southeast bank

A Working Report on General Banking activities and Information System management of Southeast Bank Limited

Autumn 2010

A WORKING REPORT ON GENERAL BANKING ACTIVITIES AND

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT OF SOUTHEAST BANK

LIMITED.

by

Tasmia Talukdar

ID: 0610001

A Working Report Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

Bachelor in Business Administration.

INDEPENDENT UNIVERSITY, BANGLADESH

December 2010


Autumn 2010



LIMITED.


Autumn 2010



LIMITED.

by

Tasmia Talukdar

ID: 0610001

has been approved

December, 2010

Dr. Nadim Jahangir

Associate Professor

School of Business Independent University, Bangladesh.

Mr. Parvez Ahmed Sharif

Lecturer

School of Business Independent University, Bangladesh.


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Letter of Transmittal

December 5, 2010 Parvez Ahmed Sharif

Lecturer, MIS

School of Business

Independent University, Bangladesh

(IUB) Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Subject: Submission of the internship working report.

Dear Sir,

With due respect, I would like to inform you that it is a great pleasure for me to submit the

report on “general banking and information technology management of Southeast Bank

Ltd.”, as a mandatory requirement for BBA 499 (Internship) program. While conducting

the working report, I have gathered extensive knowledge on IT department of Southeast

Bank Limited.

Despite various constraints, I finished this working report at my best effort given where I

was. It would be a great honor for me if you would add your opinions and suggestions for

the future.

Thank you once again for supervising me during this difficult transitional time of my career.

Sincerely Yours

..………………………….

Tasmia Talukdar

ID# 0610001


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Acknowledgement

At first, I should thank Almighty Allah for enabling me to complete my project in time. I got

appointed to work as an intern at Bashundhara branch, Southeast Bank Limited. I worked on

analyzing their banking software and gathering experience of working in an office

environment. I have tried my best to present both hands on experience and study in this

paper. I would like to express my gratefulness and thanks to my respected academic

supervisor Mr. Parvez Ahmed Sharif, Faculty member of Independent University,

Bangladesh (IUB) for giving me the useful instructions on how to work on real life activity.

His dynamic guidance at all stages of work encouraged me to accomplish my work

successfully. I would like to thank School of Business, IUB for giving me overall support and

co-operation.

I am also thankful to Head of HR Division of SEBL, Head of Branch (Bashundhara branch),

SEVP (IT division) for allowing me to work in both places: Bashundhara branch and IT

division as well. I am grateful to the employees of IT division for their cooperation. They

have been very helpful in showing me the work process and provided relevant information

for my report whenever I approached. Although being in extreme business of workloads in

office they tried to provide me with necessary information when I asked questions.

It was a great opportunity to do internship in such an organization like Southeast Bank

Limited. I always felt that I was under guidance of highly qualified and experienced

personnel. The experiences I have gathered will be very beneficial in my career.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

List of tables i

List of Figures i

Executive Summary ii

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Origin of the Report 1

1.2 Objective 2

1.2.1 Primary Objective 2

1.2.2 Secondary Objective 2

1.3 Limitation 3

1.4 Source of Information 3

2.0 Overview on the Organization – Southeast Bank Limited 3

2.1 Historical Background of Southeast Bank limited 3

2.2 Corporate Profile of SEBL- at a glance 3

2.3 Management Hierarchy of Southeast Bank Ltd 4

2.4 Products and services of SEBL 5

2.5 Establishment of Bashundhara Branch 6

2.6 Activities of Bashundhara Branch 6

3.0 My duties and responsibilities as an Intern 6

3.1 General Banking 6

3.2 The Specific Activities I performed 7

3.3 Other Activities 8

4.0 Overview on IT Division 11

4.1 Software Overview 11

4.1.1 Name of the Solution proposed for the award 11

4.1.2 Purpose and Objective of procurement of the solution 11


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4.2 Process of needs identification 11

4.3 Scenarios prior to the existing solution 12

4.4 Drives for sourcing of the new solution 12

4.5 Modules of the Software 13

4.6 Infrastructural Description 14

4.7 Networking 16

4.7.1 Network diagram 17

4.8 Functionality of the Solution 18

4.9 Efforts given by SEBL to the existing solution 18

4.10 Security Policy 20

4.11 Work experience with “ULTIMUS team” 20

4.11.1 Problems and Solutions on IBTA 20

4.12 Concluding Discussion 22

5.0 Summary and Conclusion 23

5.1 Things I have learned 23

5.2 Supervisor‟s Approach to Inform Me of His Appraisal of 23

My Performance

5.3 Recommendation 23

5.4 Conclusion 26

List of Tables

Table 1: Corporate Profile of SEBL. ……………………………………………5

Table 2: Brief Outline of Products and services of SEBL………………………7

Table 13: Modules of "Bank ULTIMUS"……………………………………….15

List of Figures

Figure 1: management Hierarchy of SEBL…………………………………….6 Figure2:Work flow of receiving cash………………………………………………11

Figure 3 : VNC viewer function…………………………………………...................18

Figiure 4: network diagram…………………………………………………………..20


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Executive Summary

Banking sector of our country is playing an important role in our economic situation.

