Today, the role of IT has become so integrated and pervasive with
banking that it becomes necessary to mitigate the operational risks
arising out of failure of IT systems. Banking services came to a
standstill in Mumbai on 26th July 2005, due to unprecedented heavy
rains. It also affected banking services in other cities, as most
banks have their central switch for ATMs and core banking solutions
in Mumbai. It is imperative that all banks have BCP's in place to be
in readiness to tackle serious business disruptions.

According to a study done by Banknet India, number of banks,
including State Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Canara
bank, Bank of Maharastra, Indian Overseas Bank have floated tenders
to scale up their disaster recovery and business continuity systems.
In coming months, such requirements will increase multifold as the
banks in India are now looking at their business continuity plans
seriously and gearing up to put disaster recovery systems in place.

Payment and Settlement systems form the backbone of banking system.
The payment system assumes importance in the context of domestic
financial sector reforms and global financial integration. According
to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the payments business is core to
bank's profitability, generating up to 35% of their revenues and up
to 40% of their costs. If managed through a clear, coherent
strategy, payments can be a real source of competitive advantage and
consistent profitability.

Indian market for business intelligence (BI) applications to grow to
$70 million by 2007, registering a compounded annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 29.4 per cent. A report released by Frost & Sullivan said
the demand from IT, telecom and the BFSI segment, especially the PSU
banks, would drive the growth for BI applications. With branch
automation pushing transactions out of banks to more cost-effective
channels, and the increasing focus on retail products sales, more
banks will butt heads as they fight for customers in saturated
markets. A way around this is to use customer relationship
management (CRM) intelligence to sell to existing customers.

For more visit: http://www.banknetindia.com/banking/btech_welcome.htm

(Extract from Welcome address by Mr. Anurag Khanna, Managing
Director & CEO, Banknet India at the Bank Tech Summit at Taj Lands
End, Mumbai on September 22, 2005)