The Chief Executive and Managing Director of Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Mr P. R. Somasundaram, urged the bank's employees to come to terms with the radical changes taking place in the banking industry.

He said this at the 32nd Conference of the Lakshmi Vilas Bank Employees' Union in Coimbatore.

Urging the LVBians to take banking more seriously, Mr Somasundaram said: “We have come a long way in the last two years, and are ready to assume that life has become more or less normal now. But please understand that banking in the next five years is going to witness a change that we might not have even thought of.” He continued: “Electronic-banking is becoming the order of the day. Despite being the tenth bank in the country to launch Inter-bank Mobile Payment Services (IMPS) in association with the National Payment Corporation of India, we have not been successful in selling them. And it is not just IMPS.

“Umpteen products have been introduced in the last 18 months. Unless you understand the products well, you will not be able to sell,” the LVB Chief said.

Without divulging details about the bank's performance, he said “2011-12 was a mixed year. We have done well, but there is scope for improvement. We are expecting something better from the employees.” He urged the employees to cross-sell products, and increase the fee-based income for the bank from every customer.

“For a small bank, we are not adopting good processes. While unions give you an option to stay in the job, small slippages can pull the bank down. So beware,” he said by way of caution.

Mr K. R. Pradeep, Director, LVB, appealed to the employees to strengthen the bank's CASA (Current Account Savings Account), improve productivity and work towards taking the bank to greater heights.

The conference was held in Coimbatore after a gap of 24 years.

>lnr@thehindu.co.in

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