Is this the banking battleground of the future? After the success of tele-banking which allows you to make use of your banks facilities simply by making a phone call, banks are now targeting cyberspace as the latest platform for their remote banking facilities. Two months ago ICICI Bank started Infinity, its online link to your ICICI bank accounts through the Internet (www.icici.com). This was following a demo run it introduced in October, 1997, based on the Bankaway software developed by Infosys Technologies, Bangalore. Now Citibank is racing to follow suit.
ICICI is way ahead of the competition at the moment. It already has 1,000 customers who are logging on to check out their accounts or make requests for their chequebooks by mailing a request. Citibank is still a few steps behind and is doing demo runs with its staff and on the IIM, Bangalore campus. We have not gone live because we are still polishing the security aspects of the service, says Ram Bhagwat, technology director, Citibank.
ICICI certainly chose a novel route to offer its banking services in India. Mohan Shenoi, vice president (resources and planning), ICICI Bank, says, Most banks initiate remote banking with introduction of credit, debit or ATM cards, then move on to correspondence banking, phone banking, and finally PC or net banking. We are moving in the reverse direction by introducing PC or net banking first and will later introduce the other products.
And they are not choosy about who can bank via the net. Infinity is open to all types of account holders: all you need is a PC connected to the Internet, preferably with browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.02 or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or their later versions to get optimal performance and security. However, it would be futile trying to gain access to Infinity with the text-based browsers like Lynx.
Depending on the speed of your modem, you can view your account information in three different styles. A high-speed connection can be used with the first style which uses high resolution graphics and frames, making the screen more organised and easier to navigate.
The second style uses only graphics, no frames and can be used with a connection of moderate speed. While the third is a simple style with limited graphics devoid of frames and is accessible to almost everybody.
If these basic requirements are in place, you simply fill in and register your Infinity application forms (these are available both on the net and with your local branch). However, it might make sense to check out the demo version with Manubhai, an animation character taking you through the entire range of products and services step-by-step, before you register.
However, Shenoi points out, Even while registering straight on the Internet, you do have to send proof of your credentials like your passport and other details to the bank.
Moreover, this facility does not come for free. Apart from the one-time registration charge of Rs 500, you will have to pay an annual charge of Rs 1,000 or maintain an aggregate minimum balance of Rs one lakh in all your accounts with the bank. If you are a non-resident Indian applying for the service; you pay a registration fee of $20 and an annual fee of $40, or maintain a minimum account balance of $5,000.
With the help of Quickview, Query, Details and Schedule menus, this online service currently allows you to access details of the transactions and the balance in your accounts, and even download all this information in a text format. You can also send your instructions and mail to the bank, make requests for your chequebooks, updates, stop payment instructions and even customise the entire set up to suit your requirements.
Shenoi explains, The account information facility gives you a summary of all your accounts: savings, current (including overdraft and cash credit), recurring deposits, fixed deposits and loans. It gives details of each account, a snapshot of the balances, available credit lines and a record of payments and transfers in the account based on cheque numbers, transaction amount, date and even nicknames if you wish.
This system seems to have something for everyone. While conservative investors can define a minimum balance limit that issues a warning signal on crossing this limit, the savvy money manager can combine the online services with the facilities offered by the compatible money management software like Quicken or MS-Money. So you can have your loan repayment schedules as well as schedules for interest payments and maturity amounts for deposits made in the bank at your fingertips.
Infinity claims to offer you faster routes for availing even the most basic of its services. Shenoi says, You can just click and send a request for a draft or a chequebook and it gets couriered to you the moment the branch receives it, which is in about a couple of hours after your request is submitted.
You can even give an immediate stop-payment request for a cheque issued or an ATM card loss intimation on-line, from anywhere in the world. Ordinarily, this would have meant writing out a number of letters and trying to meet the person-in-charge at the bank.
Transfer of funds is something we never thought possible without actually seeing the four walls of the bank, says Shenoi, but you can do it now within different accounts in ICICI, albeit on a limited basis from August 1998. Suppose you have two separate accounts with the bank, one in your name which could be a current account and one as a joint savings account with your spouse. You can now transfer funds between these two accounts from virtually anywhere.
So if you suddenly discover while on a tour, that you have issued cheques from one of your accounts which does not have enough money in it, dont panic. You can transfer funds from one account to the other from where you are.
Even NRIs have a similar facility where they can transfer funds between two accounts provided both are rupee denominated and legally transferable. Shenoi adds, Foreigners working in India can also maintain their QA 22 rupee accounts online and later transfer these funds to their local country accounts via the correspondent banks of ICICI bank world-wide.
However, all these facilities do not do away with the fear of hackers chancing upon your account numbers and bank statements. According to Bhagwat: Information security and the levels of security at which different types of information are accessible will determine if anybody can actually tamper with your account.
Citibank for instance worked on the security issue for almost two years, finally arriving at the latest 128 bit encryption technology and a dedicated information security office in New York. The key, says Bhagwat, is to achieve the desired level of security with the minimum response time.
The software used by ICICI employs a security system popularly known as CIAN. Under this system, first, there exists a firewall between you and any other user of the services in the from of a separate server on which Bankaway is loaded (hence separating it from the main banking operations) and second, the password which is computer-generated and known only to you (nobody in the bank has access to these so dont forget them) ensures that even other users cannot touch your account.
Moreover, ICICI also uses the 128 bit encryption coding system while the passwords are sent from your PC to the web server so that anybody who tries to interrupt the message mid-way and read it cannot actually decipher what you are saying. But your message will reach the right person just the way you sent it because of the message authentication codes which maintain the integrity of the message.
More security measures: your login will be automatically disabled after five consecutive login failures. This can then only be enabled by the bank, which will send you a new password by post after verification.
Finally, there exists an identity authentication between the client and server by exchange of key certificates which allows for non repudiation of authorship. What this means is that before you or anyone else sends a message the identity of the sender will be double checked by the system and having done that the sender cannot deny having sent the message.
Once you have punched in your Infinity ID name and password (you can change it when you want) and choose the style in which you want to view the screen, youre ready for Infinity.
