What Are The Ways To Improve Customer Experience In Banking?

What Are The Ways To Improve Customer Experience In Banking?

The digital disruption of banking has today revolutionized customer experience. Not only has it made the leap from conventional to convenient, but it’s also gone online and into your cellphones. New-age banking refers to this process– the digital transformation of traditional retail banking into one that gives more as demands are more.
One of the core focuses of digital transformations is to drastically improve customer service.

This is especially crucial in the light of fintech firms, online banks, and non-banking companies coming into the fray for payments and asset management. One of the highlights of traditional retail banks is the opportunity they have to meet, converse and maintain a relationship with clients in the flesh– something pure-play digital banking firms haven’t achieved yet.

That said, it takes a lot of time, effort and resources to begin a digital transformation, let alone complete it within a set span of time. New-age banking training is crucial for anyone looking to join the retail banking sector today, or even for those professionals wishing to retain their bank jobs and become future-proof.

How then, can conventional retail banks improve their customer experience through new-age banking training?

Enable digital on-boarding
New technologies allow banks to move verification of credentials online, using digital IDs, fingerprints and even voice recognition software. This is very helpful for clients, who till date have had to fish out credentials and IDs for every major banking transaction.

Through training, employees can learn how to manage this new technology without a hiccup, because a crucial part of bringing in new technology is ensuring there are people to effectively manage it. This improves customer experience and speeds up operations.

Automate or move basic processes online
The retail banking experience needs to be seamless to hold the fort against other online competitors. A good way to begin this is to automate or make mobile basic processes such as opening a new account and resolving issues. Relationship managers can be trained to operate front-line AI systems that carry out routine calls and checks on silent clients.

Improve personalization
Hyper-personalisation is a benefit of digital transformations, especially in this age when clients expect to be treated on an individual basis rather than as part of a general segment. Through a new-age banking course that focuses on customer service, employees can understand how to target customers based on their individual data.

This could be in the form of relatable discounts based on spending categories or sending location-specific push offers. A banking course that covers personalization in customer service can make trainees more efficient at their job role and keeps clients happy as well.

Establish self-service areas
While this idea hasn’t caught on as much in India, it’s a viable option for banks that see a lot of footfall around basic processes that don’t need too much human intervention. Interactive walls and digital terminals are just a couple of options to introduce new-age tech into banks.

Employees can then focus on assisting clients based on their response at digital terminals, or if there’s an extensive issue that the terminal can’t solve. This way, employees can focus more time and effort on actually providing help rather than going through the motions frustratingly.

Improve internal efficiency
When new technology is installed, there will always be a period of confusion. To minimize the damage caused by this period, employees must receive new-age banking training that not only helps them understand the technology that’s in use but also how to use it to leverage their performance. This could involve revamping structures, breaking down internal job silos, even bringing dedicated experience teams into the picture.

New-age banking is no longer a thing of the future, it’s a reality. To get with the times and future-proof themselves, employees must undergo training that exhaustively covers new technologies. Retails banks will only benefit from such an investment because tech-savvy employees mean satisfied customers.

For more details, in brief, you can also directly visit: Imarticus Learning or can contact us through the Live Chat Support system or can even visit one of our training centers based in – Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Chennai, Banglore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, and Ahmedabad.

How Can You Shift To Corporate Banking After Having Experience Working In Retail Banking?

How Can You Shift To Corporate Banking After Having Experience Working In Retail Banking?

Your decision to take up a banking course after graduation will stand you in good stead after being in retail banking. Corporate banking is a great career choice. Corporate Banking which is an area many career aspirants would love to join surprisingly has very few good certification courses.

Recently FLIP introduced a specific Corporate Banking certification course which is apparently popular among B-school aspirants. This course covers non-funded and funded products while taking you through all corporate banking important work areas. It is an apt course for SME and corporate banking career aspirants and is also used for employee training by leading NBFCs and banks.

Employment Outlook:

The pay packages, bonuses, and career progression when you make a career in any field of banking like Corporate Banking are not just lucrative and prestigious. They are performance and certification related enabling continuous learning and very satisfying job roles.

