Mangaluru: Walkathon promotes digital banking

Mangaluru, Dec 9: Karnataka Bank on Saturday organized a walkathon in the city to create awareness about banking among the general public and popularise its financial inclusion initiative. The walkathon, aimed to popularise digital banking and other banking products, coincided with the bank's ongoing CASA Campaign from November 15, 2017 to February 28, 2018.

“Though the country has completed more than 7 decades of independence, forty percent of population is still not covered under formal banking system. This march is conducted to promote Honourable Prime Minister’s mission to provide banking facility to all the citizens of the country especially un-banked population in remote villages and rural areas and thus realise financial inclusion in its true sense,” stated a release issued by the bank.

Karnataka Bank chairman P Jayarama Bhat flagged-off the march at the bank’s old head office building at Kodialbail in the city. Managing Director and CEO Mahabaleshwara M S and other executives of the bank led the walkathon which culminated at its head office premises at Mahaveera Circle, Pumpwell.

Speaking on the occasion Mahabaleshwara M.S, MD & CEO, said “The major objectives of today’s road show are to promote financial literacy, popularise customer friendly products of the Bank, convey the importance of savings habit and create awareness about the safety measures to be adopted in digital banking, etc. The road show assumes significance in the context of demonetization and digitalization drive launched by Govt. of India.”

“Bank is fast moving into the next generation of banking, offering the best products in line with latest developments happening in the digital technology space to on-board the unbanked sections of the society.  We are sure that this initiative will help in increasing the financial awareness among public and contribute towards strengthening the economy of the country. The initiative will be replicated in other major cities of the country in the months to follow,” he said.

Jayarama Bhat said “Major share of the branches of the Bank are located in villages and rural areas. The Bank has always treated it as its responsibility to offer banking services to rural population. Bank today enjoys the trust of its customers due to the consistent support that it has extended to them over the years. We hope to strengthen this bond with various customer centric initiatives. We believe that this march is a “Walk towards our Customers”. I wish all the best to this initiative.”

P. R. Karanth, General Secretary, All India Karnataka Bank Employees’ Association (AIKBEA), top executives of the Bank and around 700 staff members of the Bank working in different offices of the Bank at Mangaluru took part in the road rally by holding placards carrying messages promoting awareness about various aspects of general banking from the Regional Office of Mangaluru at Kodialbail to the Head Office of Bank at Pumpwell covering major points of the city viz, Hampankatta, Balmatta and Kankanady.