The Hindu Business Line : `Data management main challenge under Basel norms'

Mumbai March 12 Data management will be one of the key challenges for Indian banks in adopting the standardised approach under the Basel II norms, says a survey conducted by Oracle India, i-flex and Indian Banks' Association.

The Basel II Accord aims at reducing risk in the financial system worldwide by aligning each bank's capital requirements to more accurately reflect its own credit, market and operational risks. The survey sought to understand the challenges Indian banks faced on the road to Basel II compliance.

According to the survey, private sector banks may have an edge over public sector entities in data management.

Most public sector banks are still in the process of rolling out core banking solutions across their branches, and the standardisation of data residing in myriad systems across various branches was proving to be challenging, said the survey.

Around 94 per cent of the surveyed bankers cited process standardisation, cost control, standardising and storing data, and acquiring the necessary skill sets as the primary challenges to Basel II compliance. Of these, public sector banks and private banks rated process standardisation as their primary concern, while foreign banks and co-operative banks rated cost control as their main concern.

All the surveyed banks appreciated the RBI shift in deadline to 2008 as an opportunity to adopt a holistic approach. The RBI extended the deadline from March 31, 2007 to March 31, 2008, to provide banks more time to put in place appropriate systems.