The success of Tata Consultancy Services, Asia’s largest software enterprise, stems from the nature of its offerings: innovative, user-friendly, flexible and comprehensive. For evidence consider the banking sector, where TCS has 33 years of experience in executing banking and data warehousing projects in India and abroad.

In 1969, when the first banking product emerged from the TCS stable, little did the organisation know that its Inter Bank Reconciliation System (IBRS) — which facilitates reconciliation by a central office of entries that originate at one branch and has to be reconciled at another — would become as successful as it has.

Says Jayant Pendharkar, vice president, marketing, "We devised IBRS for the Central Bank of India, one of our earliest banking customers. And the product still exists, but in a more sophisticated version. IBRS is better equipped than ever before to handle large transaction volumes."

TCS’s banking products and services division operates across two levels, says Mr Pendharkar. "Not only do we develop software for several applications in one business, but we also apply, and even tweak, one software application to work on the same or related applications across industries. This dual approach not only helps enrich the package experience and domain knowledge in depth, but also optimises revenue with marginal effort."

A look at TCS’s rich variety of products for the banking sector gives an idea of the organisation’s credentials in this domain. The jewel in the crown is Quartz, an integrated solution designed to meet the demand of financial institutions for competitive edge, speed to market, flexibility and improved service delivery.

TCS’s plans for the immediate future include extending Quartz to cover retail banking needs. "It was devised for investment banking, specifically European banks," says Mr Pendharkar. "But we are now in the process of using its flexible framework to offer the full spectrum of banking and financial services."

Here are some of TCS’s products and services in the banking basket:

Asset liability management tool
Asset liability management is concerned with strategic balance sheet management involving all market risks. TCS’s rich experience has culminated in the development of niche products, including a comprehensive risk management system. The functional features of the product have been drawn up with inputs from a number of bankers, and they operate under the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India and the Bank for International Settlements.

BankonABM
BankonABM (activity-based management) assists banks in understanding their costs and focusing on activities that form part of the banking process, including fund and non-fund resource mobilisation. It helps to recognise service requirements and market segments, manage delivery channels and service customers. BankonABM helps banks in resource deployment, business promotions, pricing decisions, customer relationship management, product pricing, performance tracking, customer profitability analysis and customer mid adjustment.

CBS-ISBS
The Clustered Banking Solution is suitable for medium- and large-sized banks with a network of branches interconnected through communication links. The product has been evolved around a central, shared database, which supports the entire application. All business processes at the branch level update a common database on a central host, which provides a consolidated view of the bank’s operations. The individual branches can then function as pure delivery channels of customer services.

This is the latest Internet banking product from TCS. It was developed by a TCS team of business and technology experts with rich global experience in solution realisation and implementation. The benefits: ability to work in online and offline modes; covers both retail and corporate banking features; provides inquiries, requests, transactions and modelling features; provides a complete security solution; and provides sophisticated administration and management capabilities.

eCredit is a next-generation Credit Management System with a modern architecture. The product takes care of all the  requirements of the credit department of a bank. It can be used to build credit rating/scoring models, and can be easily integrated with third-party risk management tools. It is a flexible system, providing single-point data entry and complete system security. The system can generate various reports that enable the bank to take corrective actions in a timely manner.

eFinancials is a new-age Central Accounts System with a modern architecture. This product can be deployed effectively in a centralised, decentralised or clustered network configuration to automate a bank’s accounts department. The product encapsulates accounts master details and central accounts activities and it comprehensively supports the MIS needs of a bank. It is a flexible system, providing single-point data entry and complete system security.

This is a universal integrated banking system with a modern architecture. It supports foreign exchange and domestic treasury operations in a multi-currency, multi-branch environment. With its configurable object-based design and workflow management features, the product offers significant competitive advantages through increased productivity and enhanced quality of services to clients. eTreasury enables foreign exchange and domestic treasury operations, securities trading, portfolio management, payments and funds transfer, foreign exchange transactions, and security management.

Inter-Bank Reconciliation System
As opposed to the batch-processing mode of most competing products, the IBR product offers a dynamic mode of matching entries, which reduces the matching-time cycle by achieving a higher percentage of matches within a shorter timeframe. The IBR system consists of as many distinct databases as there are zones in the bank, with one database for inter-zonal entries. The database for each zone processes all the entries of that zone and segregates all inter-zonal entries in an inter-zone data store, which can be downloaded at a suitable frequency and uploaded to the inter-zonal database for further processing.

Integrated Standard Banking System
A flexible architecture and ease of use have made ISBS the most widely deployed branch automation product in the Indian banking industry. The product makes branch computerisation at any bank — whether public or private sector, cooperative or foreign — a simple process. ISBS comprises a basic core that covers the general ledger, transaction processing, security access and authorisation, customer information, and customer services. Modules for other areas are add-ons to this basic core.

Quartz, the most successful product in TCS’s banking portfolio, is designed to provide comprehensive functionality and processes in a single package for the front, middle, and back office areas of financial institutions. The product provides extensive automation for securities trading, foreign exchange and treasury operations, portfolio management, payments, and retail services with end-to-end straight through processing. The additional functions are offered as business modules of Quartz, which cover the entire gamut of activities of a typical financial institution.