Here is a sample of a few types of services typically being advertised by leading banks on their web-sites.

Corporate Internet Banking (CIB), facilitates banking from your desk. At the click of a mouse you can access your accounts at our Bank and also keep track of your accounts at our various branches.

• Account Information:
  Real time balance information and summary of day's transaction.

• Fund Transfers:
  Manage your Supply-Chain network, effectively by using our online fund transfer mechanism. You can effect fund transfer on a real time basis across the bank locations.

• Request:
  Make a banking request online

• Account Information
  : The complete database that the bank has about your company is available to you at your terminal. It provides you:

• Current balance:
  in your account on real-time basis

• Day's transactions:
  in the account

• Details of cash credit limit, drawing power, amount utilised, etc

• Downloading of account statements:
  as an excel or text file. The statements can be integrated with your ERP system for auto-reconciliation.

• Fund Transfers:
  Manage your Supply-Chain network, effectively by using our online fund transfer mechanism. You can effect fund transfer on a real time basis across the bank locations. The product facilitates :

  • One-to-one fund transfer:
    between two linked account

  • Bulk fund transfers.:
    In bulk fund transfers, you upload a flat file containing payment/collection information. Our systems take care of processing the entire file and once the file is processed you can integrate the processed file to your ERP for auto reconciliation.

The real life situation of user-wise limits and multilevel signatories can be mapped in the net-based fund transfer module too. You can specify user-wise cap for funds transfer and the number of approvals needed for each fund transfer. The fund transfer will not take place unless the required number of signatories has approved it.

With a Power of Attorney from your dealers, you can link the dealer's accounts to your account in order to have an online fund transfer, saving you time and money involved with cheque collection systems. Alternatively, the dealer can credit your account through this channel. Similarly, you could also effect vendor and other payments online.

Customers can also submit the following requests online :

• Registration for account statements by email either daily/weekly/fortnightly/monthly basis

• Stop payment of cheque

• Cheque book replenishment

• Demand Draft/Pay-order

• Opening of fixed deposit account

• Opening of Letter of credit

A registered user enters his Corporate Id, Used Id and password for accessing the facility. He can view all the accounts across all the Bank's locations online and as well effect fund transfers on real time basis within the Bank network. The fund transfers are stored in his database at the Bank and are available to him later to integrate with his MIS.

Through full-proof devices total security is ensured so that hacking is not possible at the site. Precautions in terms of firewalls, data encryption, digital certification can be used so that no malicious or unauthenticated person is able to access the customers account. Additional features such as digital signatures, etc can also be set up. Other features include a safe password that only the particular customer or the authorised persons in the customer's organization will know, and even the Bank employees will not have access to the customer's password. There will be no memory caches allowed on the navigator so that after the customer logs out another person will not be able to access by pressing the "Back" button on the navigator. Also there is a time out for the screens. If the screen is not used for 5 minutes, it automatically logs the viewer out from the site.

The company does not have to spend anything extra to avail such facilities. All it requires is an Internet connectivity. The product enables the company to pro-actively manage its cash flows, ease reconciliation efforts as all the MIS is available at the click of the mouse.

The customer can download the account statements either as a text file or as an excel file. The bank can help him in integrating the account statements and bulk payment files with his ERP system. The Bank may charge a nominal fee depending upon the nature of work involved.

Internet has thus ushered the concept of any time and anywhere banking. To the individual the onerous task of visiting several places to settle his service bills like telephone, water, electricity etc. can be overcome through the electronic Bill Pay service provided by the bank. He can pay his regular monthly bills (telephone, electricity, mobile phone, insurance etc.) right from his desktop. No more missed deadlines, no more loss of interest - He can schedule his bills in advance, and thus avoid missing the bill deadlines as well as earn extra interest on his money.

The customer can also make his shopping payment through the Bank's secure website-so that he can shop online without any security worries, as the bank can provide online real time shopping mail services through partner shopping sites.

The bank's website can also allow the customer to invest in shares, mutual funds and other financial products.

Cash Trading:
This is a delivery based trading system, which is generally done with the intention of taking delivery of shares or monies.

Margin Trading:
Customer can also do an intra-settlement trading normally up to 4 times his available funds, wherein he can take long buy/ short sell positions in stocks with the intention of squaring off the position within the same settlement cycle.

Spot Trading::
When looking at an immediate liquidity option, 'Cash on Spot' may work the best for him. On selling shares through "cash on spot", money is credited to his bank a/c the same evening & not on the exchange payout date. This money can then be withdrawn from any of the Bank's ATMs.

The customer can also trade directly at the recognised stock exchanges of the country through his bank.

Electronic banking also brings the customer the same convenience while investing in Mutual funds - Hassle free and Paperless Investing. He can invest in mutual funds without the hassles of filling application forms or any other paperwork. He needs to provide no signatures or proof of identity for investing.

Once he places a request for investing in a particular fund, there are no manual processes involved. His bank funds are automatically debited or credited while simultaneously crediting or debiting his unit holdings.

FUTURES:
Through electronic banking the customer can also trade in index and stock futures on the approved stock exchange. In futures trading, he takes buy/sell positions in index or stock(s) contracts having a longer contract period of up to 3 months.

OPTIONS:
An option is a contract, which gives the buyer the right to buy or sell shares at a specific price, on or before a specific date. For this, the buyer has to pay to the seller some money, which is called premium. There is no obligation on the buyer to complete the transaction if the price is not favorable to him.

To take the buy/sell position on index/stock options, he has to place certain %-age of order value as margin. With options trading, he can leverage on his trading limit by taking buy/sell positions much more than what he could have taken in cash segment.

The customer could also invest in Initial Public Offers (IPOs) online without going through the hassles of filling ANY application form/ paperwork. Get in-depth analyses of new IPOs issues (Initial Public Offerings) which are about to hit the market and analysis on these. IPO calendar, recent IPO listings, prospectus/offer documents, and IPO analysis are few of the features, which help a customer to keep on top of the IPO markets.

There can be no end to the variety of services that can be provided through the electronic channel by banks and financial institutions. Every Institution is trying constantly to innovate and offer new products to woo the customer. The benefit to the customer on account of the Internet is that he is able to know at a time the types of facilities being provided by different Institutions and he is able to make the best choice suited for his needs.

The benefit to the employee is equally amazing. From being earlier a dumb worker filling up forms and copy from books, he is now a regular service provider and one who directly cares for the customer. Earlier he was dealing with particular process, but today he handles customer's demands, which are functions for the bank/financial institution. In turn the knowledge resources required of him has grown and he is able to secure the same through better training and other organisational development programmes like organising work groups and functional teams, where persons with different skills and qualifications pool their knowledge and carry out high-tech services and operations.