According to Glassdoor salaries, the Manager in Corporate Banking at YES bank draws a salary in the range of 1,205 to 1,716K per annum in India. In the US the corporate banker aka Personal banker at Bank of America draws an average of USD 43,330 per annum. These salaries are post based and depend on the bank you join.

Most say a banking course after graduation offers some great pluses like

  • Job security and working in MNC environments.
  • Super salary packages topped with great benefits
  • Jobs for retired bankers and career-changers within the banking areas are never a problem.
  • Wide variety of jobs experiences and roles.
  • Banking industry jobs are prestigious and have a thriving ecosystem.
  • To update knowledge of latest banking trends and practices training can help. They also help with certifications and interview skills.
  • Excellent career progression and scope for banking jobs makes this career choice great.
  • Community service goals and continued learning opportunities are satisfying and enriching.
  • The working hours are good and the environment conducive to career-progression.
  • Certifications gained will add to your resume and knowledge endorsing your skill levels.

Skills required:

To become career-prepared you need to undertake a course in corporate banking. An academic bachelor’s degree would be essential and experience in banking practices definitely help. Fluency in English communication and excellent skills in presentations using Microsoft Excel Macros and financial software is critical to presenting a report of insights that help decision-making based on predictive analysis foresight and data analytical skills. Yes, conceptual knowledge and expertise in the domain enable you to stand out in this prestigious job.

Why banking jobs are so popular:

In comparison to investment banking, corporate banking dealing with corporate has relatively fixed working hours, fewer deals, large-deal amounts and offers a broader job-scope. New-age banks have evolved which are needs and market-based. Traditionally the roles were related to customer-service and teller areas in banks. This means multi-tasking banking professionals are in high demand. Today rather than specific roles in corporate banking, an aspirant can also take up any of the trending opportunities in new-age banking like

The banking course after graduation syllabus covers topics like

  • Understanding products, solutions, corporate client requirements and the matching of these parameters.
  • RAROC adjustments of risk, wallet sizes, Matrix for product penetration, and relationship management.
  • Credit note memos, analysis, and presentations to the management.
  • Client credit-profile analysis and assessment through quantitative and qualitative techniques.
  • Corporate banking products, Treasury products, and both non-funded and funded products.

In retail banking aka consumer banking, the focus is on the individual consumers or mass-market large commercial banks offering services through their local offices. Some examples of such banks are Citibank, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Bank of America.

Increasingly the trend is to go in for new-age banking with a gamut of services and products that are consumer-need and profitability-based one-stop banking solutions providers with services like retirement planning, private banking, brokerage accounts, corporate banking, wealth management, and even third-party services being included. Hence a wide-scope new age banking certification is best undertaken at a reputed institute like Imarticus Learning.

Conclusion:

The pay packages, bonuses, and career progression when you make in corporate banking are not just lucrative and prestigious. They are performance and certification related enabling continuous learning and very satisfying job roles. Hurry to Imarticus Learning today!

For more details in brief and for further career counselling, you can also contact us through the Live Chat Support system or can even visit one of our training centers based in – Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi and Gurgaon.

A Career Guide To The Field Of Finance

What does having a career in finance mean? It refers to job opportunities in a variety of fields. These fields are namely, Investment Banking, Trading, Financial Advisory, Analytics, Financial Media, Financial Analysis, Portfolio Management, Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Mergers and Acquisitions and so on. One thing common among all of these fields of finance is that a career in any of them is extremely lucrative.
This is one of the main reasons as to why candidates aspire to become highly qualified professionals in the field of Finance. While some take the route of education, go on to get graduated in any related field of Finance, then go ahead and do their masters and MBA and then look for a job. There are also quite a few who choose to go the way of the industry. By taking up professional training courses, like those offered by institutes like Imarticus Learning, these individuals are able to develop a skillset, which is way more relevant to the industry and is exactly what HR Managers are on the lookout for.

