IFSC Code,Cheque Truncation,Bancassurance

- > IFSC (Indian Financial System Code):
i. Indian Financial System Code is an alpha-numeric code that uniquely identifies a bank-branch participating in the NEFT system.
ii. This is an 11 digit code with the first 4 alpha characters representing the bank, The 5th  character is 0 (zero).and the last 6 characters representing the bank branch.
iii. IFSC is used by the NEFT system to identify the originating / destination banks / branches  and also to route the messages appropriately to the concerned banks / branches.
For ex: SBIN0015986 : i. First 4 character SBIN – refers to State Bank of India. ii. 0 is a  control number.
iii. last six characters (015986) represents the SBI branch Jail Road, Hari Nagar New Delhi.

- > MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition): MICR stands  for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. MICR Code is a 9 numeric digit code which uniquely identifies a bank branch participating in the ECS Credit scheme. MICR code consists of 9 digits e.g 400229128
 i. First 3 digits represent the city (400)
 ii. Next 3 digits represent the bank (229)
iii. Last 3 digits represent the branch (128)

Note: The MICR Code allotted to a bank branch is printed on the MICR band of cheque leaves issued by bank branches.

- > Cheque Truncation:
i. Truncation is the process of stopping the flow of the physical cheque issued by a drawer at some point with the presenting bank en-route to the drawee bank branch.
ii. In its place an electronic image of the cheque is transmitted to the drawee branch by the clearing house, along with relevant information like data on the MICR band, date of presentation, presenting bank, etc.
iii. Cheque Truncation speeds up the process of collection of cheques resulting in better service to customers, reduces the scope for clearing-related frauds or loss of instruments in transit, lowers the cost of collection of cheques, and removes reconciliation-related and logistics-related problems, thus benefitting the system as a whole.

- > Bancassurance: The sale of insurance and other similar products through a bank. This can help the consumer in some situations; for example, when a bank requires life insurance for those receiving a mortgage loan the consumer
could purchase the insurance directly from the bank.