We want to serve Bharat with India’s trust: MVS Murthy, CMO, Federal Bank

Federal Bank is the preferred Personal, NRI and Business banking partner for a growing expanse of customers across India, in both urban and rural areas. The bank is driven by the quest to be one of the most admired banking institutions in the country. The bank has kept pace with the digital transformation and has today redefined themselves with their digital innovation to meet the future banking challenges and deliver quality service to all their customers.

Their performance is built on the bedrock of a solid foundation established by focussing on digital for the past decade. The launch of several digital products and digital marketing initiatives has helped the bank to move on a faster growth path and maintain a good relation with all their customers. The bank has an excellent employee retention and has the lowest attrition rates and believes in maintaining consistency in their delivery. With good branch expansion happening in the Tier 2 and 3 cities the bank is very ambitious to cater to clients in smaller cities where there is huge business potential.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, MVS Murthy, Chief Marketing Officer, Federal Bank, speaks about how the bank has retained customers for generations, having the lowest employee attrition rates, investing in digital assets, the goal to become the Most Admired Bank, and much more.

The banking sector has been aggressive and there is stiff competition between all the banks. How is Federal Bank differentiating itself to stand out in the competition and woo more customers?

One of our key strengths has been a very loyal franchise. Almost about 70% of our business comes from our existing customer base. And we fathom that at a wallet share level, we cater to many of their banking as well as investment needs. The book keeps getting further strengthened by the fact that there are customers who have been banking with us for two generations and some for three!

Being the banker of choice not only in India but in GCC gives us deep roots into key markets and segments. We are ensuring that we reciprocate the trust reposed in us by delivering humane service. This requires understanding of banking for sure, but also cultural sensitivities.

Besides, with the lowest employee attrition rates, there is consistency in delivery. We are super stoked that many of our colleagues in client-facing roles have grown up the ranks. You will find very young folks being given large responsibilities, because of the depth of knowledge they have built over years.

The human capital and its qualities are ubiquitous. Everything else can be adapted, adopted and traded. A strong Customer Franchise, a great work culture and consistency in running the business gives us distinct competitive edge. No one can replicate it, while you can build similar, similar is not same.

Digital has transformed every sector. How has Federal bank adapted to the digital world and what are some of the innovations that you have brought in technology to serve your customers better?

The Bank is investing in digital assets, by this I don’t mean the platforms that one would expect banks to have, but structures built to leverage technology.

Our Digital Centre of Excellence (DCE) is singularly responsible for state-of-the-art digital assets being churned out. Our website, mobile app, chatbot Feddy, the work around digitalising product purchases, etc., are all a well-co-ordinated effort by the team. The other prong powering our digital growth is our 450-odd APIs, which allows the fintech ecosystem to plug into us. I would want to believe that there is a huge start-up likeability for Federal Bank’s digital foresight and business ease.

We have commitments into the start-up ecosystem through our partnerships with bodies like Kerala Start-Up Mission. About 40 of our colleagues are actively engaging with some amazing talent in the India Stack. An AI Innovation Centre is expected to go live shortly. The leadership team of the bank is actively involved in all of these initiatives and is soaking in all the advances in technology to better our business model.

If you look at the growth of our cash-less transactions, the usage of the platforms mentioned above, launch of branch on wheels, Feddy Zones – which are tech run banking centers – all of them are markers of a robust orchestration with all things digital.

How have you positioned your bank? And what kind of target audience is the bank targeting to grow the business both at corporate and retail level? 

Our goal is to become the Most Admired Bank. This requires a collective lift amongst all teams, products, processes, channels, etc. With an ambition of that scale, there is no room for white spaces.

Ours is a bank which is seen to have a fusion of well-manned physical presence, smart digital moats and a team which understands banking from a customer’s lens. More than us positioning, our customers see us as their perfect partner across life styles, life stages, multiple requirements and members of the family. Very often, we have realised that business has been won by the power of knowledge and the confidence we have instilled by our conduct with new clients. The ignition for market share is mind share, and we are calibrating the firing of the spark plug.

How has the first quarter been for the bank? With the festive season started, how is the bank planning to leverage it for the next few months of the festive season? 

On most of the key parameters, we are in the green with an upward trajectory. Our credit growth is higher than that of the industry, we grew at 18%. In most of our other businesses, we are nudging at a ~15% + growth.

This festive season is different from the previous 3 as the festivities are expected to play out to full script rather than abridged excerpts. The trajectory of our transaction numbers is on the rise, and we definitely expect that Q3, where most of the key festivals make their entry, will see an uptick in spends, and credit requirements.

At a brand level, we want to be in the thick of things and not for a moment sit out on the bench. We are at a point of inflexion in our business with an upward trend. A large part of that belief comes from the ecosystem, where you see large corporates having invested in capacity building to meet an uptick in demand. Being one of the key catalysts of the economy, we expect to be in a sunny spot at the beginning of Q4 and continue further to sign off the year in style.

For the record when FY-22 ended, only one of our branches located in the interiors of the country was not profitable, else each branch is building on their profitability potential. Personally, I feel that Q4 is going to be an absolute break-out for our bank and all our teams are revving up for it.

How do you plan to maintain the visibility of the bank? What kind of campaign strategy do you have in mind? And what’s going to be your engagement strategy with your audience?  

If you look at the recent spree of our branch expansion, it is been in Tier 2/ Tier 3 cities of the country. We are going into unbaked, less banked areas of the country powered by the confidence of our existing corporate, MSME and retail clients. These expansions are adding to our visibility.

The launch of our #Bank OnTheGo (the branch on wheels) gives mobility to our visibility in markets of our choice. Our campaign approach has 4 S – Segment relevance, Scalable, Sustainable and Simple for audiences to connect with. All of our campaigns are intertwined in local culture and folklore.

The budgets are consciously allocated across different media to give us “maximum marketing”. With each of our audiences, we see ourselves being contextual, appreciative of language comfort and in a medium of predominant choice. When you pan the media or medium, we aren’t present by our absence, we are all across all that which matters to us. Messaging is for markets of choice with momentum to impact or book.

We want to serve Bharat with India’s trust.