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The banking industry is adopting the latest technology trends. Mobile phones have become the most important device, while the mobile apps have turned out to become the most essential tool to manage money. The number of customers using online banking is increasing when compared to those using the traditional one.

Technology has made things faster and more convenient that people don’t have time to wait. Mobile banking apps help you with this. For instance, the IDFC FIRST Bank ebanking app on your mobile can help you perform several things such as shopping, paying bills, transferring funds, opening a savings account, etc., online. 

What makes an e-banking app unique?

A mobile banking app helps a bank account holder to carry out all financial transactions online. From checking the account balances to transferring funds and setting up payments, it helps you do everything at your convenience. Some distinguishing features of the mobile banking app of IDFC FIRST Bank includes:

Accessibility from anywhere

Using the latest technology, IDFC FIRST Bank offers most of its banking services effectively online. Their customers can carry out financial transactions sitting in the living room. They save a lot of time using the IDFC FIRST Bank Mobile Banking app, which helps avoid visiting the bank. If you have a smartphone and the Internet connection, you can download the app from the Play Store or App Store and register on it.

Easy money transfers from one bank to another bank 

A customer can carry out banking tasks anytime like when traveling, at the office, or even at leisure time. They do not need to visit the bank’s branch to transfer money, or to pay bills. With this bank to bank money transfer app, you can transfer money, make payments through net banking or UPI, link bank accounts, and so on.

You can effortlessly switch between multiple accounts of different banks and conduct transactions easily. The app also helps you generate mini statements of all accounts linked with the app. It also facilitates instant funds transfer or payments through the UPI facility and pay for the utilities like water, LPG, electricity, DTH charges, etc.

Recharge FASTag online

With the IDFC FIRST Bank Mobile Banking app, you can pay tolls online easily by purchasing FASTag. You don’t have to wait in lines at toll plazas now. This simple and reloadable tag facilitates automatic payment of tolls ahead of your journey. Moreover, you can also pay for parking and fuel. The Radio-Frequency Identification, (RFID) helps you pay for the fuel, and saves time by not requiring to stop at any fuel station. All you need is to buy and register for FASTag online. Once you have bought it, you can do the FASTag recharge online easily. The app also helps you to perform the FASTag balance check online from your home or when traveling. 

The IDFC FIRST Bank Mobile banking app is also known for sending notification messages or alerts for every withdrawal, payment, or deposit effected. The customer’s mobile phone, which is connected with the app, will give real-time updates, messages, and alerts. This will help you take immediate actions if there is any unauthorized access to your bank account. 

Almost 18 months since the pandemic, the workforce nationwide is still reeling from its effect. Other than the fear of becoming sick, people suffer from financial stress, which has grown to become a major problem. Studies show that money stress can have a bad impact on a person’s health. How can you eliminate your financial stress? You can do it possibly by earning extra money. How does earning more than Rs 50,000 every month sound?

It doesn’t matter if you have a full-time job, there is still a need for more money, which you can earn using a genuine refer and earn app by referring.

With referral programs offered by companies, including banks, you can have a second income online. Among financial products offered by banks or financial institutions, an online personal loan is the most sought-after product provided instantly to meet an emergency. The use of advanced technology has helped banks introduce a personal loan referral app to get potential personal loan offers from their loyal customers through quality referrals. The IDFC FIRST Bank’s MyFIRST Partner app extends an opportunity to earn money with zero investment.

Know more about IDFC FIRST Bank’s MyFIRST Partner app

IDFC FIRST Bank through its MyFIRST Partner app offers you an opportunity to join a personal loan referral program to earn some money. This refer and earn work app allows eligible people to become a connector of IDFC FIRST Bank and help their family members, friends, neighbours and colleagues to get its personal loan products at flexible tenures and low interest.

Personal loans are offered for purposes like education, marriage, home renovation, medical treatments and paying off debts. Eligible individuals can get instant loans by completing the formalities online. Once the loan is approved and disbursed, you are paid a certain amount on the loan amount as a compensation. The app can help you earn over 50k regularly.

How can MyFIRST partner personal loan program help you earn money?

By joining the MyFIRST Partner loan program you get to:

• Represent a leading bank: IDFC is one among the leading banks in the country with branches across the country. By registering with the MyFIRST Partner app, you get a chance to represent the bank and act as its partner, and help your peer avail instant loans. The reputation of the bank helps you get quality referrals easily
• Help people get a personal loan instantly: The referral partner program is all about assisting people in personal loan financing. You can help them get loans depending on their requirements. There are personal loans for students with no income, as well as medical loans, home renovation loans, etc. The documentation process is quite simple with no paperwork and instant loan approvals.
• No investment required: Using the best android app for money earning, you can have an additional income without any investment, other than time. The requirements for this are very straight forward. You must be 18 years or above, you need to be a citizen of India and your residential area must be in a serviceable location.
• Earn money on every loan disbursement: You can earn more if you refer more. The money is paid for every referral you provide, and it is added to your account as and when the loan amount has been credited to the applicant’s account.

