The Hindu Business Line : Keane to expand financial, insurance services

Hyderabad April 16 Technology services provider, Keane Inc, is set to expand its financial services and insurance solutions teams handling business transformation and consulting strategy.

The Vice-President and Head of Global Financial Services & Insurance, Mr Imran Sayeed, said the banking, financial services and insurance companies globally are seeking innovative ways to expand their base and better target existing customers with new services.

These companies are investing heavily in technology for a unified view of customers.

As a part of this move, they are investing in new technologies mandated by regulatory necessities and are also offering online services.

Based out of Boston, Mr Sayeed, who serves as visiting faculty at MIT, told Business Line, "a lot of work related to financial services would now be handled out of India, including consulting and strategy. We continue to recruit and expand this group."

Online mark

Online services have emerged the fastest growing part of retail banks and insurance companies. Keane's four centres in India engage over 3,500 people. Along with onsite engineering teams and centres in the US, UK and a centre in Canada, a third of its 10,000 staff is engaged in financial services. This is set to increase as more work would be handled out of India, he said.

Citing large US banks, Mr Sayeed said the accent now is on having a common interface with a customer, be it wholesale banking, retail, mortgage or automotive finance. Apart from unifying the product portfolio, the effort is to simplify the task for marketing new products.

The company has developed Keane Visual Experience, a solutions set to address online issues.

A big chunk of the technology investment is being driven by regulatory mandates such as Basel II and the need for a unified customer view, he said. This called for data and enterprise information integration used to offer services online, he explained.

Merger

In February 2007, Keane had announced a merger plan with closely-held services company Caritor for a consideration of $854 billion. The matter is awaiting regulatory clearances and a meeting is slated for May.

Mr Sayeed said that the process of merger would be completed during the quarter. However, Keane, a 40-year old brand, would continue as would the services offered through this name.

The new combined entity, to be headed by Mr Mani Subramanian, has over 14,000 people.