ICICI Bank Account Holders Can Now Transfer Funds via Twitter

Private sector lender ICICI Bank on Monday launched a facility which allows account-holders to transfer funds through Twitter, apart from recharge their prepaid mobile accounts and check their bank balances.

Users will have to subscribe or follow the bank's Twitter handle @ICICIBank and then register for the facility. To register, users will need to send a direct message (DM) in the format "#reg". After this, the customers will receive a one time password (OTP) on their registered mobile number, which again needs to be sent as a DM from their Twitter account to the bank's Twitter account in the format "#regotp".

The bank is using NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) or RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) methods for the fund transfers, and will soon be enabling the IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) mode too.

For fund transfer, the sender needs to know the beneficiary's Twitter handle. To initiate funds transfer, registered users will have to use the following format, "#Pay @." Upon sending the DM on Twitter, customers will receive a SMS on their registered mobile number with a four-digit redemption passcode, which they will have to share with the beneficiary. This passcode is valid for usage within three days of the creation of the request.

Beneficiaries will receive a tweet from the bank with a link that will take them to a secured page on ICICI Bank's website. Here, beneficiaries will be required to verify their Twitter account along with name, account number, IFSC code (in case using a different bank) of the bank account where the money is desired to be credited, and the four digit passcode received from the sender.

Customers can send up to Rs. 5,000 per transaction with a limit of Rs. 10,000 per day. The bank will not charge for such fund transfers but the sender will have to pay the fees as applicable for an NEFT or RTGS transaction.

"This complies with all the regulatory requirements of two-factor authentication," ICICI Bank Executive Director Rajiv Sabharwal said.

ICICI Bank claims it is the first in Asia and only second in the world to offer a Twitter-based fund transfer service. France's Group BPCE had launched a similar facility on Twitter back in October. A year ago, ICICI launched the facility to transfer funds through Facebook and according to Sabharwal it has now 30,000 active Facebook users.

Claiming that the bank serves the highest number of youth in the country, Sabharwaal said ICICI launched the new service in view of the demographic.

It has 2.8 million registered mobile banking users and 15 million Internet banking users, he said, adding that a team of 100 people is working on digital banking within the bank.

ICICI Bank is also working on a mobile digital wallet which will work on near-field communication technology, just like its rival HDFC Bank, Sabharwal said, adding the wallet will be launched this year itself. It is also working on banking services through wearable devices, the kind which are a rage with fitness enthusiasts.

As for the prepaid mobile recharge service, ICICI Bank account holders can DM the @ICICIBank handle a message in the following format, "#TopUp<10-digit mobile no.> ".

Apart from funds transfer and prepaid mobile recharge, ICICI Bank account holders can view their account balance by sending a DM in this format, "#ibal", and view three recent transactions by sending a DM in this format "#itran". Finally, to seek clarification on the service, customers can send DM "#Help".

Written with inputs from PTI