With a simple registration process and no investment, you can now fulfil your dream of earning more money online with no investment.

The best way to lead a peaceful retired life is to have sufficient income that allows you to live an adequate lifestyle and be able to meet any emergencies that might arise. The traditional approach to retirement planning has been to choose low-risk and low-return long-term investments. Some of the aforementioned investments have lock-in periods that make switching to more profitable avenues difficult.

Moreover, most investment avenues do not provide substantial relief in case of an unfortunate event like the death of the investor. In this context, a savings insurance plan is a cost-effective investment tool to ensure protection for your family and get a regular stream of income in your old age.

What is a guaranteed income plan?

As you move ahead in life, your needs change according to the change in your life stages. You create a savings plan and deposit funds according to your capacity, needs, budget, and savings horizon. The objectives of the plan may include housing for the family, the education of children and their marriage, career support, and your own retirement planning.

Besides planned expenditure, there could be unexpected emergencies that could put a dent in your savings. You should also remember that in addition to a savings plan, an adequate life cover is important to keep your family protected from financial distress when you are not around.

A guaranteed return investment plan combines life insurance with guaranteed returns; it offers the benefits of savings with a life insurance cover and is the most suitable option if you are planning for important life goals, including your retirement. You can also use the single premium feature available in most savings insurance plans to purchase a plan when you have surplus funds that you think can be allocated towards securing your post-retirement income.

How is a guaranteed return plan useful?

A guaranteed return plan provides you flexible options to create an endowment fund, regular income, or whole life income. The aforementioned plan allows you to properly plan for your future and lead a stress-free life.

Seven reasons why guaranteed return plans are profitable

1. The efficient management of financial goals

Guaranteed return plans help you plan out and manage your financial commitments in an efficient manner. The premium calculator that is available on most insurance companies’ websites can assist you in the determination of the cheapest premium for the optimum combination of savings and insurance.

2. Life cover

The life coverage included in a guaranteed return plan acts as a safety net for your family and supports them in the pursuit of their goals even after your demise. You can also extend the life coverage to include your spouse.

3. The flexibility of premium payment

Many insurance plans offer flexibility in the payment of premiums. For instance, Tata AIA, one of the country’s leading insurers, has a guaranteed return insurance plan which offers you the flexibility to pay a single premium or pay premium installations for a limited term.

4. The choice of the frequency of premium payments

You can pay your premium monthly, semi-annually, or annually. You can check the status of your guaranteed return plan policy payment online.

5. Add-on riders

You can include add-on riders to your savings insurance plan, including accidental death and dismemberment protection and waiver of premium. This is a handy way to get better coverage at a nominal additional cost.

6. Loan facility

You can avail loan facility against your guaranteed return savings plan, thereby providing you additional flexibility to manage your finances.

7. Tax benefits

You are eligible for tax benefits for the premium paid and on the sums received under the policy under Section 80C and Section 10(10D) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Therefore, a guaranteed return insurance plan provides you with the dual benefits of savings and a life cover.

Conclusion

All of us wish to spend our golden years without having any financial worries. To attain this goal, guaranteed return investments plans are suitable options since they are flexible and affordable and incorporate the dual features of savings and insurance. There is no such thing as the best guaranteed income plan since the plan you choose depends on your financial goals and financial capacity.

Small business owners aren’t accountants by profession. More often than not, they are not even from finance backgrounds. However, whatever their area of expertise may be, they need to learn the ins and outs of accounting.

Manual accounting goes as far as you are a small business operating with limited capability. But as soon as you think of scaling up, accounting tasks will seem a lot more daunting if you are not prepared for them. In such scenarios, small business accounting software is helpful to manage all the accounting-related activities.

But beyond that, there are some habits you should inculcate in yourself to be able to make the most out of the small business accounting software. Let’s look at five such factors that you should keep in mind about accounting to develop healthy accounting habits!

Separating business and personal accounts.

Mixing up the business and personal accounts can lead to some of the nastiest messiest financial blunders. The best solution to go about this is to establish your company as a distinct legal entity and open a business account as your financial hub. Use the business account for all the company-related finances. Make sure to not use that account for any of your financial expenses. Track the usage of your account separately.

Regularly creating profit and loss statements.