There are a large number of banks operating in our country successfully. Most of the banks

are automated. As a result every bank has banking software to operate their task easily and

efficiently. It also helps them to give effective and quick service to the customers. That‟s

why I took this opportunity to know about the business process of Southeast Bank. My

target was to find out what the users want from this service, and what the output actually

they get from their application packages. I had the opportunity to work upon general

banking in Bashundhara branch and also to look into the procedures of Information

technology management at Head office of SEBL. Therefore, I will be describing my duties,

activities and knowledge gained from the experiences. The deliberation of this report is

impounded in exploring information system of the bank .Thus, my report will be a

combination of different aspects of the banking deals and operations under general banking

activities and a comprehensive view on IT division. An effort has been made to identify

some problems and prospects and to provide recommendation for solving those problems

as well.


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Chapter-1


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1.1 Origin of the Report:

As a mandatory requirement of the Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) program

under Independent University, Bangladesh this report entitled - "A working report on general

banking and IT division of Southeast bank Limited" - is a contrived depiction of the three

months long internship program at General Banking Services (Bashundhara Branch) and

Head Office (IT) of Southeast Bank Limited

My organizational supervisor is kazi Md. Ehsanuzzaman, Assistant Vice President, MIS , IT

division, Head office during my stay at IT division and while I worked in branch Mr. Sanjeed

Salahuddin , Probationary Officer was assigned to supervise me. Both of them cooperated

with me and without their help completion of the report won‟t have been possible. My

working report is on the software overview of IT Department along with brief idea on general

banking activities that I performed. Financial institutions are investment intermediaries

linking the service providers and clients of fund. In today‟s world banks are plating a

significant role in financial sector. The key to successful banking relies on ability of balance

many activities simultaneously. In order to ensure efficient and effective banking operation,

there is no alternative to the implementation of information system technology. This report

will focus on information technology management of Southeast Bank limited

comprehensively.

1.2 Objectives:

1.2.1 Primary Objective:

To present an overview of Southeast Bank Limited.

To analyze the different types of banking activities in the branch level.

To present the networking system and IT management of bank.

To provide some recommendations to improve service quality in the bashundhara

branch based on my understanding about the service and work procedures.

1.2.2 Secondary Objective:

To have a practical relation & reliability of the topics we have achieved from textual

background in our educational life.

To develop understanding of management Information System application in banking

sector.


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1.3 Limitations:

The banks always maintain very high security in their IT section. They do not provide any

user account without their employee. As I was the Intern in their bank, they would not

provide me any user account to access their application program. They only gave me some

limited access in their IT activities, which was not helpful to analyze the application program.

Though a very comprehensive and a well organized report has been tried to be produced but

there are still some limitations present here.

The communication gap among the different personnel because of excessive

workload.

Inexperience about practical work.

Because of sensitiveness, the department does not want to disclose information about

the technical information, which led to the shortcomings of this report into some

extent.

The bank authorities are so busy that they could not give me sufficient time for

discussion about the software and its problems.

1.4 Source of Information:

To prepare this report I was highly depended on Primary Data, which was collected from face

to face conversation with the Manager and Employee of the bank in-depth interview. Since it

is a working report, my personal experiences count as well. I also collected some official

scheme, brochure, web site paper that helped me lot to present this report. After ensuring the

accuracy of the data I utilized this data to my report.


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Chapter-2


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2.1 Historical Background of Southeast Bank Limited:

“A Bank with Vision” is the slogan of Southeast Bank Limited through a contemplation of

assuring „A professional term of Bankers is running the day-to-day operation of the Bank‟.

Southeast Bank Limited is a scheduled Commercial Bank established under the Bank

Companies Act, 1991, which obtained license from Bangladesh Bank on March 12, 1995 and

incorporated as a public limited company. It started its first commercial banking operation

from May 25, 1995. There are fifteen sponsors involved in creating SEBL and these sponsors

are the leading business personalities and eminent industrialists of Bangladesh, having stakes

in various segments of national economy. They are highly regarded for their entrepreneurial

competence. Besides, the board of directors of this bank consists of eminent personalities

from the realm of commerce and industries of the country.

2.2 Corporate Profile of SEBL – At a glance:

Name of the Company

Southeast Bank Limited

Chairman Alamgir kabir, FCA

Vice Chairman Ragib Ali

Managing Director Mahbub Alam

Company Secretary Mohammad Shahjahan

Legal Status Public Limited Company

Date of Incorporation March 12, 1995

Registered Office EunoosTrade Centre, 52-53, Dilkusha C/A (Level 2, 33 &

16), Dhaka – 1000

Line of Business Banking

Authorized Capital Tk. 10,000.00 million

Paid up capital 3,422.64 million

Year of initial Public offer 1999

Stock Exchange Listing April 10, 2000 ( DSE), April 24, 2000 (CSE)

Phone 957115, 7160866, 717793, 955466

Fax 99550086, 9550093 & 9563102

SWIFT SEBDBDDHXXX

E-mail [email protected]

Website www.sebankbd.com

Number of branches 69

Number of ATMs 6 in major places all over the country.

Table 1: Corporate Profile of SEBL.


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2.3 Management Hierarchy of Southeast Bank Limited (SEBL):

Figure 1 : management Hierarchy of SEBL

During my internship period, I

have found this hierarchy is also

followed in the branch I was

assigned and from the interview

with the employees I have come

to know that this is maintained

in all the branches.