Let’s go further and discuss the various credentials that the field of finance has. As is common with every field out there, Finance also happens to have its very own professional qualifications and licenses. These include, the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), as well as a series of licenses.
These series of licenses are for instance Series 7 & Series 63, both of which are usually issued by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Both the series of licenses, require a professional to complete a course of study and passing an exam. While these licenses work as a legal requirement, the certifications or credentials like CFA are more of resume boosters, which give great prestige to the holder.
Most of the concentration of Financial Jobs can be found in all of those cities, which are considered to be international centers of finance all over the world. These could cities like New York, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai, and Zurich and so on. If you happen to be looking for a job, which is based in a foreign country then you must ensure that you know the basics of the native language therein.
While it may seem that your city or state does not happen to have great and stellar corporations, this does not mean you should despair. For all of those who are aware of the concept of globalization, it seems to be happening at a more rapid speed. Many large banking corporations like JP Morgan and the likes happen to have hedge funds and smaller money management firms situated in a number of locations lately.

Top Talent Rushes to Join Domestic Investment Banks

In the last few months, a multitude of high ranking professionals has left their high paying jobs at international Investment banks to join domestic ones. Some prime example of this include Vikas Khattar, who after working with international firms like HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Jeffries, Merrill Lynch and Citi for over 20 years joined domestic banking firm Ambit Capital and Anjani Kumar who took the job of managing director at O3 Capital after 20 years of working at international banks like RBS, ABN Amro and CIMB Securities. Industry experts say that in total, over three dozen such professionals have joined domestic firms in the last one year.
There are various reasons why this has been happening. Of late, with domestic firms offering a lot of growth opportunities, the appeal of having a great job at international firms has gone down among executives. Clients nowadays are more inclined to work with Indian firms considering all the time and effort that they have put in recent years to understand the Indian market and construct meaningful relationships with Indian companies. Domestic Investment banks are now also building ties with international companies so that customers do not lose out on any services which until now they could have only gained from international companies.
When it comes to fees and incoming revenue, the amount of Investment banking courses done in India has grown substantially in the last three years. Indian firms have scaled up massively in terms of operations and deals being struck. As such, the scope for growth is much more in Indian banks when compared to international ones. This attracts a lot of executives from international outfits to join Indian ones instead.
The fact that international banks have significantly scaled down their operations in India over the last few years have also contributed to these migrations. On the other hand, many domestic firms are now a part of large conglomerates which offer a multitude of services to their customers. Stock prices and its related benefits have also been a big factor. Executives working at international firms often have a harder time reaping the benefits of their shares when compared to ones working for domestic firms despite international ones having a higher cash component. As such, domestic banks offer much better wealth creation opportunities to their employees. As operations by domestic firms continue to grow, so will the wealth creation opportunities for these executives.

What you need to know before launching a Fintech Company?

A Fintech Company is one of the driving forces when it comes to digital transformation in the banking sector. Innovation, automation, analytics are key things to be taken into account for a Fintech Company.

Fintech maybe the buzz word of the day but it might be interesting to note that the industry is still burgeoning and now the need of the hour are Fintech companies who can address data privacy needs. The banking industry is highly regulated, so one of the top things to consider before thinking of investing in a Fintech Company are the various laws and regulations that uphold the field.

It is important to familiarise oneself with data around this before entering the world of fintech. With hundreds of startups in the market providing different software solutions using the power of technology.

Fintech companies to be built from scratch requires careful planning and thought. Professionals today are preparing themselves to enter the industry by taking on banking courses which will enable them to be better equipped to deal with the demands of the financial world. As a fintech start-up owner, here are a few things to keep into consideration.

 Identifying The Expertise

Fintech comprises of many areas that require different types of expertise. There are many fintech courses that help a business to understand their niche before starting off. One of the key things to consider is which domain would you like your Fintech Company to be a part of. There are many areas such as payments, insurance, personal banking, trading and investment and even providing solutions for small businesses.

 Know Your Tech

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Machine Learning, Big Data, Cloud and many other emerging technologies are an integral part of the fintech industry. Knowing the technology that you initially want to invest in and proceed with for a start-up fintech will ensure a vision based approach for your firm. AI has seen significant investment from many companies in fintech since the technology is progressing at a rapid rate, so it might be a hot topic to consider.

