With an aim to ensure hassle-free 24x7 banking transactions for its customers, Andhra Bank inaugurated its first e-banking zone at the Seetammadhara branch in Visakhapatnam on Friday.
The facility rolled out under the Nav Shakthi programme would also be available at the Maharanipeta, Gajuwaka, and Steel Plant branches in a couple of weeks.
The facility enables a customer to complete 70 per cent of banking transactions without being limited by the banking hours or waiting in the queue at the counters.
The transactions at the onsite online banking facility are immediately approved and would reflect in the customer’s account in real time.
Personal attention With routine transactions being taken care of in the e-banking zone, bank employees would be able to pay greater personal attention to customers at the counters, Chief Manager C.M.A. Rasheed explained. However, it would take time for the customers to accept the new features and patronise them, he added. The e-banking zone has a cash deposit machine that is operated using the ATM debit card. Once the customer punches in the PIN on a shielded keypad, a slot opens up to deposit up to 200 pieces of currency notes of Rs. 50 and above denominations. The customer gets a receipt instantly and the amount is reflected in the account in real time. This facility is available only for debit card linked accounts held with the bank. The zone also has a kiosk where the customer can get his or her passbook updated without having to go to a counter.
Coin dispensing Apart from two Internet kiosks for secure Internet banking by customers, the zone has a coin dispensing machine. After inaugurating the facility, EPDCL CMD M. Seshagiri Babu appreciated the bank for its innovative features and said the discom was exploring synergies with the bank in bill payments and other customer-centric approaches. The transaction zone was inaugurated by bank Zonal Manager A. Narayana Prasad, the relationship zone by D. Dakshina Murthy of Gayatri Vidya Parishad, and the queue management system by industrialist P.K. Gupta. Bank AGMs — N.V. Rajendra Prasad and S. Kamalakara Rao — were present along with managers and staff of the bank.
