In 2016, IFC began a new project with South Indian Bank (SIB), a mid-sized private bank (currently the third-largest in southern India), to strengthen its digital capabilities. By doing so, the bank aimed to transform its retail and small and medium enterprise businesses (SMEs) to drive customer engagement and to mobilize deposits.
SIB partnered with IFC to implement the strategy, which more specifically was designed to boost new accounts, to increase existing customers' account usage, and to grow the bank’s portfolio. Implementation required leveraging technology and digital channels to target retail and SME customers while also seeking new opportunities with microentrepreneurs and women-owned businesses. The transformation strategy helped SIB improve efficiency and support growth by reducing the weight of transactions on SIB’s branch network.
As of May 2019 (2.5 years into the project), SIB had onboarded approximately 1 million new accounts and issued 1.5 million new debit cards.
