Most private & MNC banks have set-up
elaborate Internet banking infrastructure for their customers.
Internet banking provides greater benefits to both customers
& banks. Banks can reach a larger mass of people at
low costs thus bringing down customer acquisition costs.
They can also innovate quicker and satisfy specific customer
needs. Customers, on the other hand can enjoy the convenience
of banking sitting anywhere and use their bank accounts.
Individual banks are at different levels of Internet banking
infrastructure. Each customer is given a unique user name
& password to access their accounts.
Some banks only allow customers to receive
& accept information online, others have developed transactional
sites. The highest level of Internet banking infrastructure
completely negates the need to visit a bank branch and the
customer can transact, transfer money, buy/sell in the stock
market, pay bills and other merchandise through the Internet.
Although Internet banking is gaining pace,
there are some risks associated with the same. The biggest
concern is that of security & confidentiality. I.e.
most people fear that they run the risk of their bank accounts
getting mis-used if their account passwords get leaked.
Hence, higher level of authentication & privacy requirements
are being put in place to increase customer confidence on
this aspect of banking
Phone Banking
Phone banking is a very popular remote
banking channel since it involves a human interface unlike
the other remote banking channels. Given that banking for
Indians means faith & trust, a human interface gives
greater confidence to customers with their banking needs.
Most banks allow all kinds of transactions
on the phone but within specified limits. Each customer
is given a unique PIN called T-PIN( telephone PIN). Customers
can access bank accounts & funds by calling their banks
at a toll free number 24/7/365. On calling, customers first
need to provide certain verifications to the phone officer.
This is to ensure that no mis-use happens on the account.
Typically, these verifications are a combination of parameters
extremely personal to an individual. Hence, as long as individual
does not share them with anyone, there are very few chances
of mis-use. Customers can use phone banking to check account
balances, transfer funds, pay bills, make investments, stop
cheque payments, get cash delivery, avail of loans, redeem
their reward points earned on credit/debit cards, etc
ATM's
ATM's are unmanned banking terminals where
customers can access their bank accounts. The ATM/ debit
cards are used at ATM's. Customers need to slip in their
card & enter their unique PIN number; post which they
get access to their account. They can then withdraw or deposit
money, make bill payments, etc on their account. After finishing
the transaction, a transaction slip is generated confirming
the transaction done.
ATM banking has reduced the need to carry
regular cash as well as for emergency. It is an extremely
safe mode of remote banking as long as the PIN is unique
& protected.
Kiosks
This is the latest development on the remote
baking front, also known as 'Touch-screen' banking. A kiosk
is a self- service banking terminal that can be operated
with both credit & debit cards. The Debit/credit card
can be swiped at against the card reader at the kiosk and
account accessed post entering the ATM PIN. Currently, very
few banks like Citibank offer this facility to their customers
at select ATM centers across the country.
Unlike an ATM, which is primarily used
for cash transactions like withdrawals, deposits, etc, a
kiosk is primarily used for non-cash transactions like cheque
book request, printing bank account statements, funds transfer,
etc.
Mobile Banking
Mobile banking allows customers to make
banking transactions on the mobile phone using the SMS facility.
Unlike Phone banking, this does not require customers to
call the bank. Most private & MNC banks currently provide
this service as a value-added service to their customers.
With mobile banking, customers can do balance
enquiry, stop cheque payment, bill payment, transfer funds,
statement of account, etc at their own convenience. Mobile
banking does not require a PIN since customers can access
their own account only from their registered mobile number.
For eg: If I register for a Hutch bill payment, I will register
my mobile number on the Mobile banking facility. Every month,
I will receive an SMS asking to reply ' Pay' and my current
month's bill will be debited from by saving account.
