The Hindu Business Line : Image makeover apace at Union Bank

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug. 22 The business, organisational and process makeover capped by an extensive re-branding exercise is in the final stages of implementation at Union Bank of India.

The new face of the 88-year-old public sector bank will be unveiled in the next 7-8 months, according to Mr R. S. Reddy, Executive Director. The most visible change will be the new logo, backed up by a comprehensive corporate communication strategy. The new logo is ready and is undergoing internal evaluation.

RENEWED FOCUS

Boston Consulting Group has been advising in the business and process re-engineering efforts. The impact will be immediately felt in a renewed focus on the retail, SME and agri-business sectors.

Back office process work such as clearing, opening of accounts, issue of cheque book and dispatch of account statements will be spun off from branches to be carried out from centralised back-offices.

The bank has also set up a centralised data centre in Mumbai, with an onsite back-up server and an offsite mirroring facility in Bangalore. Nearly of half of the branch network has already migrated to the core banking platform, with the rest expected to follow suit over the next few months.

The bank was careful not to repeat the folly of some of its peers in having jumped headlong into core banking only to rue setbacks later, Mr Reddy said.

Instead, it has focused on getting the basics right, which required that it assured itself of adequate server capacity. The bank has assessed that it would need to recruit 500 officers and 600 clerical staff every year to match the growth target . It has been going to various campuses for onsite recruitments.

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