PNB completes Finacle implementation

BANGALORE, INDIA: Punjab National Bank (PNB), India’s second largest public sector bank, today announced that it has completed 100 per cent core banking implementation at its 4604 branches and extension counters through the Finacle Universal Banking Solution from Infosys, on Sun infrastructure and the Oracle Database setting a significant milestone for themselves and a new benchmark for the Indian banking industry.

The bank implemented industry-leading Finacle core banking solution from Infosys across its operations running a flexible, and scalable database platform from Oracle and innovative and cost-effective Sun SPARC enterprise servers from Sun Microsystems, said a press release.

In 2001-2002, PNB embarked upon a transformation journey unparalleled in the country in terms of scale and technology. PNB became the first public sector bank in India to opt for a new generation core banking platform – Finacle from Infosys, the release added.

Finacle has enabled the bank to consolidate and centralize its operations, improving branch efficiency and productivity per employee. Consolidation has also resulted in reduction of revenue leakage and cost, while increasing ease of technical support and maintenance at branches.

The solution’s scalability has also enabled the bank’s scalability to be the best in the country with the number of peak transactions at 3.5 million.

The 100 per cent implementation of Finacle Core Banking Solution shall enable PNB to further reduce operational costs and revenue leakage while improving productivity of branches, introduction of new and innovative products and visibility of business, it added.

Dr. K. C Chakrabarty - chairman and managing director of Punjab National Bank said: “The challenges of the financial sector can be met with the total connectivity and the centralization of the banking operations.”

He added that it not only ensures standardization of products, but also enables quick launch of the new and innovative financial products ensuring sufficient lead time to market it. The core banking solution offers seamless platform for integrating various such initiatives and also reduces the cost of transaction, thereby offering financial products at an affordable cost.

Chakraborty commented, “The achievement of 100 per cent CBS is the beginning of our efforts in this direction. The contribution of our technology partners enabled us to achieve the milestone ahead of the time schedule.”

Haragopal M, head - Finacle, Infosys Technologies Ltd., said on the occasion, “I congratulate Punjab National Bank on setting this unique standard in the Indian banking industry. Our long-standing and progressive partnership also highlights Finacle’s leadership in large scale banking transformation, the solution’s future proof technology and powerful capabilities.”

T. Srinivasan, vice president, Technology Sales, Oracle India said, “It gives me immense pleasure to see our relationship with PNB, of almost a decade, reach this stage of achievement. We have worked closely with the bank to provide an IT infrastructure through Oracle Database that will enable the bank to support its customers 24x7.”

He added, “In addition, our database is easy to deploy and manage and will provide PNB with high availability of data.

Anil Valluri, vice president and managing director- India GEM, Sun Microsystems said, “We congratulate PNB on completion of this milestone and we are privileged to be part of this project. This represents a giant stride for the Indian banking industry in its road to adoption of technology.”

He added that the deployment of Sun’s flexible and efficient infrastructure that has helped PNB in the implementation of the core banking solution at a rapid pace.