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2.4 Products and Services of SEBL :

Bank is a service organization mainly. It sales the financial services to the consumers in terms

of product. Southeast bank Limited also provides a wide range of products and services to the

people. They provide online banking and ATM services. A picture is outlined here for a brief

look. Before getting into the table, I would like to mention that the details about these

services can be found in the following links:

For conventional banking : http://www.sebankbd.com/conventional_banking.php

For Islamic banking: http://www.sebankbd.com/islamic_banking.php

For Loans and advances: http://www.sebankbd.com/loans.php

For Foreign exchange & remittances- http://www.sebankbd.com/foreign_trade.php

Products and Services

A. Conventional

banking

B. Islamic

Banking

C. Loans and

Advances

D. Foreign trade

and remittances

Savings account Mudarabah Savings

Account

Working Capital

Finance

Export

Current Account Al Wadiah current

deposit

Overdraft Import

Fixed Deposit Receipt Mudarabah short term

deposit

project Finance Remittance

Business

Double Benefit Scheme Mudarabah term

deposit

Syndicated loan Western Union

Money transfer

Special Notice Deposit Mudarabah double

benefit scheme

Packet credit

Millionaire Deposit Mudarabah Millionaire

Deposit

Loan against export

bill

Mudarabah Hajj

Sanchay Prokalpo

Loan against trust

receipt

Table 2 : Brief Outline of Products and services of SEBL

http://www.sebankbd.com/conventional_banking.php

http://www.sebankbd.com/islamic_banking.php

http://www.sebankbd.com/loans.php

http://www.sebankbd.com/foreign_trade.php


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2.5 Establishment of Bashundhara Branch:

The Branch has started its operation from September 19, 2009. Due to the proficient

management of the bank and overall support of the employees of the branch, it has improved

their outcome in terms of quality services, profitability of business operation and gaining

good-will within very short period.

As a new branch Southeast bank, Bashundhara branch has attracted attention of many

customers, corporate, academic institutions which are situated near the branch.To name a

few, here the significant and valued clients are given below:

Bashundhara Group.

Spotlight event management.

North South University Foundation.

GrameenPhone Ltd.

Marico Bangladesh Ltd.

IDLC Finance Ltd.

Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh Ltd.

Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Power Grid Company of Bangladesh.

Delta Life Insurance Company Ltd.

In addition to these, they are getting response from other various organizations in the coming

days according to the feedback of their vigorous deposit campaign advised by the Head

office. They are also rendering their best effort with hard work and commitment to grow their

service and business operation by maximizing the number of various accounts.

2.6 Activities of SEBL ( Bashundhara Branch):

General Banking & Deposit Management:

1. Account opening and KYC procedures.

2. Issuance of DD/TT/PO/FDR.

3. Interbank Transaction, OBC/IBC.

4. Account and clearing section.

Credit Department:

1. Credit Proposals Processing Procedures.

2. Documentation and Loan Disbursement Procedures.

3. Overview on all returns.

Western Union Money Transfer.


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Chapter-3


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3.0 Prelude:

During my internship period, Initially I was deputed to Bashundhara Branch and later I was

deputed to the IT division ( Head office) upon my request to the head of branch and Head of

IT. So, I had the opportunity to know two types of working environment:

General banking activities (The branch I was assigned).

IT management (Giving Support to the branches by working with the Ultimus team).

In this chapter, I shall describe my activities at branch upon general banking and

overview on IT division is comprehensively explained in the later chapter.

3.1 General Banking :

Financial institution/ intermediary that mediates or stands between ultimate borrowers and

ultimate lenders is knows as banking financial institution. Banks perform this function in two

ways- taking deposits from various areas in different forms and lending that accumulated

amount of money to the potential investors in other different forms.

General Banking is the starting point of all the banking operating. General Banking

department aids in taking deposits and simultaneously provides some ancillaries services. It

provides those customers who come frequently and those customers who come one time in

banking for enjoying ancillary services. In some general banking activities, there is no

relation between banker and customers who will take only one service form bank. On the

other hand, there are some customers with who bank are doing its business frequently. It is

the department, which provides day-to-day services to the customers. Every day it receives

deposits from the customers and meets their demand for cash by honoring cheques. It opens

new accounts, demit funds, issue bank drafts and pay orders etc. since bank in confined to

provide the service everyday general banking is also known as retail banking.

3.2 The specific Activities I Performed:

Before explaining core banking concepts I want to give a brief explanation of bank account

entry system– debit (Dr.) and credit (Cr.).Credit in accounting means the amount that is owed

too or due to be received by an account and debit means the amount owed by or due to be


Autumn 2010

paid by an account. When someone deposits money in the bank, the cashier will tell him that

he will credit his/her account. From that experience, most people assume that cash is a credit,

and, so, credits are good. That is further reinforced when reductions in the accounts are

referred to as debits. Actually there is nothing good or bad about credit and debit. This is a

double entry system. When the cashier is telling the person depositing money that he or she

will “credit” your account, they are also entering a debit for the same amount. The same is

true for the debits to the client‟s account- there is also a credit being made at the same time.

The banks put the entry to their liability account. When someone deposits money in the bank,

because their liability to that person increases. Since liabilities are credit accounts they are

crediting our account. When they reduce their liability to the client, they are debiting their

liability account.

As an intern in the SEBL (Bashundhara branch) there were a number of activities in which I was

involved. The activities are given below:

Receiving cheque and pay order.

Updating the record book of clearing, FDR.

Administrative Activities like drafting letters or any other papers.

Assisting the person who works on auditing.

Inputting data to and retrieving necessary information from Ultimus Software.

Beyond these Activities there were other tasks that I was given to accomplish related to general

banking activities. Actually, Bashundhara branch is a very small and new branch, so there was no

specific department where I was assigned rather I was involved with almost all the members to

assist in their works. From this, I have learned many things. Though this is a small branch,

working pressure was high in terms of number of employees. So, I had to do the same thing

redundantly for long hours. In Appendix A: “Working Procedure” I will explain a few activities

done by me with some screenshot so that the procedures can be understood easily. All the

activities are based on this software “Bank Ultimus”.

