Report on the Conference of IT Chiefs

A Conference of the IT Chiefs of Public and Private Sector Banks, was organised on July 04, 2005, to deliberate on issues relating to IT Infrastructure Management, Delivery Channels, RBI and IDRBT Initiatives. This conference was of crucial significance since this was the first occasion when the scope of the conference was enlarged to bring in the Private Sector Banks. 

Shri S. S. Subramanian, CGM, began the proceedings with the welcome address, wherein he recalled the active role being played by the IDRBT through various initiatives such as INFINET & Services, Research & Development and Educational initiatives. He pointed out that the conference was an ideal forum to deliberate and strategise on issues of importance for the Banking Industry. 

Shri R. Gandhi, In-charge Director, IDRBT, and Regional Director, RBI Hyderabad, then delivered the keynote address on “IT Infrastructure Management for Efficiency & Security”. He stressed on the crucial need for IT Infrastructure Management in the present scenario when there is a paradigm shift from the earlier model of batch processing to online real-time processing.

Shri S. S. Subramanian, CGM, IDRBT; Shri R. Gandhi, In-charge Director, IDRBT, and Regional Director for Andhra Pradesh, Reserve Bank of India; and Shri. A. P. Hota, CGM, Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, RBI; at the Conference of IT Chiefs, organised on July 04, 2005 at the IDRBT

“Specialised IT Infrastructure Management was required in view of the complex business scenarios, increasing demand of customers and service levels, stress on uptime and business continuity, and more importantly, because these impact directly on the success or failure of an organisation,” he pointed out. Shri. Gandhi also made a case for platform independent applications, regularisation of diverse infrastructure, and uniformity in various areas such as Network and Security Design and Deployment. 

This was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Legal Issues & Security in IT Infrastructure Management’. Shri. P.S. Bindra, Joint Legal Advisor, RBI; Shri. D. Krishnamurthy, General Manager (IT), Bank of India; Dr. Ashutosh Saxena, Faculty; Shri. V. Visweswar, and Shri. N. Rajendran, DGMs, were on the panel. The key issues that emerged from the discussions include: 

  • Laws must be amended appropriately so as to match the pace of changes in technology. 

  • Idea of time stamping documents along with digital certificates was mooted as a measure to preserve electronic records

  • Storage processes need to be standardised across the Industry 

  • Traffic classification was essential and logs of different equipments must be stored so as to identify the sources of wanted and unwanted traffic on networks. 

Shri. N. Rajendran and Shri V. Visweswar, DGMs, IDRBT; Shri D. Krishnamurthy, General Manager (IT), Bank of India; Shri. P. S. Bindra, Joint Legal Advisor, RBI; and Dr. Ashutosh Saxena, Faculty, participating in the Panel Discussion on Legal Issues & Security in IT Infrastructure Management

  • Need for checks and balances on service providers to help curb malpractices while providing services to banks.

  • Responsibilities and accountability of IT officials in the banks need to be clearly defined.

  • RBI/IDRBT should set up a special task force to study, analyse and recommend measures to sort out legal issues in the Industry. 

In the next session, Shri V. Balaji, Vice President, Yes Bank Limited, presented a Case Study on Outsourcing, which shared Yes Bank’s experiences in outsourcing their entire operations, especially in the context of not inheriting any legacy and starting operations within a short span of time. 

Thereafter, Shri Ganesh Kumar, GM, DIT, RBI, briefed the delegates about the Financial Sector Technology Vision, wherein he presented the RBI’s vision on Migration to e-reporting, Basle II, AML, CDBMS as a DSS and the path to overcome the challenges being faced by the Banking Sector. 

Shri. A. P. Hota, CGM, DPSS, RBI, presented the three year plan to achieve the RBI’s vision of “the establishment of safe, secure, sound and efficient payment and settlement systems for the country,” which included: 

  • Within a year: Setting up of an Organisation owned by banks, Establishment of NSS in the four metros, Implementation of Cheque Truncation System, Evolving of Standards for MICR CPC, Electronic Funds Transfer Facility (RTGS, NEFT) at 500 centres and 10,000 branches CFC at each RBI, Readying the comprehensive Payment System Bill 

  • 2006-2007: Extension of MICR CPC to 20 centres, Cheque truncation at major centres, MICRisation of every Cheque, Tie-up with Post offices 

  • 2007-2008: Off-city back-up arrangement, full-fledged operations, NSS to cover all major centres. 

Ms. Chanda Kochhar, ED, ICICI Bank, started the post lunch session with her keynote address on “Making the Channels Deliver”. She deliberated in detail upon the Changing Banking Paradigm, Growing Importance of Channels, Channels of Future, and the Challenges that need to be overcome for Making the Channels Deliver. She also shared the Bank’s experience in implementing the push and pull strategy, which resulted in a shift of the transaction load from branch to alternate delivery channels, resulting in better service to customers. 

This was followed by the Panel Discussion on Delivery Channels.

Ms. Chanda Kochhar, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, delivering the keynote address on Making the Channels Deliver
 

Shri K. R. Nimbalkar, General Manager (IT), Indian Overseas Bank; Shri V. Venkatesh, Banking Consultant; and the IDRBT Team of Shri M. V. Sivakumaran, Faculty; Shri. V. Gunasekaran, DGM; and Shri. D. P. Dube, Faculty; during the Panel Discussion on Delivery Channels

On the panel were Shri V. Venkatesh, Banking Consultant, Shri K.R. Nimbalker, General Manager (IT), Indian Overseas Bank, and the IDRBT Team consisting of Shri. D. P. Dube, Shri. M.V. Sivakumaran, Faculty and Shri. V. Gunasekaran, DGM. The key issues that emerged from the discussions include:

  • Stress should not be only on providing delivery channels but also on the necessity of servicing those channels and learning from various experiences. 

  • Customer authentication was a prime concern and so, a two-factor authentication through the use of RFA Token/RFID/ DEA, etc, along with username and password was essential for enhanced security. 

  • Need for finding a way out of the phishing menace through an anti-phishing forum/ log analysis, and correlation of logs from various devices was essential

  • Banking Industry must have Insurance facility against cyber crimes 

  • Branch as a delivery channel continues to be relevant as it helps to remain in touch with the customer. 

  • There is enough potential for the banks to increase their profits through judicious use of the ATM channel. 

  • A model through which the ATM segment of the delivery channel for all banks could come under a single umbrella and which could be regulated through a national organisation was proposed. 

  • A more specific study could be carried out and the above proposal may then be debated to help the banking community in utilising the ATM channel better.

Thereafter, the heads of INFINET, Certifying Authority, SFMS and NFS updated the forum about the current initiatives in their respective areas and the proposed developments. 

Shri. K. S. Bajwa, GM (IT), PNB, then presented a case study, providing a brief account of the initiatives undertaken by the PNB on Delivery Channels. He extended an invitation to all banks to use PNB’s facilities, and help avoid infrastructure duplication and save costs.

He stressed upon the need for public sector banks to pool their resources, for it would otherwise be impossible to survive in a highly competitive market. 

Shri R. Mani, Conference Coordinator, proposed the vote of thanks. 

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