 Innovation Is The Key

While running a business will have its challenges and risks, Fintech is a bit more volatile as an industry as technology is every changing. For a Fintech start-up innovation will form the crux of everything as in the realm of finance, there is a growing demand to meet requirements at a rapid pace. An important thing to look into would be whether the Fintech Company you want to start is able to innovate and provide huge results then it is definitely time to embrace the risk.

Conclusion

Fintech revolution has begun and is on an upward trajectory when it comes to growth and success. However, before starting a Fintech Company it is important to introspect and assess the risks and challenges that come with launching a start-up and be prepared with a plan B.

Rising Gold Prices: The Key Factors

 
India, as a country, has always considered gold as a metal that denotes wealth and success. We have always been one of the largest consumers of this precious metal. Typically, wedding season and festive events are when gold prices see a significant surge in their demand. However, there are other factors at play that drive the demand up and therefore increase the overall price of the metal.
The Economic Times reported in June 2018 that gold consumption has partly increased with increase in incomes and this in turn drives an upward trend in prices. Here, we discuss few factors that could impact the price of gold in its upward incline.
Interest Rates
There is a negative correlation between gold and interest rates. As gold is used to offset inflation caused by a strong economy, this means that the price goes up in-line with the demand and if investors begin flocking to gold then the prices will inevitably rise.
Supply
Though gold is a good that is not consumed, it is never used in ‘exchange’. It is always stored as a marker of wealth and is there always a tendency to stash it. This ‘store of value’ that gold offers, makes it a thing that people want to keep buying constantly – this ensuring a steady and increasing need for supply, which is a core reason for the rise in its prices.
Inflation
As the inflation in a country rises, people tend to consider gold as a significant value for money and store it. This makes gold prices higher during inflation periods.
Rupee-Dollar Relationship
Though global gold prices are not affected by rupee’s relationship with the dollar, it is definitely important in Indian gold prices. If the rupee weakens against the dollar, such as is the trend in the recent past, the price of gold automatically increases.
Geo-politics Situations
Gold prices ride when there is geo-political conflict and Korea’s current rocky relationships with other countries has led to an increase in prices of the metal. Though wars have a depreciating effect on other assets, it helps in gold prices.
Future Demand for Gold
Gold demand has been steadily increasing, almost to a point where estimates have said it could be 1000 tonnes more than supply can accommodate, which creates a drastic difference between demand and supply, making recycling of gold necessary and an increase in prices, mandatory.
Debt Concerns
Economic uncertainty in certain countries in Europe, specifically, have given rise to fear over financial discipline making the US not as aspirational as it once was. As a result of this, the demand for gold has increased as a stable wealth investment that is steady at a time of economic uncertainty. This again, creates a supply for the metal which makes its prices increase.
Though there are other volatile factors at play such as speculation, credit crises, other asset depreciation or increase, these are the primary top-level factors that lead to a rise in gold prices. For now, price increase in gold has created a lot of excitement for investors.

