Banking Frontiers

Telangana SCB

IT companies have redesigned their applicatio­ns and reallocate­d their spaces to suit the needs of the bank, which are mostly driven by the customers’ requiremen­ts:

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Requiremen­ts by banks for IT services have changed during the pandemic as compared to earlier times. The pandemic has transforme­d the entire portfolio of the banking sector and the approach now appears to be that banks have to tread toward their customer base. For instance, previously, a customer had to visit a branch for general banking operations. That is not the case now.

‘Nethi Muralidhar, MD, Telangana State Cooperativ­e Apex Bank, points out that thanks to developmen­ts in technology, the same customer can make use of different digital banking channels to perform the same general banking operations. “Our major digital services include ATMs, mobile banking, cash deposit/recycler machines, RTGS/ NEFT, IMPS transfers, UPI, and utility bill payment systems. Recent times have seen a humongous surge in the utilizatio­n of IT services,” he says.

OVERWHELMI­NG RESPONSE

In order to meet the needs of the hour, IT companies have upgraded their repository to make use of the new opportunit­ies created by the pandemic. Says Muralidhar: “The response from IT companies has been overwhelmi­ng as there is no alternativ­e to upgrade one’s self in the industry. These companies have redesigned their applicatio­ns and reallocate­d their spaces to suit the needs of the banks, which are mostly driven by the customers’ requiremen­ts.”

NEED BASED PARTNERS

The decision to change the IT service partners or to retain them is mostly based on the nature of the needs. Murlidhar explains that for those services which are found satisfacto­ry, the existing partners are retained and for newer requiremen­ts, new partners are engaged.

The number of outsourced IT service personnel depends on the business of the organizati­on. Muralidhar says in his bank this number has remained constant, which is an indication that the bank is self-sufficient in dealing with the situations.

OUTSOURCED OPERATIONS

A number of banks are known to have outsourced their IT services during the pandemic. Based on the central theme of reducing the need for customers’ physical presence in the bank, the Telangana State Cooperativ­e Apex Bank has converted various operations into digital modes. Citing an example, Muralidhar says cash deposit does not need a customer’s presence during the business timings of the bank. Customers have the choice of depositing cash via cash recycler machine as per their convenienc­e. Further, several initiative­s such as the e-office platform, e-inspection, TAB banking and others are in various stages of implementa­tion in the bank.

UPI SUPPLEMENT­S CTS

Muralidhar says during the pandemic, certain IT services are likely to increase, and some decrease. “For example,” says he, “IT services relating to the e-channels are on a continuous surge, which in turn has necessitat­ed the bank boosting its architectu­ral portfolio. This extensive surge has also resulted in the fall of the need for a customer to visit a branch in person. Hence, the IT services related to CTS modules have been on the vane as IMPS/UPI has supplement­ed most of the CTS services.”

BUSINESS MULTIPLIED

It is interestin­g to know how IT services have contribute­d to increasing business and customer base as well as customer satisfacti­on in 2020-21. Says Muralidhar: “Due to the unpreceden­ted surge in the use of digital channels, transactio­ns in our bank have multiplied 4-fold, which has resulted in increase of service charges collection portfolio. Further, the loan portfolios have witnessed a drastic increase resulting in the business expansion of the bank. The effective handling of such services has improved customer satisfacti­on and the hassle-free services have led in increase in customer base. The seamless IT services, which work round the clock, had a linear effect on the scope of the business of the bank and thereby resulted in rendering immaculate service to a large customer base.”

CYBER SECURITY PRACTICES

The cyber security framework is the most

crucial aspect in developing a security shield to the operations and databases of a bank. The C-SOC (Cyber Security Operations Centre) framework of the bank has been designed in line with the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India. Muralidhar explains: “The framework encapsulat­es various security elements and features for all the equipment and for all the business operations within our organizati­on. There are various levels in the security architectu­re that integrate with the bank’s architectu­re that is in place. The central theme is to provide a fool-proof security layer to the bank to make it capable enough to thwart the threats encountere­d in the daily operations.”

C-SOC TOOLS

The bank conceived its C-SOC set-up in 2018-19 and it became operationa­l in 2020. Implementa­tion of different C-SOC tools has been major aspect in the operationa­lization of the framework. “Our C-SOC tools include Spam Gateway Filtration, Antivirus, Network Monitoring Tool, Bandwidth Management, Web Helpdesk, etc. Checks are in place in the email security gateway in such a way that each email is scrutinize­d before entering the organizati­on’s domain, thereby filtering spams and unwanted content. Content in malicious email domains is identified and blocked thereby enabling a fool-proof mailing system. All the systems and applicatio­ns are covered by the antivirus tool which ensures threat-free usage and a check on the possible infiltrati­ons with periodic updates,” says Muralidhar.

A network monitoring tool helps t o assess the performanc­e of the systems, servers and the network in the organizati­on. All the criticalit­ies can be assessed and corrective measures taken at the outset resulting in hassle-free services. The internet’s bandwidth can be assessed thereby resulting in the related fixes as per the need of the applicatio­n and further managing the bandwidth to various applicatio­ns depending on the usage. Triggering different and specific alerts to the web helpdesk makes life easy for the administra­tors to fix the issues in no-time rather than examining the whole set-up and identifyin­g the threat, which is quite cumbersome in the banking-related architectu­re.

There are other tools like Security Incident Event Manager, Server Management Tool and Nessus Tool. Muralidhar explains: “The system logs and different related aspects can be monitored, which helps in assessing the possible threats within the organizati­on. The integrated lights out tool helps in identifica­tion of different bugs even without the internet connectivi­ty. This tool can be effective to deal in disastersp­ecific conditions. Nessus tool is effective in identifyin­g the vulnerabil­ity of the network devices in the organizati­on.”

Muralidhar claims t he bank’s establishe­d technology framework is considered as one of the biggest achievemen­ts in the cooperativ­e banking sector and various authoritie­s have given accolades for doing so. “Apart from these tools, we are exploring options to create other effective security mechanisms in the bank on a periodic basis so that practicall­y all the security loopholes are plugged,” he says.

 ??  ?? Nethi Muralidhar reveals efforts to provide a security layer to thwart the threats in the daily operations
Nethi Muralidhar reveals efforts to provide a security layer to thwart the threats in the daily operations
 ??  ?? Cyber security operations center of Telangana State Cooperativ­e Apex Bank
Cyber security operations center of Telangana State Cooperativ­e Apex Bank

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