IOB mulls new core banking solution

As part of its plans to integrate data from various banks through an automated data flow system, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the government-run Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) to migrate from its in-house core banking solution (CBS) to an Oracle-based platform.

With this, IOB’s plan to set up a joint venture to sell its in-house banking software has temporarily been frozen, according to a senior official from IOB.

“The RBI has asked us to shift to the Oracle platform as it wants reports from all the banks in a common format. Since most banks are on this platform, the rest of the banks were asked to migrate to the same,” said IOB general manager S Radhakrishnan.

At present, a few banks, including IOB, Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank, are using individual platforms, he said, adding that the RBI had asked to float a request for proposal (RFP) for its implementation.

The selection of the CBS platform provider would be through a common RFP. IDBI Infotech Limited has been selected to work on the document and the selection would be through a bidding process, Radhakrishnan said. IOB, at present, has an in-house CBS solution based on the Sybase platform.

“With the priority being to upgrade our own system, we will be temporarily freezing our plans to go in for an IT JV,” said IOB chairman and managing director M Narendra.

It may be noted that IOB had been planning to float a joint venture with an eligible IT partner to sell its in-house banking software to other banking firms.

It had once shortlisted five IT companies for the joint venture and the plans were to finalise an agreement with one of them, with the support of a technical consultancy company. The project stumbled upon technical issues on selecting the consultancy company and the bank is working on the selection process afresh.

Similarly, another common RFP on behalf of various banks has been floated to integrate cash dispensation services through common vendors who would be selected through a standard issued by the Ministry of Finance. It is learnt that the RFP for cash dispensers has been floated by Canara Bank for states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Goa, according to sources.