3.3 Other Activities:

Receiving Cash : Any people who want to deposit money will fill up the deposit slip and give

the form along with the money to the cash officer over the counter. The cash officer counts the


Autumn 2010

cash and compares with the figure written in the deposit slip. Then he put his signature on the slip

along with the „cash received‟ seal and records in the cash receive register book against A/C

number. The activities are shown below through a Work flow chart: CC = Cash Counter

Figure 2: Work flow of receiving Cash

At the end of the procedure, the cash officer passes the deposit slip to the counter section for

posting purpose and delivers duplicate slip to the clients.

Disbursing cash :

The drawn who wants to receive money against cheque comes to the payment counter and

presents his cheque to the officer. He verifies the following information:

▫ Date of the cheque

▫ Signature of the A/C holder and material alteration.

CC Executes ‘End of Day’ Operation

CC Closes the Branch Cash Vault

CC and All the Other Cash Tellers Close

their Cash Counter

CC Executes ‘Beginning of Day’

Operation

CC Opens the Branch Cash Vault

CC and All the Other Cash Tellers Open

their Cash Counter

CC Transfers Money From Branch Vault

to his Own Cash Counter

CC Distributes Cash to All Cash Counter

Cash Tellers Starts Performing their Daily

Work

CC Submits Total Cash to the Vault

All Cash Counter Submits their Total Cash

to CC


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▫ Whether the cheque is crossed and endorsed or not.

▫ whether the amount in figure and in word correspondent or not

Then he checks the cheque from computer for further verification. Here the following

information is checked:

▫ Whether there is sufficient balance or not.

▫ Whether there is stop payment instruction or not.

▫ Whether there is any legal obstruction (Garnishee Order) or not.

After checking everything, if all are in order the cash officer gives amount to the holder and

records in the paid register.

The cash section of SEBL deals with all types of negotiable instruments, cash and other

instruments and treated as a sensitive section of the bank. It includes the vault which is used

as the store of cash instruments. The vault is insured up to Tk. 1 crore. If the cash stock goes

beyond this limit, the excess cash is then transferred to Principle Branch Office. When the

excess cash is transferred to SEBL Principle Branch Office the cash officer issues IBDA(inter

branch debit advice).


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Chapter-4


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4.1 Software Overview (Detail Information of the Solution) :

4.1.1 Name of the solution proposed for the award:

BankUltimus Core Banking System. The software is developed by Leads Corporation

Limited, Bangladesh. LEADS Corporation Limited is a leading technology services

company delivering Information Technology solutions. “LEADS” delivers a broad range of

IT services and solutions to clients in the banking, insurance, financial services, production,

and distribution industries and to government and non-government organizations. The detail

about the organization can be retrieved from this URL: http://www.leads-bd.com. The bank

has got “BEST IT Use Award- 2010” for its overall Information technology management

and policy.

4.1.2 Purpose and objective of procurement of the solution ( Bank Ultimus):

To accommodate business growth.

To have better control over deliveries and service deployment.

To have better Management Information System (MIS).

To introduce IT backed new products for clients.

To be ready for BASEL II compliance. BASEL II is the second of the Basel

Committee on international Bank Supervision's recommendations, and unlike

the first accord, Basel I, where focus was mainly on credit risk, the purpose

of Basel II was to create standards and regulations on how much capital

financial institutions must have put aside. Banks need to put aside capital to

reduce the risks associated with its investing and lending practices

To improve security administration system.

To be at par with competitors.

4.2 Process of Needs identification:

To eliminate Double Entry System and have consolidated MIS report

instantly as and when required.

To achieve ability to generate most of the statements and returns of

Bangladesh Bank within the specified timeframe by maintaining required

accuracy level.

To introduce “Checker – Maker concept” to comply with the ICT Guidelines

of Bangladesh Bank.

http://www.leads-bd.com/


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Avoid maintaining any primary and backup servers at Branch level.

To introduce effective Business Continuity Plan i.e. Business will be able to

resume automatically from the Disaster Recovery Site (DRS) if the

production site i.e. Data Center (DC) fails.

4.3 Scenarios prior to the existing solution:

Southeast Bank is one of the largest banks in financial arena in Bangladesh. It is

committed to provide financial services with modern technology to its large and wide

spread customer‟s. From the commencement, it has updated with latest technological

changes and supported local the technical expertise‟s to grow. Southeast Bank

Limited has been operating its core banking operation in all Branches using

distributed Banking software”Pcbank2000”until 2008 which was a local banking

software. All the branches were operated in distributed mode. Data was de-

centralized. Maintenance and Management of Banking Software was not easy task.

Central Bank Reporting was very time consuming and required human intervention. It

was unable to connect with modern delivery channels. There were also lack of Rich

MIS reporting system and lack of centralized security administration system.

4.4 Drives for sourcing of the new solution:

Southeast bank limited neither got the solution developed from scratch by the solution

provider for satisfying the identified needs nor did the solution provider push the

solution to the bank after observing by the bank that the identified needs are satisfied.

Actually, Southeast Bank Limited was using local solution from its commencement

which was PC bank 2000. And Leads corp. was working from that day with Bank. In

this case, they could not choose a single option rather it is blend of two. As previously

noted, Southeast Bank studied it‟s requirement to keep pace with the latest technology

.So, IT division prepared a Business requirement Document and contacted with the

others vendors through news paper. At the same time Leads Corporation also studied

the Banking requirement changes and they have developed centralized software as

they could visualize that in near the future banking industry would require the

software with latest features. So, according to management decision, Bank‟s IT

division formed a System Team and started User Acceptance Test (UAT) of the

BankUltimus developed modules according to the business requirements.


