BaNcoN 2013

BANCON 2013
November 2013

CALL FOR CONFERENCE PAPERS

The Bankers Conference 2013 is organised on the Theme:
Bank of the future - gearing up to meet the emerging environment
Host institutions welcome papers from professionals in the Indian banking industry, policy making institutions, related
institutions of the Indian and international finance on the topics of significance to above theme of the conference and/or
on the sub-themes slated to be debated in the panel discussion tracks during the conference.
While conceptual issues and policy perspectives are very important, the organisers in particular invite innovative thinking,
ideas and viable solutions on theareas of business importance for the Indian banks as they need to gear up for the future to
meet the emerging environment.
Those interested in submitting papers to the conference may please take note of the following:
Articles could be submitted in main theme or any of the topics listed below and other topics of relevance and
significance to the theme.
The articles should be submitted in electronic form in MS Word format. (use Century Gothic- font size 11)
Authors are requested to keep the articles brief and precise. While we do not insist on any restriction on the length of
the article at the cost of clarity, we request the authors to avoid lengthy descriptions. Generally, the length of the article
could vary between 2000 4000 words.
Authors will be intimated on the acceptance and publication of the same in the Conference Volume.
Articles may be edited to suit the presentations and the design of the Conference Volume. The decisions of the
Secretariat will be final in this regard.
Articles may be submitted by sending email to: bancon2013@iba.org.in. Also CD/Floppy of the article along with the
manuscript may please be sent to: BANCON 2013 Secretariat, Indian Banks Association, World Trade Centre, Centre I,
6th floor, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai 400 005.
Articles sent on fax will not be accepted.
Last date for submission of articles: September 15, 2013.
For any further information or assistance, please contact:
Ms Malti Ashar
Vice President, IBA
Tel: 022 22174020
Email: malti@iba.org.in
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The Indian Banker

Mr Suresh Shroff
Manager, IBA
Tel: 022 22174019
Email: shroff@iba.org.in
Vol VIII No. 8 - August 2013

BaNcoN 2013

THEME: Bank of the future - gearing up to meet the emerging environment

Banking sector is a true barometer of any economy. The Indian banking sector,with an expected growth rate of 17 percent CAGR over the
next decade, will be one of the primary drivers of growth in the Indian economy. Among the sectors, Retail and SME banking will be the
primary drivers with mass affluent and above segments emerging as the primary targets. However, there are certain imperatives which need
to be ensured as prerequisites robust risk management and efficient capital management. Risk management - Average NPA has increased
from 1.63 percent in FY09 to 1.98 percent in FY12 and this has put bottom-lines under tremendous stress. This clearly highlights the
urgency with which Banks need to invest in their risk management capabilities. In addition,capital lock-up due to higher RWA, inadequate
pricing, misaligned performance management and stricter regulatory requirements like Basel III, is limiting ability to drive further growth.
Efficient capital management now needs to be part of the banks discipline in order to maintain the growth trajectory. Eight key sub-themes
have been chosen as part of BANCON 2013.

1. Building a customer centric retail banking model: Retail banking is quickly becoming commoditised and thus efficiency
improvements, while necessary, may not be sufficient for banks to create a distinctive positioning. This panel discussion will focus on what
banks could do to create a profitable customer centric retail banking model in face of rapidly changing consumer behaviour, demographic
trends and technology disruptions.

2. Cracking the SME riddle: Driving profitable growth in SME:SME is one of the fastest growing segments. However, banks have
suffered heavy losses in this segment due to high NPAs. This discussion will focus on how players can undertake granular sub-segmentation,
product innovation, better risk management and other initiatives to grow profitability in this segment.

3. Capturing the mass market banking opportunity profitably: Mass market is one of the largest customer segments
from a banking perspective. However given smaller ticket sizes associated with this segment and the dispersed nature of the opportunity,
using traditional channels is usually cost inefficient to serve this segment. This challenge of cost efficiency is multi-fold in case of financial
inclusion. Hence, the discussion would focus on how banks can use innovative models leveraging technology to serve this segment
profitably.
4. Corporate banking transformation - Accelerating mid and large corporate growth to boost economy:
Most Indian banks significantly developed their corporate banking model in the last decade. However, there is significant scope for
improvement to most parameters to reach global best-practice levels. The panel would discuss what are next set of innovations that a player
need to do to build a fast-growing and highly profitable corporate business.

5. Digital 2.0 - Digital channel strategy as a means to tap multi-channel behaviour: Today in India, 60-70
percent internet users do some research online while buying financial products. Almost 70 percent of these customers change their mind
about product or brand after conducting online research. However, majority (>90 percent) of these customer complete their purchase offline
through traditional channels. Given this, players need to create a digital channel strategy with suitable online-offline linkages to completely
tap this multi-channel behaviour.

6. Risk & compliance management and capital optimisation due to increasing stress on assets: In last 23 years, banks have seen a continuous deterioration in the credit quality of their assets. The ongoing monetary tightening, the slowdown in
economic growth magnified by the present day crisis in Europe may put further stress on customers especially Corporates and SMEs. This
could manifest itself in upward pressure on these key ratios. In this environment, it is critical that banks build robust risk management
systems and undertake systematic capital optimisation programmes.
7. Big data and analytics - key to unlock hidden value: Consumer behaviour has undergone significant shifts over the
years and a proper understanding of its implications will be an imperative to align growth strategy accordingly. Leveraging the rapid
technology innovations like big data and analytics is the key to unlock the underlying levers and hence capture the hidden value while
achieving improved cost efficiencies. This discussion will focus on how banks can leverage big data and analytics to achieve sustained
competitive advantage.
8. Gearing up the human capital - building for the scarce skills: Driving sustainable growth in this dynamic
environment will require banks to focus on proactive and focused human capital management. Existing methodologies may need to be redesigned in the context of prevalent trends - talent scarcity, significant attrition/retirements and ever-growing requirement of advanced skills
to drive sales and operational excellence. The panel will discuss on how banks adopt comprehensive leadership development & capability
building approach to systematically build and sustain desired skills.
Vol VIII No. 8 - August 2013

The Indian Banker

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