Page 38 - Banking Finance April 2021

ARTICLE

BANKING

METAMORPHOSIS

I t was that last classroom credit training program, just issues, lead generation, downward market trend, banking

apps, recovery, disruptions from the payment banks,
prior to this COVID-19 pandemic crisis, I was taking a
class for Branch Heads of Semi-urban and rural
competition from private & NBFCs, low-cost QR (quick
branches. As usual, I started my class with an
exclamation by asking the question what was banking. response) technologies, need of AI (artificial intelligence)and
so on and so forth. Before the class get hi-jacked I smartly
I got various answers including the one I was expecting i.e. made an exit to the discussion saying thanks for such
"accepting deposits for the purpose of lending". Meanwhile, responses.
I heard a mild whispering from one of the participants, "Sir,
we are doing everything other than what you defined". Well, somewhere consciously I agreed in mind that of course
the banking was no more the same traditional accepting
It made everyone in class laugh including me. It really deposit for lending but there was a complete
opened up the class which made my job easy. I continued metamorphosis in the banking sector. Let us see how the
class asking him with a smile what all you did then, so banks look like with this facelift.
everyone opened up, lot of things came out such as cross-
selling, technological issues, multiple software handling 1. What banking will look like in the
coming decade?
About the author If we just look back a few years ago, the business in banking
meant the sum total of advances and deposit because the
Deepak N S higher your total business higher would be the profit due to
Faculty, Staff Training College the substantial spread of interest. But, as of now, it is all
Union Bank of India
Aluva about the bottom-line of what matters in the banking
business irrespective of the size of the business. If I just put

38 | 2021 | APRIL | BANKING FINANCE