Federal Bank on digitisation drive

Encouraging customer response for its digital banking initiatives has prompted Federal Bank to go aggressive in this segment.

Last year, the bank recorded 72 million transactions on alternative channels and it aims to cross 100 million with the addition of more digital channels and payment options, KA Babu, Head of Digital Banking at Federal Bank, said.

Of the total banking transactions, the business contribution from the digital platform was 60 per cent and the target is to enhance it to 70 per cent this year, he told BusinessLine .

FedNet — the bank’s Net-banking platform — registered a 50 per cent growth last year with the transaction value exceeding ₹2,800 crore a month.

The bank expects to convert 10-15 per cent of its dealings to the Net-banking channel by the end of this year, he said.

Likewise, the bank’s mobile banking customers have also grown manifold. Federal Bank, according to RBI data, is placed fifth in terms of mobile banking transactions, he said.

At a time when the country is moving fast towards a digital era and with the entry of news banks — both payments and small banks — the need of the hour, he said, is to increase the number of banking transactions via the digital platform. Babu clarified that the bank has not limited the digital convenience to smartphone customers alone.

It will be available for customers with basic mobile phones through the introduction of ‘missed call’ facility for services, such as mobile phone top-ups and fund transfers.

Though the service is currently available for balance enquiry and mini-statements, the bank intends to add more services, such as utility bill payments, soon.

Fedbook Selfie, the first-of-its-kind app in the country to open a bank account, also witnessed more than four lakh downloads.

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