"The Indian financial services industry is heavily underpenetrated and has the potential to grow exponentially” was the sentiment shared by all at “The BFSI Leadership Exchange” the panel discussion organised by Serco- a leading FTSE 100 international service company and a leader in the domestic Indian outsourcing industry in association with Network 18 and Boston Consulting Group. The conference saw prominent opinion makers from the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance Industry and was held at Hotel Grand Hyatt, on Wednesday, March 21, 2012.
The theme of the panel discussion was “Achieving High Performance in Uncertain Times” and included speakers like: Mr. Kamalji Sahay, MD&CEO, Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance, Mr. K. G Krishnamoorthy Rao, CEO, Future Generali India Insurance, Mr. Jaimin Bhatt, President & Group CFO, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mr. Bhupender Singh, CEO, Serco’s Global BPO capability (Africa, Middle East, Asia & Australia), Mr. Ravi Krishnamurthy, COO, SBL Life Insurance, Mr. Jaideep Iyer, Sr. President, Financial Management, Yes Bank. The most interesting feature of the discussion were different facets on how India has managed to stay well insulated despite a volatile global economic environment and the way forward for the Indian Banking, financial services and insurance industries.
The discussion was initiated with a welcome address by Mr. Alpesh Shah, Partner & Director, Boston Consulting Group, who also moderated the panel discussion and shared industry insights on key drivers that would influence the growth of financial services in India. The explosion of mobile phones, proliferation of social media platforms, uptake of technologies like cloud computing and increasing pace of convergence and interconnectivity of devices will continue to play a crucial role in the way financial services are delivered to the end- consumer. In this vein, financial institutions have to revisit their operational backbone and business delivery models.
Mr. Bhupender Singh, CEO, Serco Global Services (AMEAA) said, “Post the financial crisis of 2008, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) institutions are at various stages of implementing transformational strategies to drive growth, enhance efficiencies and improve risk management. Indian banks have felt the pressure to be leaner and more productive in a challenging and competitive marketplace and this requires a revisited approach to business process management. They will need to start by strengthening delivery models through technology enablement and process excellence. In parallel, they have to reorganise themselves into customer-centric organisations by enhancing the customer experience at every touch-point across channels and by serving the needs of customers through their lifecycle.”
Other views reflected in the course of the panel discussion included pointers on banks and financial services institutions balancing value delivery in operations on multiple key dimensions such as customer experience, improved sales conversion and reduced risk. The discussion further touched upon the transition in the mindset of the Indian customer. With efficiency and affordable price points a given, a key challenge is building transparency and intelligence at the point of sale. This calls for an overhaul of the intermediary and the front office, that emerge as key customer interfaces in the operational chain for the industry. Furthermore, given the trust associated while selling financial products, there needs to be the right mix of trust, customer engagement, value addition and technology that would result in an ‘end-to-end customer experience’ and not delivering a mere transaction. In this background, the industry would perhaps need to explore linear operating models amongst others to achieve performance in uncertain times.
