Jalan inaugurates BankIT 2000

BANGALORE: Focusing on ‘Banking on E-commerce’, Infosys’ annual event

BankIT 2000 was inaugurated today by Reserve Bank Governor Dr Bimal Jalan at the

Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Inaugurating the event, Dr. Jalan

said, "The convergence of technologies has enabled private and new banks to

service their customers efficiently on a real-time basis. This expertise or

technology edge in a few banks should become the norm or a benchmark for the

rest of the banking industry to catch up for not only sustaining their business,

but also for remaining competitive." The big event is being attended by

about 200 delegates, including the chairmen and managing directors of some

public sector banks.

Jalan said in his inaugural address, "We cannot have just few new

private or foreign banks connected without other banks being inter-connected for

delivering efficient services." At the same time, Dr Jalan cautioned,

information technology alone would not bring about the imminent changes required

for the banking industry’s healthy growth, unless there was a transformation

in the delivery processes. "Attitudinal change will not be enough unless it

is backed by a commitment to absorb the best management practices. IT tools are

meant to facilitate or enable the delivery systems to become more efficient, and

their use will be determined by the quality of service rendered and the products

delivered cost-effectively."

Along with the inevitable transformation of the banking

industry and the financial sector as a whole, Dr Jalan advocated the need for a

new regulatory mechanism to monitor the entire operations as these institutions

deal with public money. "Unless transactions are supervised by a regulatory

body, a system failure can cause the entire banking or financial sector to

collapse as was witnessed in the South East Asian crisis recently," Jalan

asserted.

If there is instability in the financial sector or a serious

problem in the banking sector, it can affect not only those who have deposited

their monies, but the economy as a whole. When the transactions are not

paper-based but electronic, then we need to have a supervisory mechanism that

can live up to the tasks. "Even globally, the trend is moving fast towards

e-banking and e-financial services which call for a new regulatory

framework."

The RBI governor also called for a qualitative improvement in

public services so that they can complement the services rendered by the banking

and financial sectors with the support of the converging technologies. "The

challenge before the nation is to enable the growth of all core sectors,

especially the infrastructure such as communications, transportation, highways,

airports and seaports to bring about a social transformation."

Speaking on the occasion, Infosys chairman and CEO NR Narayana Murthy said,

"Liberalization has led to more competition in the market place and

monopoly is shrinking. Through the introduction of technology in the banking

sector, customers will become more and more demanding. Infosys’ BankIT

provides the right technology for the changing banking business for better

customer satisfaction and better profits.

This two-day conference will see a panel of experts from the global banking

and technology fields. The speakers have been drawn from banks, consulting

organizations, national institutions and IT companies. Microsoft is the event

partner, while Compaq, Financial Software and Systems, IBM and SCO are the

principal partners for the event.