By IANS,
Chennai: The Mangalore based Corporation Bank will be the first public sector bank to migrate from an existing core banking solution (CBS) platform to a new one in 12-15 months time, said a senior official.
“We were the first public sector bank to have a CBS in 2003. Now we will again be the first government bank to migrate from an existing CBS to a new solution. In 12-15 months’ time, the first branch will go live,” a bank executive, who did not want to be named, told IANS over phone from Mangalore.
According to him, initially around 10 branches will go live and then the new CBS will be implemented in batches of around 50 branches.
The bank has over 1,600 branches across the country.
While the official does not want to hazard a guess on what the ultimate outlay for the bank would be on the new project, industry officials told IANS that Corporation Bank might have to shell out around Rs.200 crore for the software and hardware.
Dwelling on the reasons for the bank’s decision to replace the CBS and the hardware, the bank official said the technology has changed a lot between 2003 and 2013 and Corporation Bank is the only bank to have its solution based on COBOL language.
“The advantage of a new CBS will be that it will be faster, efficient and would support newer applications like mobile banking. With a new CBS design and launch of new products will be faster. Further the new solution is expected to offer better business analytics for the bank to decide is strategies. There will be consistency in data,” he said.
The bank has floated the Request for Proposal (RFP) and bids are expected to be received soon from interested companies.
Refuting that the tender condition that the system integrator should have the experience of implementing the proposed CBS in at least 1,000 branches of a public sector bank is restrictive in nature, the senior bank official said only two companies wanted the condition to be altered.
Meanwhile inaugurating the two day 19th All India Conference of Corporation Bank Officers’ Organisation (CBOO) here Saturday, chairman and managing director Ajai Kumar said the bank has to move forward further in terms of technology.
“Even now it is termed as a technology savvy bank,” he said.
Ajai Kumar said people in the age group of 35 years and less are not within the bank’s fold and this situation has to be changed.
According to him, only five percent of the debit cards used by the bank are being used whereas it is around 10 percent in respect of other banks.
“We can earn around Rs.10-20 crore per annum by increasing the debit card usage. The bank should be ready with digital/internet and mobile phone banking,” Kumar said.
He said younger generation should be brought to bank with the bank and officials should also actively involve in cross selling of the bank’s products.