Citibank ATM defy rains to remain functional

The floods that rocked the financial capital over the last one week hit the banking sector as well. Bank branches were not only closed for operations, but on account of power failure, many ATMs were forced to shut down. Individuals could not even rely on their credit cards as telecommunication came to a standstill.

Many banks are relooking at their existing model and some are working on a disaster management plan in the event floods should strike Mumbai again.

Citibank boasts of a superior and robust ATM backbone with sufficient back-ups.

"An effective business continuity plan further ensures that in case of any contingency, the central infrastructure supporting the ATM network is replicated in a short span of time in the city outside of the primary location. This assures the customer of world-class, high service delivery standards round the clock," said senior Citibank officials.

This explains why Citibank's ATM network and service was hardly hampered during the onslaught of heavy rains in and around Mumbai, where Citibank has 100 ATMs.

"Very few ATMs had to be shut down on account of power failure, loss of connectivity or water logging in various areas," said Citibank officials. All necessary arrangements were made to ensure that adequate cash was available at all ATMs.

In the past 18 months Citibank has added 200 ATMs, and now has a network of 400 ATMs across 30 cities in India. Most Citibank ATM centres are high functionality zones wherein customers can access an entire gamut of banking services from a remote location.