MUMBAI:
Digital banking in the country has witnessed a surge in the number of users over the past few years. The apex bank, RBI, has recorded a phenomenal growth in digital transactions till March 2019 and setting an ambitious target to push up the volumes by four times by 2021.
However, while the usage has followed an upward trajectory, some of us are still troubled by a problem which may seem small but could be really irritating in times of urgency. It’s only human to forget things, but forgetting your internet banking password and the struggle of getting it restored keeps a significant number of customers at bay from using this digital channel of banking.
More so, many customers put the pen to paper and write their passwords down in order to keep it handy in times of need. This poses a significant risk to the customer’s bank account as it may cause security hazards if misplaced and accessed by wrong hands.
ICICI Bank took a note of this and has recently introduced a facility which will bring a sigh of relief to its customers as they are no longer required to memorise their internet banking passwords, or write them down on a piece of paper and exposing it to fraudulent activities. The facility enables the bank’s customers to log in to their internet banking account using their registered mobile number, a ‘One Time Password (OTP)’ and their debit card PIN.
Speaking on the initiative, an ICICI Bank spokesperson said, “ICICI Bank has always been focusing on enhancing its products and services to make banking more convenient and hassle- free for its customers. In line with this ideology, we have introduced the unique OTP based login facility for our internet banking customers. Our endeavour to offer this service began with the belief that further simplifying the internet banking log in process would enable our customers to avail the internet banking services with all the more ease, in a few simple steps instantly. This led us to introducing the OTP based login facility, which is as secure and robust as the traditional method of logging in, as it involves the same two-factor authentication process.”
The facility which is as secure as the traditional user id and password based login, boasts of the following salient features:
* Robust security framework including alert e-mails when OTP is generated
* Easy navigation between the traditional method of logging in and the newly introduced OTP login
* Customer support access to NRI customers in case of trouble with the registered mobile number
* Masked debit card number for which the PIN is expected, with only the last two digits visible for easy and quick recognition
