Page 68 - DMGT303_BANKING_AND_INSURANCE

Unit 3: Concept of Retail Banking

Notes

Task Suppose you want to open an account in a bank. What kind of formalities you will
fill at that point of time? Discuss.

Case Study ABN AMRO Bank, Technology led Excellence

Key Business Drivers
ABN AMRO Bank started its India operations and like other foreign
multinational banks, focused primarily on wholesale banking, to
service top-tier corporate clients. This changed in the 1990s, when
strategic business imperatives and an increased level of competition
both from domestic and multinational banks in India led the bank to
look at retail banking as a key area for growth. In an effort to strengthen
its retail banking presence, ABN AMRO acquired Bank of America’s retail banking
operations in India. As part of the acquisition, the bank migrated to Bank of America’s
technology infrastructure, which was based on ICBS solution from Fiserv, running on an
IBM AS/400 platform. However, the existing solution was not flexible enough to meet the
requirements of a competitive consumer banking environment, where offering a range of
products and services to customers across multiple delivery channels is critical. With
frequent maintenance requirements, the platform was also proving to be a drain on the
bank’s resources. At the same time, the focus at the bank was on reduction of TCO (Total
Cost of Ownership) and therefore, a mere upgrade to a newer version of the existing,
aging system would not have met the objective. As a result, the bank decided to replace
the legacy system with a new generation, robust core banking solution.

The cornerstone of a successful consumer banking strategy is to have a technology platform
that can offer anytime, anywhere banking through multiple delivery channels like the
Internet, ATM, mobiles and call centers. ABN AMRO Bank required a platform that could
easily support existing delivery channels and add new ones, while seamlessly integrating
them to provide a relationship view of customers’ interactions across all delivery channels.
Being a multinational bank, ABN AMRO Bank was also keen to adopt best practices being
followed in other countries, such as the ability to roll out new products and services in line
with domestic market requirements. Equally important was the need to roll out these
customizations rapidly so as to gain critical time-to-market advantage. This could only be
achieved by deploying a platform that was flexible and easily extensible. After intense
discussions and evaluation, ABN AMRO chose Finacle, the new-generation universal
banking solution from Infosys, to address its needs in core banking and consumer e-
banking spaces.
Solution Overview
Some of the key features that Finacle offered were:
True 24x7 banking

Finacle enabled zero downtime at both the central and branch level server, ensuring that
ABN AMRO was up and running on a 24x7 basis, across electronic delivery channels and
branches. Finacle’s architecture also enabled offering of basic consumer banking services
to customers, either during the planned End of Day (EOD) black out windows, unscheduled
Contd....

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