ICICI Bank announced the launch of ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates’, a comprehensive set of digital banking solutions for corporates and their entire ecosystem including promoters, group companies, employees, dealers, vendors and all other stakeholders. The wide range of 360-degree solutions enables corporates to seamlessly meet all banking requirements of their ecosystem in an expeditious and frictionless manner. With this launch, ICICI Bank aims to be the preferred banking partner for companies and their entire ecosystem.
The environment in which corporate customers operate is becoming increasingly dynamic and competitive with accelerated digital adoption transforming every business. In this ever-changing environment, a banking partner, which can serve not only the corporates but also the entire ecosystems where they operate in, adds significant value to corporate customers. With this backdrop, the Bank has created ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates’ to serve the companies and their ecosystem by bringing the full bank to the customers.
A first-of-its kind initiative, the ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates’ provides customised digital banking services to companies in over 15 leading industries– such as financial services, IT/ITES, pharmaceuticals, steel to name a few– and their entire ecosystem. Armed with the Bank’s state-of-the art digital platforms, these services can further be tailor-made for companies within an industry. The four main pillars of the ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates’ are: (1) digital banking solutions for companies; (2) digital banking services for channel partners, dealers and vendors; (3) digital banking services for employees and (4) curated services for promoters, directors and signatories. Many of the digital solutions are first in the industry.
In order to supplement these digital efforts, ICICI Bank has opened eight ecosystem branches — five in Mumbai and three in the National Capital Region (NCR). It plans to launch another four in this financial year. These ecosystem branches are full service centers that house multi-functional teams with deep expertise required to nurture relationships and bring the entire bouquet of services of the Bank to each of these corporates and their ecosystem.
Ms. Vishakha Mulye, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said, “In an increasingly competitive and dynamic environment with rapid digital transformation impacting every industry, corporates look towards a banking partner, which can offer the breadth and depth of solutions for the entire ecosystem. With an objective to cater to the ecosystem of every corporate, we have launched a digital ‘ICICI Stack for Corporates’ with many industry first features. It offers banking solutions to corporates with backward and forward integration for their entire network of employees, dealers, vendors and all other stakeholders. We look forward to partnering with our customers for the banking needs of their entire ecosystem and unlock the full potential.
The ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates’ is built on the premise that each industry and each corporate ecosystem has bespoke requirements. We have backed the ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates’ with our IT prowess to customise it to the diverse requirements of industries and corporates across sectors. This feature enables us to offer various solutions to corporates in a significantly expeditious manner. We believe that the ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates,’ coupled with our ecosystem branches, will help us serve the needs of our customers and enable us to bring the full bank to the customer.”
The main pillars of the ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates’ are:
1) Digital banking solutions for corporates:These arethe industry’s most comprehensive and integrated range of digital services which enable companies with financial and operational efficiencies. The list of services includes digital account opening, payments and collections, trade and foreign exchange services in addition to instant reconciliations and working capital solutions.
An industry-first feature, the API-based digital account opening makes the entire process simple. Other industry first solutions are: (a) an e-BG (electronic bank guarantee) solution that acts as an electronic repository of authenticated BG, with an inbuilt tracking mechanism for the corporates. (b) automated stamping (AeS) which eliminates the need of physical stamp paper from branches for bank guarantees. (c) suite of API-based payments and collection solutions that directly integrate with a customer’s ERP system. (d) e-DS, end-to-end digitisation of inland trade, for greater operational and working capital efficiency and (e) iValidate, an API based real time reconciliation system of collecting funds from multiple parties.
These services are delivered digitally using multiple innovative modes. First, corporate users can access them through the Bank’s state-of-the-art integrated digital platforms such as Trade Online, Corporate Internet Banking and FX online. Secondly, evolved corporates with IT capabilities can directly integrate with the Bank’s systems and embed the banking solutions within their ERP systems. This can be done either with API integration with the Bank in a speedy manner or with host-to-host SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) solution. The use of these cutting-edge technologies pares integration time to just a few working days, as compared to few weeks in the industry.
2) Digital supply chain management solutions: The Bank offers a wide range of bespoke financing options to vendors and dealers of a corporate through various digital platforms. The Bank has its own web based platform, which facilitates instant approval and disbursement of loans for channel partners. The Bank also provides a cloud based platform, which provides a fully embedded solution customised to the dealer and vendor management system of the corporates. This cloud based platform facilitates seamless collection/payment, reconciliation and financing on a day-to-day basis which, in turn, brings in significant operational and financial efficiencies for the corporates and their channel partners. Besides the supply chain financing, the Bank also offers the convenience of ‘InstaBIZ’, its mobile banking application for businesses, to vendors and dealers.
3) Banking for employees: The Bank offers a comprehensive digital banking solutions to help employees of companies to fulfil their financial aspirations. The list of 350 solutions include instant opening of salary accounts using Aadhaar, access to a suite of cards, private and wealth banking. It also includes instant sanction of loans/credit limits like home, personal, vehicle, Paylater digital credit for preapproved customers of the corporate, instant access to emergency funds through salary overdrafts and loan against shares and mutual funds and protection solutions like insurance. These services are available instantly on the Bank’s mobile application, iMobilePay and its internet banking platform.
4) Curated services for promoters and directors: The Bank provides its expertise in Private Banking for services like wealth management, setting up of trusts and family offices among others.
