Dhanalaxmi goes the Flexcube way

Bangalore: The Danalakshmi Bank has announced the implementation of i-flex core banking solution, FLEXCUBE today. Currently the bank has 159 branches across the country and plans to open another 9 branches by the year-end. According to Muthuswamy, Managing Director, CEO, The Dhanalakshmi Bank, "In the first phase, the solution will be implemented across 93 branches, which transact 80 per cent business of our bank. By this November end, the pilot will be ready for trails with Oracle database servers running on the hardware provided by IBM."

The implementation will start from today once the roadmap is designed. The first phase of the implementation is expected to be complete, by March 2004 and rest of the branches will be upgraded in the second phase. The completion of the whole project is expected to be over by September 2004. The bank plans to expand its ATM network, once FLEXCUBE is operational.






" The decision to select FLEXCUBE for its corporate and retail banking operations came after a sound analysis of various solutions available in the banking landscape", said Muthuswamy.

"Technology is a strategic factor for the business to grow in today’s world and FLEXCUBE has got all the advantages that modern banking requires," he added.

About the budget limit, Muthuswamy said that for them acceptability is the focus and not the budget for upgrading technology. The bank aims at increasing its product offerings, augment customer base and increase customer satisfaction.

The bank is also planning to set up a data center at Bangalore located at ITPL and one at Ernakulam for disaster recovery and business continuity plans.

Speaking about the challenges that Indian banks face, N.R.K. Raman, Senior Vice President, Global Sales, i-flex solutions said, "The customers are concerned about the consistency of services. They want products that they use in other parts of the world." He emphasized that rather than following branch-centric philosophy, the banks should focus on centralized operations. Banks should be able to cater to the needs of customers and mitigate risks and exercise control at the same time.