hanks to the technological evolution, Indian Banks have not only been enabled to change the mode of transactions, but also drive the transactions at an alarming speed and in different formats. The trend applies to all banks and branches (over a lakh) including Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs). The new channels such as ATMs, Net Banking, Mobile Banking, Cards, IVRs and Branches, and surround systems like Treasury, DEMAT, NEFT, RTGS are leveraging the core banking services (CBS) systems. As the volume of transactions skyrocket through multiple channels, the environment gets exposed to various technological risks which cannot be ignored; hence, IT managers’ role in mitigating the risks by applying imperative controls becomes even more crucial. They face Herculean tasks and challenges in
streamlining the process and ensuring a risk free transaction. It has become imperative that IT managers idendified the critical challenges of core banking, besides enhancing the necessary skills and expertise to tackle crisis management and deploy best practices to make effective use of core banking services.
Core (Banking) Risks Amid increasing threats and security risks, IT managers need to work towards keeping the lights on and systems running, and work out an effective mitigating plan by putting in sufficient compensating controls. The key concerns that the IT manager has to confront would be: To ensure that the systems and services uptime are kept at near 100 per cent, the integrity of the systems and data are maintained at all costs; and last but not the least, the confidentiality of customer centric data is maintained by securing the data across the transaction life cycle. Understand the nuances of the Core Banking system to be able to launch new products successfully. The challenges arising out of some changes in the interest rates would also call for a shuffle in the testing wherein the system date in the test bed has to be taken forward at least by one quarter, to validate the accuracy of the system in computation of monthly interest accruals and the interest compounding. To manage the project team, provide quality assurance and manage stakeholder expectations amid tight deadlines. He should have a clear understanding of all the areas of Project Management namely, Project Integration Management,
“IT managers play a vital role in mitigating the core banking risks by applying imperative controls which is very crucial and this calls for streamlining the process and ensuring a risk free transaction” Sivakumar Krishnan, CISA Head – IT and Operations Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited, BASIX Group Company
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