Business Desk, ETV Bharat: Expanding the scope of Whatsapp banking, India’s second-largest private lender ICICI Bank Ltd on Thursday announced that its customers can now open fixed deposits (FDs) by just sending a message on the chat platform.
Till now, individuals could just check the details of their existing FDs, like maturity date, amount etc, through Whatsapp. But with this launch, ICICI Bank has become one of the first leading banks to offer the service of booking new FDs through Whatsapp.
Apart from that, the bank said that retail customers can now also initiate payment of utility bills like that of electricity, water, cooking gas, mobile phone etc through the Whatsapp platform. The service for recharge of prepaid mobile phones will also be available shortly on WhatsApp, it added.
For corporates and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), the bank said that it was testing trade finance services with select companies and will launch them widely on the messaging platform within the next few days.
“Corporates and owners of MSMEs can check trade finance-related services like customer ID, Import Export (IE) code, limit availability of all credit facilities availed from the Bank, status of pending inward remittances and history of inward remittances on-the-go,” according to an ICICI Bank press release.
With the launch of all these services, the total number of banking services available on WhatsApp for ICICI Bank customers would rise to 25 within six months of the launch of the platform.
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For those unaware, customers can check savings account balance, last three transactions, credit card limit, get details of pre-approved instant loan offers, block/unblock credit/debit card in a secure manner, open instant savings account, opt for loan moratorium, access pdf of some prominent newspapers /magazines and locate nearby essential stores on the bank’s Whatsapp platform.
Individuals who are not the customers of ICICI Bank can also use its Whatsapp services to know the current offers, or locate nearby ICICI Bank ATMs and branches.
Whatsapp banking is available 24/7 on all 365 days free of cost and is also available in Hindi language. If you want to avail any of the service, here’s a quick glance at the procedure:
-- Add the number 8640086400 to your contacts and Say ‘Hi’ on 8640086400 from your registered mobile number.
-- Customers can also give a missed call or SMS OPTIN to 9542000030 to start conversation by getting a secure and interactive menu on your mobile screen through WhatsApp messaging platform.
-- The menu will show the list of services available on WhatsApp along with the keyword associated with each transaction.
-- For instance, to open fixed deposits, you need to type ‘Fixed Deposit’, or ‘FD’. Then enter the amount and the tenure; the amount can be between Rs 10,000 and Rs 1 crore. You will be shown display interest rates for different tenures and the amount available on maturity.
-- Similarly, you can type ‘Pay bills,’ ‘Electricity,’ ‘Gas’ and ‘Mobile postpaid’ to pay utility bills.