Unravelling The Reasons For The Current Liquidity Crunch for the NBFCs

 
Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), a leading blue-chip infrastructure lender recently made a default on their short-term debt payment. This incident has produced a ripple effect and resulted in a rough patch for the Indian Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). Concerns over NBFCs repayment ability are preventing the market lenders from releasing funds to this sector.
The Crisis
When the IL&FS group defaulted on payments, several corporates, insurance companies and mutual funds were also in trouble. These companies had invested in the short-term instruments of IL&FS group such as non-convertible debentures and commercial papers. These borrowings add to nearly ₹63,000 Crores according to their balance sheet. In this money, a large share is expected to be of NBFCs. Nearly ₹2 Trillion of NBFCs and HFCs (Home Finance Companies) debt is due for recovery by the end of this year. These two facts have stoked fear among the lenders about NBFCs ability to pay their dues. The result was a liquidity squeeze crisis among the NBFCs.
How Did It Happen?
Most NBFCs acquire short-term loans from the market lenders and provide long-term loans to their customers. Obviously, this leads to a mismatch in the duration of liabilities and assets. In normal days, NBFCs stick to refinancing their current debts to a new short-term debt. This style of operation always posed a certain level of risk to the companies. Such risk is greater when the lenders are feared. In the current crisis situation, this fear is present and the companies are unable to roll over their debts.
RBI’s Role
The reserve bank of India was blamed for a late stepping-in and injection of funds. RBI announced that they will inject ₹40,000 Crore into the system by buying government securities on top of the ₹36,000 crore they injected through the open market operations in October. But the RBI refused the notion for a special window for the NBFC sector pushed by the industry and the government. RBI argued that there is enough liquidity available for the sector through the banks.
The Future of NBFCs
The current scenarios suggest that the funding for NBFCs will remain tight. The borrowing costs for these companies are expected to grow higher following the recent adverse sentiment in the bond market. That means reduced growth and margins ahead. Also, the guidelines for these companies are likely to be tighter and closer to the commercial banks in terms of regulations. Since the 2008 crisis, RBI has urged tighter prudential norms for NBFCs. With the government showing enthusiasm to prevent an escalation of the crisis, RBI will neutralise the current liquidity squeeze. Few scholars believe that as a last resort government will act as a lender and bailout the companies. However, such bailouts will further inspire NBFCs to continue to provide long-term loans with their short-term debts and expect the government to save them when they get in trouble.
Even though the crisis is expected to settle soon, many analysts believe that the easy money-making period of this sector is not coming back soon.

What Is An Investment Bank?

Believe it or not, even investment bankers find it difficult to describe what exactly investment banks do! This has to do with the sheer complexity and enormity of the financial transactions involved.

In simple words, an investment bank is an intermediary between organizations such as ABC Steel that need money and individuals and institutions that need to invest. Broadly speaking, an investment bank is an institution that:

– Helps organizations or governments to raise money by issuing and selling securities such as stocks and bonds

– Provides a range of advisory services on complex transactions such as mergers and acquisitions

– Offers a range of structured products and services to institutional and individual investors to help them manage their assets and wealth

Role of an Investment Bank

Investment banks could play different roles in a financial transaction. Some of the most common roles played by them are:

– Underwriter
– Principal Trader
– Broker or Agent
– Prime Broker
– Advisor

Underwriter

As an underwriter, an investment bank purchases all new securities of a company and resells them to the public. For example, ABC issues 20,000,000 shares for $10 each. An investment bank directly purchases all these shares from ABC and sells it to the public at a higher price, say $15 each. The investment bank also bears the cost of the sale.

Principal Trader

As a principal trader, an investment bank buys shares from other investment banks and investors and keeps them in its inventory. It may sell these shares at a higher price in the future. The term ‘principal trading’ simply means that the trader of securities is also its owner or principal.
For example, after ABC Steel’s shares are sold to the public, an investment bank may purchase some of these shares from the market. It may sell these shares later when the price rises.

Broker or Agent

As an agent or broker, an investment bank buys and sells securities on behalf of a company. The key here is that the investment bank does not own these securities. It only trades in them for a commission.
The important thing to remember here is that the brokerage or agency represents buyers or sellers who are the principals or owners of the securities.

Prime Broker

A prime broker offers a range of services to professional investors, including:
– Administrative and operational support for trading
– Lending of securities
– Management and safeguarding of securities
– Financing
Without a prime broker, it would be difficult for professional investors to trade with several different brokers and manage their cash and securities from one centralized account.

Advisor

Investment banks provide a range of advisory services on complex transactions such as mergers and acquisitions. They also advise companies on the different options to raise capital. They provide high net-worth individuals with customized wealth management services.
Learn about Careers in Investment Banking by attending one of our complimentary counseling sessions.

