Q:-1 What are the major reasons that are contributing to the growth of the retail banking industry?

Ans:-1 It’s no secret that revenue growth is one of today’s biggest challenges for the banking industry. Financial services CEOs ranked growth as their number one priority according to The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2011 survey1. As low interest rates and new regulations strangle traditional sources of risk-based and fee income, many once-attractive customer relationships are generating less revenue, causing some to become unprofitable.

Many bank executives are finding that the old tried-and-true strategies for organic market share and revenue growth are not sufficient anymore. Competing based on pricing, convenience and service is still fundamental, but more is required. The financial crisis created a trio of retail banking giants with approximately 30 percent combined market share and more than 18,300 branch locations – but even with their vast scale; they are also struggling to grow organically.

On the product side, retail deposits have significantly diminished attractiveness in today’s low interest rate environment. Even when banks succeed in attracting new deposit relationships, there are few profitable ways to reinvest those assets in today’s loan environment. Mortgage lending has dropped to the lowest levels in a decade and new fee and rate constraints on overdrafts and credit cards, along with consumer debt reduction, have silenced these traditional revenue growth engines. Increased regulation is already slowing another key revenue stream - debit card transaction fees - which could further strip away potential profits and make a generation of free checking accounts unprofitable.

Retail banks need new growth engines. They, along with other financial institutions, are more finely segmenting existing target markets and fine-tuning products to laser in on the remaining attractive opportunities. In addition, some are rising to the challenge by executing strategies and developing capabilities that allow them to effectively compete in still-promising profit sources – wealth management, retirement and insurance, for example – where banks have lost ground or have historically failed to establish significant revenue streams.

This article describes a three-step growth strategy: 

1. Identify and pursue under exploited revenue and profit sources2. Leverage analytics to identify and engage targeted customers3. Accelerating revenue growth

Q:-2 What is Lien? And how is it useful to a banker?

Ans:-2 The etymological root is Anglo-French lien, loyen "bond", "restraint", from Latin ligamen, from ligare "to bind".

In the United States, the term lien generally refers to a wide range of encumbrances and would include other forms of mortgage or charge. In the USA, a lien characteristically refers to non-possessory security interests (see generally: Security interest—categories).

In other common-law countries, the term lien refers to a very specific type of security interest, being a passive right to retain (but not sell) property until the debt or other obligation is discharged. In contrast to the usage of the term in the USA, in other countries it refers to a purely possessory form of security interest; indeed, when possession of the property is lost, the lien is released. However, common-law countries also recognize a slightly anomalous form of security interest called an "equitable lien" which arises in certain rare instances.

Despite their differences in terminology and application, there are a number of similarities between liens in the USA and elsewhere in the common-law world.

Nonconsensual liens typically arise by statute or by the operation of the common law. Those laws give a creditor the right to impose a lien on an item of real property or a chattel by the existence of the relationship of creditor and debtor. Those liens include

tax liens, imposed to secure payment of a tax; "weed liens" and "demolition liens", assessed by the government to rectify a

property from being a nuisance and public hazard; attorney's liens, against funds and documents to secure payment of fees; mechanic's liens, which secure payment for work done on property or land; judgment liens, imposed to secure payment of a judgment; maritime liens, imposed on ships by admiralty law.

Liens are also "perfected" or "unperfected" (see perfection). Perfected liens are those liens for which a creditor has established a priority right in the encumbered property with respect to third party creditors. Perfection is generally accomplished by taking steps required by law to give third party creditors notice of the lien. The fact that an item of property is in the hands of the creditor usually constitutes perfection. Where the property remains in the hands of the debtor, some further step must be taken, like recording a notice of the security interest with the appropriate office.

Perfecting a lien is an important part of the task of protecting the secured creditor's interest in the property. A perfected lien is valid against bona fide purchasers of property, and even against atrustee in bankruptcy; an unperfected lien may not be.

Q:-3 Explain Electronic Clearing Service (ECS).

Ans:-3 ECS is an electronic mode of funds transfer from one bank account to another.

It can be used by institutions for making payments such as distribution of dividend interest, salary, pension, among others.