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4.5 Modules of the Software:

Since the modules are the most important feature of any software, Banks‟ IT division

provided necessary guidelines to implement the modules according to its Business

Needs. The IT division have tested each of the modules with necessary test script and

checked system bus and provided necessary business to make changes. There are too

many modules included in this software but I m mentioning here some of the

important modules: Table 23: Modules of "Bank ULTIMUS"

BANKING FUNCTION

Forms MIS Reports Others

Customer Profile Statement of Outstanding Credit

facilities

Bank Branch Information

Bills And Remittance Loan maturity wise forecast Central Bank reports

Loan proposal Maintenance Customer wise account listing Employee information

Commitments and Credit limits Date to balance listing Cash management

Loan Account Maintenance Transaction Profile details Marketable securities

Cheque book Maintenance Account wise introducer list Non-performing Loans

Transaction Consolidated Statement of deposits Guarantor maintenance

Image capture and transaction Remaining maturity position- Loan Clearing

Deposits Maturity list of FDR under Lien Batch file transaction

Authorization Disbursement of loan Customer Advice

Utility/Service bill Monthly profit Statement Trade Finance Reports

IBT reconciliation Summary statement of all branches Internet Banking

Standing Instructions Branch wise summary of

classification

Treasury Financial

Module


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Upon the advice of Southeast Bank IT experts, Leads Corporation added three more add-on

modules and provided them like Internet banking, Trade Finance and Treasury Financial

Module.

Before launching live operation, SEBL have planned to run parallel with the existing system

in one of the pilot branch. Initially Southeast bank ltd planned the first implementation in

their new branches and successfully they have implemented new system to those branches.

Later on, they made a roll out plan for the rest of the branches within the year 2009. And

migrated all the 37 conventional branches and inaugurated 15 new branches this year (2010).

But still there are five branches where the migration to Bank Ultimus from PC bank has not

been done. Very soon, these branches will be updated. is pertinent to mention here that they

have also taken the ownership of the system database and maintained a secured system, so

that all the financial data can be only accessible by proper authority.

Price paid for the solution :

4.6 Infrastructural Description :

In order to implement the system they have deployed the following infrastructure

changes:

4.6.1 Hardware Specifications: For Database, Application and Report Server a

significant numbers of High end servers have been procured.

Server configurations: Sun Firework X-5140 Server with quad core RAMS.

Total number of Servers: 23.

There are different types of server. During my working period in Head office (IT), I have

found the following number of servers:

ADS ( Active Directory System ) : User is permitted to enter the system through

Domain. Number of ADS : 2

CAS Hub ( Client Access Server)advantage: When a mail is transported to and from

yahoo, gmail, msn etc and other domins, it is passed through this hub. number of CAs

hub : 1

Mail Server/ Exchange Server : 2

Database Server : 4 and Ultimus Server : 4.

OTRS (Open Ticket Reservation System): 2. Sometimes Users of the branch enters

incorrect passwords / log in ID while logging into their respective computers, pc‟s get

52.5 Lac


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locked. One of the function of this server is to unlock PC in branches from IT ( Head

office).

ATM Server : 2. & ATM Server Backup : 1 and Implication Server for Ultimus: 2.

EDGE server (Microsoft server): 1. this is a Microsoft server. It is used for checking

mail from outside.

Antivirus Server: 2. Antivirus software plays a crucial role regarding security

purposes. In these two servers, Kaspersky and SOPHOS antivirus software (

registered version) are installed for attacking viruses, malware, illegal attack etc.

4.6.2 List of Software Environment :

Bank Ultimus and iBank ultimus ( for internet banking).

Oracle 10g for Database.

Windows XP professional operating system.

Sun Solaris operating system.

Microsoft IIS for Application

Crystal Report 11 for reporting tool.

FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) Reporting System (Recommended By the

Bangladesh Bank): This software is installed in almost every bank in Bangladesh. A

Financial Intelligent Unit (FIU) was established, by an administrative order, within

the Anti-Money Laundering Department (AMLD) of the Bangladesh Bank in March

2007. The FIU aims to combat financial crimes and retrieve assets and money kept

overseas by embedded suspects. It focuses on receiving, analyzing and disseminating

information to detect suspicious transactions as well as to trace, seize and confiscate

the respective assets. It requires banks to have a reporting chain for suspicious

transactions to AML Compliance Officers who will in turn report such transactions to

the FIU.

VNC Viewer 4.0: VNC is remote control software which allows an user to view and

fully interact with one computer desktop (the "VNC server") using a simple program

(the "VNC viewer") on another computer desktop anywhere on the Internet. The two

computers don't even have to be the same type. To be more simple, there is even a

Java viewer, so that any desktop can be controlled remotely from within a browser

without having to install software.

The function of this software is depicted through a diagram below :


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Figure 3 : VNC viewer function

BASEL II : Using this software requirement against loan is determined and it is also

recommended by Bangladesh Bank.

ATM Software.

Microsoft Open Office Org. 10 is used instead of MS Office

Protocol of network establishment : Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), is a routing

protocol used to determine the correct route for packets within IP networks. It is a

dynamic route from head office to branch.