Profit and loss statements are important accounting tools that provide you with a comprehensive summary of your company’s expenses and income over a particular period. Generally, all public companies are required to release their P&L statements once per quarter, but small businesses aren’t required to create them by law. Despite that, P&L statements are great for being on top of your financial goals and ensuring healthy finances. The important factor is not creating profit and loss statements but creating them regularly. Individual P&L statements are not very valuable. Only when you make a quarter-by-quarter comparison do you get a holistic insight into your company’s finances.

Documenting all the expenses.

This is an important factor to consider, especially in terms of tax deductions. You are eligible for claiming many of your company’s expenses in the form of tax deductions, but that will not happen if you don’t have all the expenses properly documented. These expenses should include every cost that your business has to incur – from dinner with clients, ad budgets, office electricity bills, office rent, and so on.

Invoicing timely and accurately.

Invoicing can feel cumbersome and time-consuming, despite how utterly important it is. Plus, if you make silly mistakes in your invoices, it can put you at a loss. As a result of that, invoicing timely and accurately is an important factor towards maintaining healthy accounts. The invoices should be detailed, so much so that six months down the line, just glancing over an invoice can give you all the details you need to know about it. Invoicing timely and accurately will also put you in a better position to follow up with clients in case of delayed invoices, leading to better cash flows.

Streamline your accounting processes with small business accounting software!

The four factors mentioned above are without a doubt essential for healthy accounting and bookkeeping. But doing all of that manually is next to impossible. Luckily, you don’t have to do it manually anymore. Small business accounting software takes care of all the factors and more to keep your accounts up-to-date and your finances healthy. Explore various small business accounting software available in the market, and pick the one that fits your business needs. Start streamlining your accounting tasks, and free yourself off of a lot of useful time!

The exchange of money from one currency to another occurs every minute of every day among banks, institutions and individuals. Therefore, making a wire transfer should be straightforward – you select the service provider, request the transfer, and provide the required information.

While wire transfers have become more efficient with the advancement of technology, they still have an unsettling element of hidden costs and surprises. The answer to this mystery cost lies in a concept few have heard of – middle-market rates, better known as mid-market rates.

The process of transferring money involves the sale of one currency to buy another at a defined exchange rate: the value of one currency against the other. Exchange rates fluctuate rapidly, and it’s important to understand this rate because it represents what you’re paying in hidden fees. Having efficient fx management solutions will help you tackle the complexities of your business.

What Is The Real-Time Exchange Rate?

The real-time rate (or live rate) is determined by real-time changes in the market between two currencies and is the latest available exchange rate. Due to their very nature, real-time exchange rates fluctuate all the time.

The easiest way to find out what they are at a given moment in time for a given currency pair is to track them online through public sources. Searching for exchange rates between two currencies on Google, Bloomberg, and Reuters gives you a real-time, mid-market rate, which is prone to delays.

What Is The Mid-Market Exchange Rate?

Also called the “spot rate”, “inter-bank rate”, and the “real exchange rate”, the mid-market price is essentially the middle rate between the buy and sell prices of two currencies when transferring money internationally.

Mid-market rates are primarily used by banks, building societies, FX traders, and financial institutions when they trade money between themselves. It is also regarded as the fairest, most transparent exchange rate and is used across the world.

Financial institutions take the mid-market rate and then apply a margin on top of that, passing the additional cost onto the customer. That is why it is crucial to check the exchange rate applied to your transaction, as well as whether it is in your best interest.

Why Is It Important?

For companies and individuals that deal with foreign currency exchange, this is an excellent way of learning where the value of any currency pair is trading. At the same time, it benefits both parties by not crossing the entire spread when executing their transaction. A mid-market exchange rate that is genuinely applied is generally seen as being transparent and accurate.

By understanding the mid-market exchange rate, you will get more value for your money when making an international money transfer, but you should not overlook other considerations as well.

Receiving fees: Some banks charge fees when they receive money from abroad, no matter what currency the money is sent in. It’s therefore important not only to consider the exchange rate and transfer fees but also any charges that may be applied on the other end.

Lock-in exchange rates: There are money transfer platforms that let you lock in a given exchange rate on a currency pair, so it’s important to think about how often you will be making international transfers.

In Conclusion

Ultimately, there is only one “real” exchange rate: the mid-market rate; all other exchange rates are subject to the specific bank’s internal policies.

In the past, customers generally paid whatever fees were charged for international wire transfers because they had very little power. Technology has empowered customers, and the paradigm has shifted. Using a few quick keystrokes, they can check mid-market rates, which gives them additional options and minimizes excessive fees.

The Fintech sector is leading the way in focusing on a single sector of finance. The bank sector, however, is lagging as it focuses on numerous verticals such as insurance, payments, credit card issuing, and so on.

Following are popular themes for how payments may evolve in the future:

1. Payment Value Chain Built On Data

With APIs in open banking, transactional data in payments provide considerable value. The data uncovered by this analysis reveals multiple opportunities to prevent fraud as well as streamline financial planning for both consumers and corporations.