It can also be used to pay bills and other charges such as telephone, electricity, water

or for making equated monthly installments payments on loans as well as SIP investments. ECS can be used for both credit and debit purposes.

How do you avail of an ECS scheme?

You need to inform your bank and provide a mandate that authorises the institution, who can then debit or credit the payments through the bank.

The mandate contains details of your bank branch and account particulars.

It is the responsibility of the institution to communicate the details of the amount being credited or debited to their account, indicating the date of credit and other relative particulars of the payment.

You will know the money has been debited from your account through mobile alerts or messages from the bank.

The ECS user can set the maximum amount one can debit from the account, specify the purpose of debit, as well as set a validity period for every mandate given.

What are the processing or service charges levied on the customer?

The Reserve Bank of India [ Get Quote ] has deregulated the charges to be levied by sponsor banks from institutions.

Destination bank branches have been directed to afford ECS credit free of charge to the beneficiary account holders.

So, it costs you nothing.

How do you discontinue an ECS scheme? 

There are two steps you have to follow to ensure appropriate closure. 

First, the service provider, which is the beneficiary of the payment, will have to be given a written communication in the way stipulated by them, in order to discontinue the services.

And next, the bank, which is the channel of payment, will also have to be given a written application stating you would like to discontinue.

Electronic Clearing Service

ECS is an electronic clearing system that facilitates paperless credit / debit transaction directly linked to your account and also provides for a faster method of effecting periodic and repetitive payments.

Benefits of ECS (Debit)

Through ECS (Debit), you can pay all your Utility bills (electricity/telephone/Mobile bills, credit cards, etc), Mutual Fund (SIP), Insurance Premium, Loan Installments, credit card payments, payments of donations and other bill payments.

How will you gain from ECS?

Non-issuance of multiple cheques

Timely payment of bills /installments /premium without remembering the due dates

No late payment charges

For your convenience, Axis Bank has tied up with various service providers across the country.

All you need to do is to register for bill payments with your service provider, banks and financial institutions by providing details such as name, account number, name of the bank /branch, MICR code, etc.

Q:- 4Write a short note on Locker.

Ans:-4 Locker is a 2008 American war film about a three-man Explosive Ordnance Disposal (bomb disposal) team during the Iraq War. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and the screenplay was written by Mark Boal. A freelance writer, he was embedded as a journalist in 2004 with anU.S. Army EOD team in Iraq. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty.

The Hurt Locker premiered at the Venice Film Festival in Italy during 2008. After being shown at the Toronto International Film Festival, it was picked up for distribution in the United States by Summit Entertainment. The film was released in the United States on June 26, 2009 but received a more widespread theatrical release on July 24, 2009.

Because the film was not released in the United States until 2009, it was eligible for the 82nd Academy Awards, where it was nominated for nineAcademy Awards. It won six Oscars, including Best Director for Bigelow, the first woman to win this award, and Best Picture. Boal won for Best Original Screenplay. The Hurt Locker earned numerous awards and honors from critics' organizations, festivals and groups, including

six BAFTA Awards. However it received criticism by some in the military for various inaccuracies.

 Locker opens with a quotation from War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, a best-selling 2002 book by Chris Hedges, a New York Timeswar correspondent and journalist: "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug."

Sergeant First Class William James (Jeremy Renner), a battle-tested veteran, arrives as a new team leader of a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit during the Iraq War, replacing Staff Sergeant Matthew Thompson (Guy Pearce), who was killed by a radio-controlled155mm improvised explosive device (IED) in Baghdad. His team comprises Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty).

James' maverick methods and attitude lead Sanborn and Eldridge to consider him reckless, and tensions mount. When they are assigned to destroy some explosives in a remote desert area, James returns to the detonation site to pick up his gloves. Sanborn openly contemplates killing James by "accidentally" triggering the explosion, making Eldridge very uncomfortable, but he does nothing.

Returning to Camp Victory in their Humvee, the team encounter five armed men in traditional Arab garb near their Ford Excursion with a flat tire. After a tense encounter, the men reveal themselves to be private military contractors, British mercenaries. They have captured two prisoners featured on the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards.

