RBL Bank's Journey From A Legacy To A New Age Bank

IN THE LAST six years, the bank has come a long way from a legacy, disconnected branch network to a banking-as-a service platform

- Abhishek Rawal

RBL Bank, operating in the scheduled commercial bank category started off with IT systems, which were rudimentary and disconnected. The branches were working in isolation with their independent systems. The need was to have a Core Banking Solution (CBS). Finacle was shortlisted after a thorough evaluation of other similar systems in the market. At the same time, the supportive structure like networking and infrastructure was also overhauled. These systems act as veins that help the data flow to and from the CBS. Access controls, data security, policies and putting the networks in place basis the geographical location was all established. It was a ten month project. All the branches were then working on Finacle. This was the end of the first phase of the tech upgradation at RBL Bank.

So, what did it achieve ? The CBS offered anywhere banking to the customers. The bank was able to offer products, which any other bank could. Specific new products could also be offered. Process centralisation happened as a result of the new CBS. This was about RBL Bank 1.0, which involved putting the basic hygiene infrastructure in place.

RBL 2.0 was about having an enterprise architecture around the CBS that will further enhance the bank’s capability to expand the service arsenal of the bank. Moreover, it will add processes like HR, cash, wealth management systems offering products in the space of retail, corporate banking etc. The attempt was to move the bank towards becoming universal, offering most of the services offered by other banks. However, because of these multiple additions, the IT architecture became complex.