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Suggestions / best practices for increasing the penetration (customer registration / on-boarding) of Mobile Banking

Given below are the suggestions / best practices for increasing the penetration (customer registration / on-boarding) of Mobile Banking:

1. New Customer: at account opening time

  • Account opening form should clearly indicate the option for mobile banking – the option for mobile banking services should be clear and distinct from the contact details of the customer where mobile number is also accepted; it should also be clearly indicated that alerts (if sent through SMS) will be sent to this registered mobile number.
  • Customer should be made aware of the mobile banking facilities while opening the account. Further, the form should also clearly indicate that opting for mobile banking services will provide an alternate delivery channel to the customer; related inputs / materials / booklet etc. should be provided to the interested customers outlining the features of mobile banking services offered by the bank, the process involved, roles and responsibilities etc.

2. Existing Customer- Mobile numbers registered with the bank but not active for mobile banking:

As mobile number registration has already taken place and available with the bank (is linked with the account), wider and more accessible platforms should also be made use of by the banks to increase awareness on mobile banking at every opportunity to get more and more customers to register for mobile banking services.

Some of the methods that can be adopted by banks for having targeted customer awareness programs could include:

  • sending SMS / e-mails to their customers on registered mobile numbers / e-mail ids about activating mobile banking, providing necessary URLs / customer care numbers from which the customer can obtain additional information on mobile banking activation process;
  • ATMs and self-service Kiosks at branches can also alert the customers to activate the mobile banking options;
  • social media can also be used by the banks to build awareness and encourage customers to register on mobile banking;
  • through the internet banking website of the bank especially when the customer logs in for net banking operations (taking into account the security architecture and authentication mechanism already prevalent in the bank/s);
  • banks can use their IVR and phone banking channels to encourage and facilitate registration and activation of customers for mobile banking;
  • banks can also harness the potential of inter-operable channels such as the NFS (which is widely used by customers for transacting with their cards) to provide a widely accessible channel for mobile banking registration;

3. Existing Customer- Mobile number not registered with the bank at all

Banks need to find ways of obtaining mobile numbers of the account holders first for registration in their database and subsequently for mobile banking registration.

Some of the options that can be used for this purpose are:

  • Through ATM channel – an alert / message can be given (at the ATM itself) by banks when the customer transacts at the ATM, that she/he has not registered any mobile number with the bank
  • Branch visit- at teller level, when the customer comes to the teller for any cash deposit / withdrawal transaction, the customer profile should indicate that he/she has not registered the mobile number at the bank and should be asked to do so immediately
  • Similarly, at passbook printing counters / kiosks too, the customer profile should be verified for existence of mobile number and customer should be advised to register the mobile number when he/she uses the passbook printing kiosk
  • At BC level with biometric authentication.

ATM use over 5 times per month will attract fee of Rs 20 from 1st November 2014

Using ATMs to withdraw money or for other purposes like balance enquiry beyond five times in a month will attract a levy of Rs 20 per transaction from 1st November 2014.

As per the Reserve Bank’s new guidelines that comes into force from Saturday, bank customers in six metros — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore — are allowed to withdraw money and/or carry out non-financial transactions like mini-statements at ATMs of banks, where they hold saving/current accounts, free of charge only five times a month.

Every transaction beyond this threshold will be charged Rs 20 per use.

Besides, the number of free transactions at ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) of non-home banks has been cut to three times a month from five times.

“Taking into account the high density of ATMs, bank branches and alternate modes of payment available to customers, the number of mandatory free ATM transactions for savings bank account customers at other banks’ ATMs is reduced from the present 5 to 3 transactions per month (inclusive of both financial and non-financial transactions),” RBI had said in a notification issued in August this year.

The RBI, however, clarified that nothing precludes a bank from offering more than three free transactions at other bank ATMs to its account holders if it so desires.

The cap in the number of free ATM transactions will not apply on small/no-frills or basic savings bank deposit account holders who will continue to enjoy five free transactions.

At places other than the six metro centres, the facility of five free transactions for savings bank account customers will remain unchanged upon using other bank ATMs.

India has a total of 1.6 lakh bank ATMs across the country as of March 2014.

The new guidelines were issued in pursuance of a representation made to the RBI by Indian Banks’ Association on the back of growing cost of ATM deployment and maintenance incurred by banks as well as rising interchange outgo due to free transactions.

Source: The Economic Times