Standard Chartered introduces mobile-based Bill Payment system
By Mumbai: | 06 Jan 2004
Standard Chartered has launched 'SMSPay' - a facility where a customer simply has to reply to an SMS alert sent by the bank and the bank facilitates payment of the bill. With this a customer has the freedom to pay bills, anytime and anywhere! This free Bill Payment service covers over 55 utility and service companies, across India.
The Bank has also introduced free InterBank Funds Transfer facility on its online banking channel, 'Net Banking'. This allows customers to transfer money online to any account outside the bank without having to write and mail cheques. The transfer of funds from Standard Chartered Bank can be made to accounts in over 55 banks and over 14,000 branches in India. The facility, other than being convenient is also fast; funds are generally available for withdrawal at the other bank within 12~36 hours. Standard Chartered Bank becomes the first bank in India to accept Demand Draft requests on its ATMs, which is sent to the customer's address in 3-4 days. It is also one of the few banks in India to launch intra-bank Fund Transfers (ie. between Standard Chartered Bank accounts in India) through its ATMs.
Shalini Warrier, Head, Shared Distribution & Service, Standard Chartered Bank said, "At Standard Chartered, we continuously look for innovative ways to offer customer-friendly services that make a real difference. We have leveraged newer technologies such as SMS, ATMs and the Net to make payment systems simple and effective. This eliminates many of the tedious and often time-consuming tasks associated with paying important bills or transferring funds. Our customers now get to enjoy anytime, anywhere banking in its true sense".
Standard Chartered is India's largest international bank in terms of profits, assets and branch network and having a combined customer base of 2.4 million in retail banking and over 800 major corporate relationships. Key businesses include Consumer Banking primarily credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, personal loans and wealth management and Wholesale Banking comprising commercial banking and global markets, where the Bank specialises in the provision of cash management, trade, finance, treasury and custody services.