Q:-5 Write about customers of retail banking.

Ans:-5 Retail banking is banking in which banking institutions execute transactions directly with consumers, rather than corporations or other banks. Services offered include savings and transactional accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit cards, and credit cards.

Commercial bank is the term used for a normal bank to distinguish it from an investment

bank. (After the great depression, the U.S. Congress required that banks only engage in

banking activities, whereas investment banks were limited to capital markets activities.

This separation is no longer mandatory.)

Commercial bank can also refer to a bank or a division of a bank that mostly deals with

deposits and loans from corporations or large businesses, as opposed to normal

individual members of the public (retail banking). It is the most successful department of

banking.

Community development bank are regulated banks that provide financial services and credit to underserved markets or populations.

Private Banks manage the assets of high net worth individuals.

Offshore banks are banks located in jurisdictions with low taxation and regulation. Many

offshore banks are essentially private banks.

Savings banks accept savings deposits.

Postal savings banks are savings banks associated with national postal systems.

Retail Banking services are also termed as Personal Banking services

 In most European and Asian countries, customers cite online tools and transactions as having the strongest influence on their recommending a bank.

While US direct banks have the highest rate of mobile usage at 53% of customers, national banks follow closely behind at 41%, suggesting that these banks' heavy investments in mobile platforms are starting to pay off.

The 25 to 35-year-old age group are the heaviest mobile users in most countries. The biggest gainers in US mobile usage, though, were customers aged 36 to 45.

Digital channels don't just create "wow" experiences that make routine transactions fast and easy. They also can divert volumes from higher-cost brick-and-mortar channels if done correctly. While some 90% of US branch transactions consist of routine tasks, this volume is falling 5% to 10% per year, and once customers turned to mobile channels, roughly half of them report they made fewer visits to a branch.

Mobile functionality will become table stakes in the competition for loyal customers, so banks should invest now to lock in customers while features such as remote deposit capture still have the power to differentiate a bank.

Q:-6 What is cross selling?

Ans:-6 Cross-selling is the action or practice of selling among or between established clients, markets, traders, etc. or the action or practice of selling an additional product or service to an existing customer. This article deals exclusively with the latter meaning. In practice, businesses define cross-selling in many different ways. Elements that might influence the definition might include the size of the business, the industry sector it operates within and the financial motivations of those required to define the term.

The objectives of cross-selling can be either to increase the income derived from the client or clients or to protect the relationship with the client or clients. The approach to the process of cross-selling can be varied.

Unlike the acquiring of new business, cross-selling involves an element of risk that existing relationships with the client could be disrupted. For that reason, it is important to ensure that the additional product or service being sold to the client or clients enhances the value the client or clients get from the organization.

In practice, large businesses usually combine cross-selling and up-selling techniques to enhance the value that the client or clients gets from the organization (and vice versa).

Benefits that can accrue to the customer include the efficiency and leverage that result from using a single supplier for multiple products. When buying complex professional services, likeconsulting needed to make and integrate an acquisition, the use of one firm reduces the fingerpointing that is common when a problem occurs in an area that straddles two or more services; if only one firm is responsible, fingerpointing is eliminated.

For the vendor, the benefits are also substantial. The most obvious example is an increase in revenue. There are also efficiency benefits in servicing one account rather than several. Most importantly, vendors that sell more services to a client are less likely to be displaced by a competitor. The more a client buys from a vendor, the higher the switching cost.

Though there are some ethical issues with most cross-selling, in some cases they can be huge. Arthur Andersen's dealings with Enron provide a highly visible example. It is commonly felt that the firm's objectivity, being an auditor, was compromised by selling internal audit services and massive amounts of consulting work to the account.

Though most companies want more cross-selling, there can be substantial barriers:

1. A customer policy requiring the use of multiple vendors.2. Different purchasing points within an account, which reduce the ability to treat the

customer like a single account.3. The fear of the incumbent business unit that its colleagues would botch their

work at the client, resulting with the loss of the account for all units of the firm.