Competitive players that can effectively use these data will have an advantage. Among the key technologies in payments, data analytics tools and artificial intelligence (AI) continue to be prominent.

This will change the entire value chain within the payments industry. Increasingly, businesses will realize the importance of payment data analysis. If they can pay less for goods and services, then consumers will agree to share more data.

2. Frictionless Payments

To stay competitive in the modern digital world, e-commerce and retail businesses need to eliminate customer friction.

Payments made with frictionless technology use data from websites, devices, and apps to enable customers to buy faster and the merchant to sell more easily. This helps merchants increase revenue, reduce cart abandonment, and improve customer experience.

To qualify as frictionless, the checkout process should fulfil some or all of the following requirements:

• Faster checkout
• Fewer steps to complete checkout
• Feels like a natural part of the customer experience
• Reduces the cardholder’s cognitive strain
• Minimizes or eliminates waiting time

There are various frictionless payment options, including contactless card payments, mobile or e- wallets, and auto-renewing recurring payments or subscriptions, invisible payments, in-app payments, one-click payments, and device-initiated payments.

3. Cashless Economy

The pandemic has had an impact on the way people pay for goods, even though cash will likely never completely replace cash. As a result, e-commerce has grown and card payments have increased. ⁠

The use of cash had already decreased before COVID-19, but it is predicted to continue once social distancing is no longer necessary. Consumers will likely opt for cashless payments in the future.

4. Contactless Payments

In response to the pandemic, contactless payments grew. People are coming to realize the convenience of mobile payments, as consumer behaviour continues to change. The use of credit cards is expected to decrease and be replaced with digital wallets. The point of sale (POS) will transition from a permanent physical location to a mobile one.

In addition to large retailers, software-based POS systems are becoming increasingly popular. The new payment method is also available to customers of smaller businesses.

5. Moving Forward with The Future of Payments

In the past three to five years, the Coronavirus has significantly accelerated the growth of e-commerce and digital payments. Behaviour is evolving, and self-service and contactless methods of payment are no longer viable. They are indispensable.

Developing seamless, efficient payment systems will enable you to connect with your customers and provide them with a better shopping experience in the future.

ECS or Electronic Clearing Service allows for funds to be transferred from one bank account to another. Institutions often take advantage of ECS as it allows for various payments to be made with ease. These payments range from the distribution of interest and the payment of salaries to the allocation of pension and more. You can also use ECS to pay a number of bills including those pertaining to but not limited to your –

• telephone usage
• water consumption
• electricity
• equated monthly installments (or EMIs)
• SIP investments

ECS allows you to conduct credit and debit transactions with ease.

Understanding the ECS Mandate Form

Should you want to activate ECS transactions, you need to inform your bank of the same with the aid of an ECS mandate form that gives authorization to another institution that is then entitled to make credit or debit payments via your Bank. This mandate houses information pertaining to your bank account along with details relevant to your bank account.

The institution you give authorization to is then responsible for communicating information pertaining to the amount credited and debited to their account. They are also required to make clear the date of credit along with other pertinent details relevant to the payment in question.

You will be informed when your money has been debited from your account via communication from your bank which could be in the form of text messages or alerts which are sent to your registered mobile number.

An ECS user has the authority to specify the following.

• The maximum amount that can be debited from an account.
• The purpose of the debit
• The time frame during which the mandate provided is valid

Examining the Difference Between ECS and NACH

Let’s take a look at the difference between ECS and NACH :

3. Operational Centers– While ECS is presently operating in 89 centers spread across the country and is operated by the RBI in 15 centers, the NACH platform is set to have 82000 platforms in addition to bank branches across the country.
4. Operating Model– The ECS platform makes use of a manual operating platform while NACH consolidates multiple ECS platforms and seeks to remove local barriers.
5. Presentation and Settlement– For presentation and settlement, time taken by ECS is 3 to 4 days while NACH takes a single day for both.
6. Disputes– In the case of ECS, disputes are resolved by the destination bank and sponsor bank in question while NACH has an electronic platform that allows for disputes to be raised and resolved.

5. Mandate Management System – Under ECS, mandate management is reliant upon physicals which leads to time lags and verification issues. NACH in contrast has an advanced mandate management system in place which allows for the easy verification of mandates.

Conclusion

The NACH platform can be understood to be an improved version of the ECS platform as it is more uniform in its offerings and services. Visit Finserv MARKETS to understand more pertaining to the same.

References

https://www.business-standard.com/article/pf/what-is-electronic-clearing-service-ecs-111070800019_1.html

https://www.goodreturns.in/classroom/2016/02/difference-between-nach-ecs-fund-transfer-432060.html