Enhanced reach and service excellence (EASE) programme, run by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), also emphasizes on data analysis, automation and digitisation.
Launched in 2018, the EASE program sets out a general reform agenda for public sector banks every year. EASE aims to promote new age reforms in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to improve profitability, asset quality, customer service and digital capabilities.
The fourth edition of EASE focused on technology-enabled simplified and collaborative banking and felicitated top performing banks on various parameters, according to an IBA statement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Bank Of Baroda Received first prize among all PSBs for best overall performance on PSB Reforms EASE Agenda 4.0. state Bank of India And Canara Bank placed second and third respectively.
Indian Bank Emerged as ‘Top Reformer’ among all PSBs.
Canara Bank won the first prize under Institutionalizing Prudent Banking category, while under Governance and Results-centric HR, Union Bank of India Was elected as leader last week.
Punjab National Bank Runner-up in Tech-Enabled Banking, while Punjab and banks are Second place in Top Improvement Category.
As part of the EASE reforms, banks secured co-lending of Rs 6,597 crore through partnership with NBFCs during FY22. In addition, 94 million customers were on-boarding on the mobile banking platform and 79 per cent of the financial transactions were done on the mobile and internet banking platform.
The agenda for the fifth edition of EASE was unveiled by the Finance Minister earlier this year, it said, adding that the reform program has now been extended to EASENext with the introduction of a three-year strategic roadmap programme.
EASE 5.0 will continue to focus on driving an enhanced digital experience with data-driven, integrated and inclusive banking across all banks, it said.
The three-year Strategic Roadmap will provide an opportunity to each PSB to determine its own improvement path in terms of its initial position and strategic priorities.