Tech-driven Federal Bank offers ‘no-step’ services

Banks with the ability to offer services bundled in latest technology coupled with a good footprint across the country have tremendous growth potential.

The young workforce is also another incentive. The 69- year old Federal Bank has recruited nearly 5000 employees in the last five years with half of them in the age group of 25 to 30 years. We are capturing India’s growth opportunity as our young employees and India’s youngster match. We believe that we can grow fast with the young bright minds that we have on our rolls.

In our 140 branches across Tamil Nadu, most of the 1,000 plus staff are tech savvy. With younger workforce, good technology and with a good footprint our growth potential is very strong. Founded in Kerala, the bank expanded its presence across the country in the last four to five years, particularly in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and the Delhi zone, where the bank had large incremental growth. In the last four years, the bank has added 400 more branches.

In Tamil Nadu, the bank has regional offices in Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem and Madurai, besides four cluster offices in Puducherry, Nagercoil, Vellore and Erode.

The bank’s credit deposit ratio (CDR) is higher than 100, which means the bank has lent more than what they have borrowed. It is well entrenched in many segments, including big corporates, large family businesses and small & medium sized enterprises. 

Federal Bank has a customer base of about 7 million in the country and has been growing at an average of about 7 to 8 lakh customers a year. In the past we used to say ‘door step banking’ now we say ‘no step banking,’ as you can do banking from wherever you want without stepping out, with today’s technology. 

“The bank has earmarked Rs 25 crore to fund startups and has a scheme ‘launch pad’ for startups to come, test their ideas and convince the bank for funds, after which the bank would help them. On any given day, we have an average of 10 people walking in at Bengaluru and Ernakulam, where the scheme has been launched. If I open the door in Chennai, I am sure there will be another 20,” he said.