its retail portfolio in a short timeframe by enabling rapid roll-out of new products and services. Adds Sharma, "The scripting feature lets us roll out new products very quickly. Family accounts and gift cards, debit cards and three-pin accounts are some of the new products we have launched post-implementation." The solution has also resulted in process centralisation. As a result, the back-office processes of the bank's branches across the country have been centralised at Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.