4.7 Networking :

Wide Area has been established using state of the art active devices such as switches,

routers, firewall, intrusion detection and protection system from Juniper Networks, USA and

Network Management Software (NMS) from Computer Associate (CA), USA. The

connectivity infrastructure is based on blending of Fiber, Radio and VSAT links to ensure

high availability. Southeast bank Ltd has contracts with the following ISP s :

Connectivity type ISP Organizations

Radio Link ALAP Communication, Brac net

VSAT Square Informatix ltd.

Fiber optic Dhaka Com, Telnet BD, Banglaphone, Metronet .

A sample diagram is given below for any branch banking in Southeast bank Limited:


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Establishment of Data Center and Disaster recovery Center: Bank has

established of its state of the art Data Center (DC) at bank's own premises

located at Eunoos Center at Dilkhusha Commercial Area and DRS at Uttara

following the standard set out under the tier III of Uptime Institute (BB).

Total Cost of implementation :

- As a percentage of the year‟s investment in IT: 10 Crore.

- As a percentage of total cost of sales: 1.3%. & Payback Period (estimated):5yrs

4.7.1 Network Diagram of SEBL:

This network infrastructure follows “hub and spoke” topology. In a hub and spoke

topology, one server is designated as the hub, other servers, called spokes, connected

to the hub. This topology is used in SEBL in order to provide faster network

connections between major computing hubs and slower links connecting branches.

Under this topology, files replicate from the hub server to the spoke servers and vice

versa, but files don not replicate directly between two spoke servers. Here, for the

southeast bank ltd, hub site is established at the head office which is the main DC

(Data centre). All traffic from the spoke sites (branches and ATMs) , destines either

for the central site services or for inter-site connectivity, will flow via the central hub

site. In this case, the spoke sites/ branches export their routes to the hub site , and

then the hub sites re-exports the spoke site routes through a second interface using a

different route target so that other spoke sites can import the routes. This causes the

hub site to become a transit point for inter-spoke / inter-branch connectivity.

The diagram is given on the next page.


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4.8 Functionality of the Solution:

User Permission: User permission role can be defined on the basis of function

and/or product wise controls of transaction limit, authorization, add, edit, view

etc.

Authorization: Every financial transaction has to be authorized by another

official.

Loan Disbursement Limit: Loan facility has been controlled by the Credit

Administration Division (CAD) of Head Office.

Central MIS: The System has the facility to consolidate the Branch and Head

Office GL. For this reason, Head Office users can be able to know the current

position of the bank.

Central Monitoring: Head Office users can be able to know the status of

individual customer as well as the position of a branch.

Customer and Group Liability: Since the system is customer centric, for this

reason funded and non-funded liabilities of a customer as well as a group are

able to report by one stroke.

Online Clearing: Online Clearing facility is available.

Foreign Trade Module: The System has the complete life cycle

maintenance facility of both Export and Import Business.

ATM Interface: ATM Interface is available for ATM Switching System.

Internet Banking: Now clients of SEBL can have basic banking services

right from their own places.

Mobile Banking: Services especially foreign remittance can be disbursed at

the door step of the beneficiary.

Add On Facilities: Cash Management, Collateral Management and Insurance

Management are available.

Islamic Module: A Fully Shariah based Islamic module with profit

recalculation and distribution option.

End of Day (EOD) Process: EOD process has been performed centrally by

the IT Division of Head Office.

4.9 Efforts given by SEBL to the Existing solution:

Development: Southeast bank actually worked together with Leads Corporation

(Vendor of the System) in order to develop successful Local banking software and


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provide Local Software company to grow. System is still customizing by keeping the

existing functionalities of the previous system.

Use of innovative technology/solution/ideas :

They have provided the business process, requirements, and sometimes shared ideas

to incorporate processes/modules to the new system. Though initially the system was

designed for windows Server 2003, we have installed the database in Sun Solaris

operating system.

Ownership of the implemented solution :

BankUltimus Banking system uses Oracle 10g database. Southeast Bank Ltd is the

full owner of the financial data that resides in their centralized system. They can also

create new report scratch and can tag to the system using reporting tool. The

Application server and database server both are maintained by Bank‟s IT division. So,

in that sense they have owned the total solution though they do not have the system

code to make further changes. But they can developed they own MIS system, which is

their most important requirement.

Usability: the system has acceptability to the users of all levels. A Banking

Software have different stack of users. In Branch, there are:

a. Manager –High end User

b. Middle Management –Mid level Users

c. Bank Officers –Operational users.

Again, in Head Office, there are three types of users: 1.System Maintenance

Users 2. Management Users. 3. Operational Users.

In Branch, after deploying the software, Managers can easily get the branch status by

click a single button. Mid level Officials are very comfortable as they are getting their

required MIS and operational control and as well as system validation. And at the bottom

level, operational users get the benefits of simple operations and also gets the checker

maker facility and can provide faster services. Similarly in Head office, System Users can

centrally control and monitor the system, which gives them a great operational ease.

Management can get latest data from the system within a second without contacting with

the branch end and can make effective decisions based of MIS reports.

4.10 Security Policy:


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Hardware Firewall: ISG 1000 firewall is used for data centre at head office and SSG 320M

firewall is used for branch. Then, IPSEC site to site VPN ( Virtual Private Network) is

configured for secured tunnel so that ISP ( Metronet, Banglaphone etc) is not aware of our

intranet or internal system.