Industry Report: Banking in India: Initiatives of the Government Part III

Read the previous part of the report here.
The chief regulatory body, which is supposed to deal with all the finance and banking related decisions, is the Government of India. In the recent times, this body seems to have taken a considerable amount of decisions in order to strengthen the Indian Banking Sector. Some of which are as follows.
In the month of July 2016, the Government of India reportedly allocated about 3.41 billion USD. This amounts to Rs 22,915 crore, which was allocated in the form of capital infusion to 13 public sector banks. This move is believed to increase the economic growth of the country by improving the liquidity and lending operations of these public sector banks.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has already begun on its move to make all transactions digital in nature and absolutely paper free. Following in the same vein, the RBI has released the Vision 2018 document, which primarily aims at increasing the use of electronic payments through all the divisions of the society. This move will not only increase the usage of digital channels but also boost the customer base for mobile banking.
All the commercial banks which are scheduled will now be allowed to grant non-fund based facilities including partial credit enhancement (PEC), to all customers including those that do not avail any fund based facility from any of the banks present in India.
The Union Budget, which was announced in the year 2016-17 had a provision towards interest subvention. This provision is basically made to help in reducing the burden of loan repayment by the farmers. On account of this, an amount of 15,000 crore INR is being granted by the government.
The Government of India is looking to set up an exclusive fund, which will be a part of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). This fund will basically be set up for dealing with all the stressed assets of banks. This fund will be taking over all the assets, which although viable do not have any additional fresh equity from promoters to complete the projects.
Post the massive drive that was conducted by the government to open up a number of bank accounts, quite a large number of Indians were financially included in the banking sector. The Reserve Bank of India plans on coming out with guidelines, which will be dealing with the basic know-your-customer norms. These norms would be the primary focus of protecting the consumers.
The government of India is well on a warpath, to provide insurance, pension, and credit facilities to all of those citizens, who were excluded from enjoying the benefits offered by the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).
In a bid to provide relief to all the state level, electricity providing companies, the government has proposed to its lenders that, about 75% of their loans would soon be converted to state government bonds.
Thus with so many new and effective schemes falling into place, courtesy the government of India, things are looking quite positive for the banking sector. This is great news for those finance enthusiasts who opt for special training programs, offered by Imarticus Learning in the field of Finance and Investment Banking.


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Industry Report: Investments and Developments Part – II

[Read Part 1]
This report analysis would be mainly dealing with all the key investments and developments in Indian banking sector.
Starting from the basic, central level, the RBL Bank Limited, a private sector bank in India, has reportedly raised about Rs. 330 crore as a result of their association with CDC Group Plc. This is a UK based financial development institution and will be helping the RBL bank, to strengthen their capital base, in order to meet their future needs.
The World Bank has reportedly signed an agreement with The State Bank of India, which is worth Rs. 4200 crore. This agreement basically deals with connecting all the solar rooftop projects in India, which are also known as GRPV, and will be receiving financing as a part of this agreement.
JP Morgan Chase, which is considered to be the largest bank in America, has been in talks of expanding their operations in India. They have gotten a head start on the same, with three new branches in, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai which will be an addition to the current branch in Mumbai.
An investment management company, known as the Canada Pension Plan, has reportedly bought a large stake, which it bought away from a Japan based, banking corporation called Sumitro Mitsui. These said stakes were in Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.
India’s very first small finance bank, began its operations by launching about ten branches in the state of Punjab. The Capital Small Finance Bank as it is officially known aims at increasing the number of its branches to about twenty nine, in the current financial year of 2016-17.
Taking a step towards making India, as cashless economy, an e-wallet company, Freecharge, has partnered with Yes Bank and Mastercard. This partnership is in order to launch a new concept of Freecharge Go. This would be a virtual card, with the help of which consumers can pay for goods and services, at online shops as well as offline retailers.
This year, the economy of India would be majorly targeting at being self-sufficient and in the lieu of the same, te government of Andhra Pradesh has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Exim Bank of India, in order to promote exports within this state.
Moody’s, a Global Rating Agency, seems to have upgraded its outlook towards the Indian Banking System. This move is to stabilize its negative based on the assessments of about five drivers, which include improvement in operating environment, stable asset risk and capital scenario.
Rockefeller Foundation, a non-profit organization based out of America, has backed a private Equity Investor known as Lok Capital. This investor has a plan of investing up to USD 15 million in a couple of proposed small finance banks in India, over the period of next year.
The RBI, has reportedly given in principal approval, to about 11 applications, which were in favour of establishing payment banks. These banks may accept deposits, but they are to refrain from extending any loans.
With the chances of the economy and the cash inflow looking bright, the banking and investment industry shows great promise for aspirants.