Bankers, financiers, techies meet
Bank Technology India
banktechnologyindia.com
MadanMohan Rao
Bombay; February 5, 2000 (IndiaInfoline)
With the recent clearance of online stock trading in the country by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the full might of the online finance revolution will be soon be unleashed in India. Online banking was already launched in India over two years ago, and now the convergence between the Web, banking and financial services is complete.
Movers and shapers of information-age banking and finance gathered here at the World Trade Centre in Bombay for a high-powered three day conference called BankTech 2000 (www.BankTechnologyIndia.com), hosted by trade expo group Messe Frankfurt India.
As the world of finance undergoes drastic global transformation, banks will become increasingly important intermediary players in many finance markets -- but they will also face unprecedented competition, according to Dr D R Mehta, chairman of the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
In response to the winds of global change and requirements of efficiency and transparency, 23 exchanges in India are now fully computerised, said Mehta, claiming this 100 per cent computerisation ratio was more than that of New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges.
Mehta estimated that the total volume of exchanges per day in India is around Rs 12 - 15 thousand crores a day, up significantly from Rs 400 crores a day five years ago.
"The old private sector banks and most of the public sector banks do not yet seem to be in the IT-savvy league," said S Venkitaraman, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). "It is unfortunate that trade unionism in the 1980s stopped the computerisation of Indian banks.
"We are paying the price for this Luddite view today," he said. Technological and regulatory changes will soon lead to the unification of RBI and SEBI into "one seamless web," Venkitaraman predicted.
This will of course lead to major human resource challenges at the staff and management levels, he said. The National Stock Exchange of India is poised to launch Internet broking services, said Viraj Savant, director of Web solutions company DBS Internet Services. Numerous content sites are also cropping up in India offering investor advice, such as IndiaInfoline.com.
Miyuki Suzuki, managing director of Brokat Asia, said the Germany-based banking e-services company has now tied up with Mumbai based Ways India (www.ways.com) to offer security, digital signatures, and other value added solutions for Indian banks.
Their Twister platform, X-Agent realtime customer service feature, and X-PAY e-payment system have already been deployed by banks like Telecash Germany, CitiBank, ABN Amro, United Overseas Bank, Metro Europe and Development Bank of Singapore.
Girish Vaidya, vice president of Infosys Technologies, said Internet happening is alive and well in India, with at least five banks - ICICI Bank, Global Trust Bank, HDFC Bank, CitiBank and Federal Bank - offer some level of Internet and value-added online banking services such as account inquiry, funds transfer, mobile banking and bill payment. E-commerce in India last year accounted for over $100 million dollars, and several portals are already in place for the financial services sector; a lot of venture capital funding is also pouring in for Internet start-ups.
Huge opportunities are also opening up for Indian banks to get into alliances with utility companies and ISPs for direct bill payment, with infrastructure players like STD/PCO booths for PC-based banking services, and technology providers for advanced features.
Over Rs 1,500 crores have been spent by Indian banks during the last five years for branch computerisation and IT training, according to Vipul Jain, managing director of Kale Consultants. Enterprise Application Integration Solutions for banks are being deployed in India by Vitria, IBM, BEA, STC and TIBCO, he said.
Bart Pattyn, CEO of KBC Bank, said that in the Internet age competition for banks is coming from financial service portals, e-money facilitators, and virtual banks.
"IT integration in Indian banks is not as advanced as it should be, but luckily the country has a big pool of IT skills which can be harnessed for this purpose," Pattyn said.
A key challenge for the banking and finance sector is harnessing the knowledge of its employees scattered in branches across the country, according to Aruna Jayanthi, VP at Aptech Worldwide. "In the US and Europe, knowledge management (KM) is not a fad: the banking and finance sector currently is the leading adopter of KM tools and techniques," she said.
A Mumbai-based investment banking institute is already implementing a full-fledged KM system, according to Aruna. A special panel on cyberlaw focused on legal implications for online banking and finance. "The IT Bill should help clear the gray areas surrounding e-commerce today," said Vaibhav Parikh, technology law consultant at Nishith Desai Associates.
The key challenge for becoming Net savvy, most speakers concluded, was changing the mindset of bank culture and getting buy-in straight from the top management.Other topics addressed at the conference included structural changes in global banking, e-commerce cyberlaws, ATM banking, online investment services, bank security, and systems integration.
Exhibiting companies at BankTech 2000 included Aplab, Asset International, CMC, Cybermate Infotech, iDLX Technology Partners, Eiko Infotech, Kores, Logix Microsystems, Nucleus Software, Rincon India, Siemens Information Systems, Siri Technologies, SPSS South Asia, Strabus Software, Vinitec Electronics, and Zenith Infotech.
"New data communication and information technologies are turning the world of business upside down. This show has set a precedent by bringing the Indian banking, finance and IT sectors face to face with the new millenium," said Shammi Nagpal, managing director of Messe Frankfurt (India).
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About the author
Dr Madanmohan Rao (madanr@planetasia.com) is Group Consultant at the Bangalore-based Microland e-services firm. He was formerly the Communications Director at the United Nations Inter Press Service bureau in New York. HE graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology at Bombay and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with an MS in computer science and a PhD. in communications.
Madan is a frequent speaker on the international conference circuit, and has given talks and lectures on Internet-related issues in over 25 countries. He has worked with online services in the US, Brazil, and India. Madan is also a journalist, and his articles have appeared in The Economic Times, Asia Internet Business, and New Asia Review. He is also on the board of editors of the magazines Electronic Markets (published from Switzerland) and On The Internet (published by the global Internet Society). |
