Impact and Achievements of the EASE Program
- PSBs showed a significant improvement in the EASE Reforms Index during the financial year ending in March 2020, with an overall increase of 37%.
- The participating banks continued their reforms journey and demonstrated progress in various reform areas.
- EASE 1.0 and EASE 2.0 systematically addressed the root causes of weaknesses in PSBs and equipped the boards and leadership with effective governance, risk appetite frameworks, technology-driven risk assessment, and prudential underwriting systems, and focused recovery arrangements.
- They also improved customer responsiveness, digitized lending for retail and MSMEs, established outcome-centric HR systems, and implemented specialized monitoring systems for time-bound action in respect of stress. However, sustaining the momentum of reforms is crucial for the PSBs to further improve performance and build the platform capabilities required for the future, as the changing India needs a revitalized banking sector.
Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE) Program
The full form of the EASE Program is Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE) Program. In January 2018, the Indian government and Public Sector Banks (PSBs) launched the EASE Reforms Agenda, which was commissioned by the Indian Banks’ Association and authored by the Boston Consulting Group. The Indian Banks’ Organisation, established in 1946, represents Indian banks and financial institutions in Mumbai. The EASE Agenda’s goal is to achieve CLEAN and SMART banking. The EASE Reforms Index evaluates each PSB’s performance using more than 120 objective indicators and provides a transparent grading approach that enables banks to identify their strengths and areas for improvement. The objective is to foster healthy competition among PSBs and drive modernization efforts by emphasizing data analytics, automation, and digitization. The EASE program has been providing a common set of reform objectives for PSBs since its inception, with the aim of enhancing profitability, asset quality, customer service, and digital capabilities through new-age reforms.
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