India bank invests in tech

Public sector lender United Bank of India (UBI) has planned to invest Rs 77 crore in expanding its ATM network by 1 000 units, reports Rupee Times.

The bank also plans to improvise on its Internet and mobile banking facilities. "Within a month we shall provide online stock-trading facility to our customers," says UBI chairman and MD Bhaskar Sen.

The bank has decided to inculcate core banking process in all the 1 044 branches of its four regional rural banks by September next year.

Technology's role in making the banking experience more convenient and easier for consumers was the focus of the recent BancNet e-banking Forum in the Philippines, writes Manila Bulletin.

Supported by Citibank Philippines, which is strong on Internet banking, the forum's theme was 'Enhancing cross-channel customer experience'. Head of Citibank's consumer e-business, Melissa Henso, said Filipinos have truly gone digital, with more than 25 million Internet users in the country and over 70% of the population equipped with mobile phones.

Henson highlighted how Citibank's new digital services utilise emerging channels such as Internet and mobile to enable customers to manage their finances and make banking transactions at their own convenience.

Mobile banking is sweeping SA, and is poised to seize the Egyptian market, which has 55 million mobile phone users, states Zawya.

Lana Strydom, manager of the mobile portal section of the digital channels retail banking division for Absa, a South African bank, discussed mobile banking's potential integration into the fabric of Egypt's banking sector.

Speaking at the sidelines of the Lafferty Retail Banking conference, Strydom said mobile banking has the ability to bring swaths of low-income consumers in from the banking cold, ushering significant amounts of liquidity into the formal economy.