NABARD funds the certification process by reimbursing exam fees

MUMBAI, 7^th FEBRUARY, 2023 (GPN): Well trained and knowledgeable banking staff is confident and better equipped to help customers. Fino Payments Bank, which has a huge network of business correspondent (BC) agents or merchants to provide banking services, has joined hands with Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF) to train and certify its BCs.

The objective of IIBF, a professional body of banks, Financial Institutions, and their employees in India, is to nurture competent banking professionals. Towards this, IIBF has created a structured module on various aspects of banking services. Banks are recommended to train their BC agents as per the module following which exams are conducted for final certification.

It may be noted that banking is a business of trust. If service provides such as BCs are not knowledgeable it results in not only an unpleasant customer experience but also loss of trust in the BC and also the bank.

Shailesh Pandey, Chief Sales Officer, Fino Payments Bank said, “Majority of our BCs operate in under banked areas located in urban and rural geographies. Therefore it is important for them to be knowledgeable about banking products to ensure customers are serviced well and their grievances addressed properly. A structured training program goes a long way in enhancing their skills and understanding of banking leading them to offer quality customer service. Our internal teams have been training BCs on the IIBF module and the first batch is ready to take the exam at our own premises. This is a huge step towards creating a financially empowered BC network across the country.”

To facilitate more BC participation, IIBF has allowed payments banks to conduct the online exam from the banks’ own centres across geographies. Upon Fino Bank’s request IIBF has registered the bank and provided the login ID, password and URL link for BC registration under bulk login.

To further ease the burden on the BCs, Fino Bank bears the cost of exam fees charged by IIBF. NABARD, under its scheme of reimbursement of BC/BF training cost, has approved Rs 5.8 crore to fund the program that aims to have over 3 lakh certified BC agents by October 2023.

Fino Bank has identified around 23 centres across states where local BC agents can take the exam after completion of training. The certification exams are conducted by IIBF every week.