Unveiling of the fourth edition of Public Sector Bank Reforms Agenda – EASE 4.0
Recently the Finance Minister unveiled the fourth edition of the Public Sector Bank Reforms Agenda- EASE 4.0 for the financial year 2021-22.
- Along with this, the Annual Report of Ease 0 for the financial year 2020-21 was also unveiled. These Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE) was launched in the financial year 2019. It is a part of the reform agenda of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) based on a specific reform index.
- It allows objective assessment of the performance of public sector banks in key areas such as governance, prudent lending, risk management, technology and data driven banking and result-oriented human resource practices.
- The objective of the EASE reforms is to develop collaborative banking among PSBSs and tie-up with the wider financial services system, such as non-banking financial companies (NBFCS), for coordinated operation of co-principal loans.
- The EASE Index provides a comparative evaluation of all PSBSs. It reflects the parameters of the reform agenda and the performance of banks as compared to other peers.
Ease 3.0 compares PSBs on five topics:
- Smart Loans for Aspirational India,
- Technology driven banking facility,
- Institutionalizing prudent banking,
- Governance and result focused human resources and
- Strengthening financial inclusion and customer protection.
- Ease 0 aims to advance the agenda of customer centric digital transformation and deeply integrate digital technology and data into the functioning of public sector banks.
It introduces two new themes:
- New age 24×7 banking with flexible technology and
- Collaborative banking for synergistic results.
Major benefits of the reforms:
- Better and easier access to credit through digital means.
- Accessible from home and faster adoption of mobile channels for banking needs.
- To continuously improve access to initiatives related to financial inclusion.
- Large PSBs have also installed advanced analytics capabilities to understand the credit needs of the existing customers for proactive lending.
Source – The Hindu
