A few success stories: Indian Context Yes Bank A relatively new born bank in the Indian Banking Industry, it was setup in 2004, which is now fourth largest private bank in India, received ‘The Financial Insights Innovation Award at the Asian Financial Services Congress, Singapore’ for the most effective use of technology in day to day business and operations of the bank. Apart from this Yes Bank is also recognized for innovative product offerings. Such Honey Farming where the bank extends small loan to honey farmers and farmers provide their honey as the collateral, Responsible Banking model which aims at developing innovative business solutions for social and environmental problems. State Bank of India after taking lessons on rural banking from consulting giant Mckinsey is leveraging its breathtaking network in rural areas in India. SBI has launched an innovative program to educate the farmers about various crops and have launched ‘Kisan’ cards through these instruments they are able to build a relationship with the villagers. SBI has also setup innovative ‘Crorepati’ branches for their privileged customers to enhance the relationship with them. The road ahead In the wake of economic crisis post recession in 2007-08 and now faced with stiff euro zone crisis banks are going to be the first victim and then it would boil down to other industries. The current economic scenario as well as very stiff competition in the market place has necessitated the innovation in banking institutions. As we have seen technological advancement or technology enabled transformation are on top of the priorities for innovation labs. The rise of mobile banking, smart apps on smart phones are delivering customers banking services on tap of their fingers. Privileged banking, NRI Account scheme are all possible because of high end technology and efficient CRM systems. There is no doubt that technology over the years has changed the face of banking and we can all only wait and hope to see more innovative products and services by the banks in the near future to come.
One more bank ‘La Caixa’ won the most innovative bank award for exemplary work in incorporating. the technological developments. Deustch Bank in Europe is also recognized for its strategic presence in Social Media. BNP Paribas has been very aggressive about innovations employees within the company are given opportunities to innovate and present their idea in various events. Some of the best ideas are then adopted by the company which contributes to the growth engine. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) innovated a smart phone app for banking and claims that transactions done over the years has reached a value of $2 billion.
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