4.11 Work experience with Ultimus team( Supporting the branches) :The personnel of

IT division remain 24/7 in order to support the branches. Whenever any problem occurred

regarding ultimus software, the IT people give them solution properly or solve them from the

main database if there is not enough authority given to the branch employees. From IT

division, one can enter into the branch‟s pc if necessary. When I worked there I also

performed some of the duties regarding IBT (Inter Branch Transaction) reconciliation. Some

of the problems and the respective solutions are given below:

4.11.1 Problems & Solutions on IBTA (Inter Branch Transaction Advice) data extract

loading into Reconciliation Module:

1. Error Message: “Opening Balance is not equal to the Closing Balance of the Previous

Day.”

Probable Reason: There might be any IBTA transaction posted after taking this IBTA backup of

the previous day of that day which shows error.

Solution: Create new IBTA backup of the previous day again and this would contain the last

closing balance.

[I.e. If the error message shows while loading IBTA data on 09/09/2010 then it is needed to create

new IBTA backup on 08/09/2010. Hence, the data on „Reconciliation Module‟ should be restored

at the last state thus the IBTA backup on 08/09/2010 can be load again]

2. Error Message: “Total Dr and Cr Balance are not equal.”

Probable Reason: Some Transaction might be missing on either Dr side or Cr side.

Solution:

HO

Data

Center

Branch

Metronet,

Banglaphone etc..


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For PcBANK2000: Execute SQL Script „IBTA_Missing_Generation PcBANK.sql‟ to that

branch Database (PcBank2000). Then a „History Reveal Form‟ generated for giving missing

transaction while creating IBTA backup from restore mode of PcBank2000. If branch officials

can find out the missing transaction in IBTA Extract by comparing Branch IBTA Report on that

day to GL (general ledger) Statement of A/C 9010802000 on that day, he would put the missing

transaction information and amount into the „History Reveal Form‟. Then save the form and

create IBTA backup on that day. This new IBTA backup will contain the previous missing

transaction.

For BankUltimus: Create IBT extract text files on that date for that branch from path-7191 in

BU. Date wise folders containing 3 text files will be created on BankUltimus server c:\BUFileGen

folder. If not solved, contact Mr. Saif, Leads Corp. Ltd.

3. Error Message: “Responding Dr Balance in Extract and Total Responding Dr Balance are

not equal.” Probable Reason: Some Transaction might be missing on

Responding Dr Balance in Extract.

4. Error Message: “Responding Cr Balance in Extract and Total Responding Cr Balance are

not equal.” Probable Reason: Some Transaction might be missing on Responding Cr Balance in

Extract.

5. Error Message: “Originating Dr Balance in Extract and Total Responding Dr Balance are

not equal.” Probable Reason: Some Transaction might be missing on Originating Dr Balance in

Extract.

Solution: Solution for 3,4 & 5 is the same as Error No. 2.

Extract: Extract is a statement of all originating and responding transactions among

inter–branches through inter branches debit and credit advice. At the end of the day, all

the debit and credit advices of different department come to accounts department. It

makes extract in light of all advices. Actually extract shows the balance of SEBL

“respective” Branch general A/C. The objective of preparing it is to know how many

transactions have been originated and responded by the respective branch per day. Branch

has to send it its Head Office copy keeping one photocopy.

4.12 Concluding Discussion: The bank has taken number of major initiatives to modernize

its IT infrastructure notably implementation of Core Banking Solution (CBS), modernization


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of Wide Area Network (WAN) infrastructure, establishment of Data Center (DC) and

Disaster Recovery Site (DRS).

Under the modernization initiatives of IT infrastructure, the bank has rolled out a centralized

web based solution for its CBS known as BankUltimus. The BankUltimus is a web based

banking system which is bundled with world‟s most modern and reliable relational database

Oracle and secured UNIX operating system called Sun Solaris. The system has got many

modules to cater newer services and introduction of newer products with minimum lead time.

The system allows integration with the multiple channels and interfaces such as ATM,

Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, SWIFT, and Call Center etc. thus expanding customer

choice while making banking transactions.

One of the most magnificent feature of the system is it has got both Traditional and Islamic

module running on the same system. The Islamic module is completely Islamic Shariah

complaint and follows the Islamic Banking Guidelines of Bangladesh Bank.

Information assets are critical to the services provided by the Bank to its customers. Protection and

maintenance of these assets are critical to its sustainability. The Bank has already taken

Initiatives to protect the information from unauthorized access, modification, disclosure and

destruction to protect customers‟ interest. The Bank has already introduced number of logical

protection levels between web layer and its core application and database layer such as, Router

configuration with ACL (Access Control List) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) allowing traffic

only to required IP and service; Rule base Firewall restricts external traffic only to DMZ

(Demilitarized Zone) hosts on required service; Web Server IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) profile

which is capable of filtering out targeted attacks; Application Server is allowed only from front end

server and on legitimate ports only; Consideration of hardware based Data Encryption; Consideration

of OTP (One Time Password) Token Technology.

From the above stated detailed discussion and initiatives taken by SEBL, I believe that they have very

strong IT division and the organization deserves to get the Best IT Use – 2010 Award where I got the

opportunity to do my internship.


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Chapter-5


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5.1 Things I have learned: From general point of view, I gathered a lot of experiences in different areas of banking while

working at Southeast Bank limited Bangladesh as an intern:

Worked in a corporate environment and interacted with employees from different

hierarchies in a professional environment.

Gained knowledge about their prestigious banking software “Bank Ultimus”

while working in the IT division.

Gained ability to interact with customers, to work in a team environment, to

meet deadlines and to do work correctly and efficiently at the same time.

One of the important mention is that one must always be careful while

receiving checks the following instruments: Amount of taka, name of the

payee, date, and account number.

