It has been more than a month already since we are communicating and working remotely. This was a challenge not only for someone regularly going to work every day, buying essentials in the stores, but also for businesses engaged in different fields. The banking system was not an exception. We had a talk withIDBank’s Digital Banking Director Sergey Arakelyan on the transformations that the banking services underwent during this period and on the scope of remote services.

IDBank is known in the Armenian market as an innovative digital bank. Yet, coronavirus, as it turned out to be, surprised the entire world. What happened in IDBank?

IDBank started the process of digitalization back in 2018 with the rebranding,as realizing the imperative of the times we tookthe path of creating the widest possible set of remote banking tools. Of course, conditioned by coronavirus the situation came as a surprise for many sectors, but the banking system has long ago realized that digitalization is the best way to ensure the most demanded type of rendering financial services – the remote service.

Back in 2018, we had announced creation of a joint platform in cooperation with Idram. Today the platform is a reality and it allows our clients to use not only banking but also to perform payment and settlement services while staying home, moreover, the number of such services exceeds 300. It means that IDBank’s clients can make transactions through both IDBanking.am platform and the “Banking” section of Idram application.

Besides, our Privilege and Personal Banking services are also available for clients on Viber, What’sapp and Skypevideo calls,making possible certain transactions.

According to the decision of the Commandant many organizations in our country are working remotely. Do IDBank’s employees also work remotely and isn’t it unsafe in terms of data protection?

From the very first days of the quarantine IDBank has been taking measures not only to provide the clients with a complete set of remote banking tools but also to ensure the safety of its employees and to provide them with remote working conditions. As an organization with high sense of social responsibility, IDBank ensured remote working for more than 60% of those employees, who are not directly involved in contact with clients. Of course, in situations like this cybercrimes become rather active, and for this reason our employees received clear instructions on maintaining information security to avoidphishing and to ensure efficiency of the remote work. It is important that the remote employees perform their functions with an efficiency needed for the uninterrupted operations of the Front Office.

With all this in mind, I can confidently state that despite the difficulties, IDBank has the necessary resources for ensuring the remote performance.

Talking about phishing, I would also like to give some pieces of advice to our clients:

-       It is highly recommended to have an antivirus software installed on computers or even smartphones.

-       You should regularly update the software packages.

-       Try to avoid surfing unknown and suspicious websites or at least do not provide any data on such websites, especially – card information.

-       If you receive messages by e-mail, check the sender’s e-mail address before opening the attached file or link to make sure the message has been received from someone you know or expect.

-       While shopping online, make sure that the online store or the website is equipped with https security system.

-       Use strong passwords, (not one that contain a known name or other knowndata), for example: complex combinations of numbers, letters and symbols.

-       Do not use for financial systems the passwords,you have already used in other systems; regularly change passwords.

-       In reply to money requests, received through social networks, try to find out through another channel whether the request has really been received from the person you know.

-       Do not provide your card details to anybody, and if necessary, transfer the card details in parts through different channels.

-       In case you notice anything strange with any of your online accounts, immediately contact the organization maintaining the system, through the contact information on their official websites and notify them about the problem.

 

In fact, IDBank managed to quickly adapt to the situation and provide the opportunity for both its employees and its clients to #stayhome.

Yes, as I have already mentioned,our employees continue to work from home with high efficiency ensuring the continuity of processes, and our set of remote bankingtools allows our clients to perform the following operations without going out:

-       Make transfers,

-       Manage accounts,

-       Order cards,

-       Replenish accounts,

-       Receive or repay loans,

-       Place deposits,

-       Open current or saving accounts,

-       Make payments for more than 300 various services etc.

Most of this services are also available in the “Banking” section of the Idram application. Moreover, our banking services are not only available to our clients, but also to those who want to become our client. To do that, you just have to download the Idram application and become IDBank client after passing through remote identification procedure. That is to say, if, for example, you need a loan, but you are not a client of IDBank, there is no need to worry: you can download the Idram application and apply for the Rocket loan. By the way, it is worth to mention that even in the present circumstances IDBank has not terminated the process of lending, and it will take you just a couple of simple steps and an up to 5 mln AMD loan amount will appear on your account with no hidden fees and commissions.

By going through remote identification you, of course, will also be ableto make use of all the other services that I have mentioned before. This feature is especially important when we encourage people to stay home: if we do so, then we also have to provide them with the opportunity to use our services without even being our clients.

What other benefits do the clients, who make use of financial services, receive from IDBank and what can they expect in the future?

The clients who make use of the services of IDBank can take advantages of the variety of the innovative services that we offer, of course not to forget the cooperation of IDBank and Idram. Today the digital platform jointly created by the two companies provides a number of advantages to both clients and partners.

Particularly, today the users of our digital platform can perform contactless payments in Idram- partner stores and pharmacies through QR and NFC technologies by selecting IDBank cards, accounts or any other attached card as a mean of payment. Today some people avoid ordering deliveries with the aim not to deal with cash. However, I have to note that the users of the digital platform can make contactless payments for delivery as well, since our partner Idram has recently introduced solutions for businesses that had never accepted online payments before. All this allows ensuring business continuity, and maintaining the necessary social distance and making secure payments for clients.

The need for switching to non-cash operations has been mentioned on a state level for many times long before the pandemic. This path might seem hard to many, and perhaps some of our citizens and businesses are,forced to choose it today, however, I guess that both the citizens and businesses are most likely to avoid cash operations after the quarantine is over, as non-cash payments are convenient, simple and secure.

After the pandemic… What do you think will happen after we overcome the pandemic?

It’s no secret that our life has already been divided into “before” and “after” the pandemic. Definitely, the coronavirus was another signal to the world to reconsider some approaches: the tendency of transition from traditional to remote services is now irreversible, and you have to look forward, adapt yourself to the situation and even try to move ahead of time and set priorities to ensure business continuity. Individuals also face the challenge of “business continuity”, there will be a need to reshape certain professions, it already is, and some sectors will have to think about redefining their activity. Moreover, I am convinced that even if the pandemic didn’t happen there,for sure, would be another factor, which would push the world to undergo key changes.

As for the IDBank’s activities, we will continue the fulfilment of our strategic goals – digitalization, rendering more suitable services to our clients, be it remotely or in person, and ensuring the best customer service. Stay home and be healthy!

 THE BANK IS CONTROLLED BY THE CBA