ICICI Bank UK Plc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of India’s ICICI Bank, has seven branches and four business centres in UK. IN addition to physical presence, it also has vibrant digital channels of mobile banking and internet banking. The Bank has recently launched a digital account opening facility on mobile for Indians moving to UK for work. This first-of-its-kind service by an Indian bank in the UK helps customers to undertake most of the banking transactions through the Bank’s mobile app, ‘ICICI Bank UK iMobile’, including instant remittance to India at competitive rates. In order to know more about the Bank’s new strategy, we recently caught up with Mr. Loknath Mishra, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank UK PLC. Here’s the full text of a detailed interview.
Q1: What is the current business profile and focus areas of ICICI Bank in UK?
A: ICICI Bank UK PLC (the Bank), established in 2003, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICICI Bank Limited, a large private sector bank in India. Over the years, ICICI Bank UK has emerged as a full service commercial bank servicing retail, SME and corporate customers. In addition to local business, the Bank is focused on India-Europe trade, investment and remittance corridor. The Bank offers retail current, savings, fixed deposit and remittance products. It has a popular online deposit franchise operating through its ‘Hi Save’ channel. It also offers competitive rates in its deposit. The Bank supports customers locally for their banking needs in India in terms of NRE accounts, home loans and ICICI Direct (equity trading platform).
The Bank has a very robust digital channel and online services, including internet banking, mobile app and phone banking. The Bank offers its customers a seamless remittance facility to India through its ICICI Bank UK internet banking and mobile platform. In addition to competitive rates, the platform offers a host of customer friendly features to meet the varied requirements of its customers. The customers are able to transact at will through the Bank’s versatile mobile app. The Bank also offers a 24/7 customer support through a phone banking call centre to all its customers. The digital channels are duly supported by our branches and relationship managers whenever required to provide a holistic experience to the customers.
Q2: What are your major digital transformation strategies?
A: ICICI Bank has been leveraging technology to pioneer digital innovations and provide world-class banking experience to its customers. In line with this philosophy, I am happy to inform you that ICICI Bank UK PLC has recently launched a digital account opening facility that allows customers to open a personal current account instantly using the Bank’s mobile application ‘ICICI Bank UK iMobile’. This is a first-of-its-kind service by an Indian bank in UK. The service enables Indian passport holders, who are moving to UK for work, to open a personal current account in UK while they are still in India. This account is equivalent to a savings account in India. They can also undertake most of the banking transactions through the Bank’s mobile app, ‘ICICI Bank UK iMobile’, including instant remittance to India at competitive rates. The Bank also services its customers for banking requirements in India like NRE banking and home loans, while local SME customers are serviced by dedicated relationship managers. The Bank is also in the process of launching similar mobile app for SME customers.
Q3: What are the facilities that you offer to companies?
A: British Asian owned SMEs are a significant part of the local economy. Our focus is to enable the SMEs to smoothly carryout their regular banking needs which include handling their trade and foreign exchange transactions. We combine our technology and online services with a 24X7 customer support via call and the support of a Relationship Manager (RM). The RM handholds our clients to fulfil their banking requirements, which is a big positive as they often need this support.
We are also focusing on the entire gamut of India-Europe trade and investment corridor. We offer trade finance and foreign exchange services to both Indian companies operating in Europe and European firms operating in India. We also support funds investing in India for their custody and foreign exchange requirements.
Q4: How have you handled Covid situation?
A: We, at ICICI Bank UK PLC, have been serving and supporting our customers smoothly during the pandemic through our physical and digital networks. All our branches have been open through this period. Our focus on technology and digitally enabled platforms both in UK and India has helped customers during this unprecedented time with the majority of them transacting through an array of our digital solutions.