Since this was the first time I got engaged in a corporate world, I was a bit confused

about their working processes. One important aspect of working in a bank is meeting

deadlines. Everyone in the bank must make sure that the day to day work has to be done on

time and nothing should not be kept pending for the next day. This helped me to learn

working within a set time limit and meet deadlines. Now I know how to finish work

effectively and efficiently.

5.2 Supervisor’s Approach to Inform Me of His Appraisal of My Performance:

During my internship I was treated as a skilled person by my supervisor due to my

enthusiasm, dedication, and sincerity towards work. He had always been very initiative to

understand me. Although initially my duties were quite unorganized, later he had organized

my duties specifically which helped me to work proficiently. It was my good fortune that I

had completed my internship in one of the reputed commercial banks in Bangladesh. I am

always thankful to my supervisor to judge me based on my excellent performance and

evaluate me tremendously well. It was a great pleasure that I had been a continuously

successful employee to meet my deadlines and also, my efficiency to finish work very

quickly was a pleasant surprise to my employer.

5.3 Recommendation:

It is pertinent to mention here that I was asked by the honorable SEVP & Head of branch,

Md. Abidur Rahman Chowdhury - to make some recommendations in order to improve the

service quality as well as the brand image of SEBL, specifically to Bashundhara branch. I


Autumn 2010

have tried my best to find out some realistic promotional activities and solution to some

internal backlogs regarding the service quality. If there is anything wrong or irrelevant, the

reader is requested to take those errors under kind consideration. Although it is a new branch it

is performing quite well since it started. However the bank is facing severe competition from some of

the nearby branches from well-established banks like Bank Asia, DBBL, Prime Bank, EBL, UCB etc.

These bank‟s branches are taking different initiatives to attract different clients and corporate

organizations in Bashundhara area to make them their valuable clients. They can become SEBL‟s

clients too if some strategic steps are taken in order to improve the service quality. The steps are given

below:

Customer defined Service standards: A formal service blueprint should be designed

with appropriate service level standards to reduce the variability of service. These standards

should be customer defined and customer expectation should be considered while deciding

about the service standards.

Defensive Strategy of Service Quality: The branch should pursue a defensive

service quality strategy that is a slow going strategy rather than offensive service

strategy. That is should focus on Costs of operation, increasing Volume of

businesses with existing loyal customers, Segmentation of the premium customers,

foster a positive word of mouth communication in its existing customers, etc. Though

these strategies will take time to develop a huge customer base, they will in the long

run bring more loyal customers to SEBL, Bashundhara branch.

Faster Delivery of ATM cards: SEBL should reduce the amount of time required to

provide new ATM cards. Currently it takes more than 2 weeks (during my stay there,

I have observed) while some competitors can provide the card within 2 working days.

As the SEBL ATM card comes directly from Head office delays are obvious. SEBL

should make necessary arrangements to produce the new cards faster in order to

reduce the customer difficulties faced in the absence of ATM cards.

Maintaining a Well-balanced Portfolio: In order to increase the profitability and

reduce the credit risk, SEBL Bashundhara branch should maintain a well-balanced

portfolio. For example, instead of focusing on just corporate banking and high profile

business loan and leasing, it should also give equal importance to retail banking. The

more diversified the portfolio is the lesser the risk of losses.


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New ATM booths Should Be Introduced: New ATM booth should be constructed

in the branch premises satisfying more geographic segments in this particular area. As

convenience of communication to the branch location is a very important factor for

the customers, SEBL should consider building new ATM booths in the branch

premises. This will also attract new customers from other banks who are currently

offering this service.

A new campus road show may be arranged in IUB/NSU campus for attracting the

students.

There is really lack of indicators of Southeast bank limited in different places. In

particular, Bashundhara branch can set up the indicators symbolizing the SEBL

slogan and logo at different locations so that people get to know more about this new

branch.

Digital indicators can be set up inside the branch so that the customers do not get

confused when they need to move from one section to another section. This will also

enhance the branch premise more professional.

Different kind of seasonal promotional activities can be taken for attracting more

customers. For example: this branch has maximum account with North South

University students, especially they pay their tuition fees here. So, when this tuition

fee taking periods starts, every student can be offered to open their account free of

service charge for the first one year or they can be provided with cost-effective gifts.

Advertising & Promotion: SEBL should pursue an aggressive advertising campaign

in order to build up a strong image and reputation among potential customers. In this

context, the valuable strengths should be used for positioning the corporate image of

the bank. TV ads should be aired to reach a wider array of customers. The ads should

capitalize on building strong relationship, needs of customers and quality service of

the bank rather than features of products. Thus an offensive marketing strategy

emphasizing customer satisfaction and service quality can bring valuable business for

the Bank.

Employee Trainings: In order to reduce operational mistakes employees in the

branch should be trained up on using Ultimus software. Employee trainings and

workshops can be administered in order to give them knowledge and professionalism

of customer interactions. With more professional base employees can better satisfy

the customers. They should be taught about how to deal with problem customers and


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how to deal problematic situations. Employees- specifically sales officers should be

conscious and taught about the financial aspects of the loans so that it becomes

convenient for the approval officers to assess loans.

Focus on Relationship Strategies: The bank should focus more on existing

customers in order to build strong and loyal relationship with them as satisfied

customers more aptly or certainly recommends the bank to friends and relatives. Thus

the power of relationship will foster positive Word of Mouth Communication and will

attract new customers at a lower cost.

5.2 Conclusion:

Doing my internship provided me with the opportunity to gain hands on work

experience that was not possible achieve in the classroom. I had a great exposure

while working in a banking environment. My internship helped me to develop

essential skills and build the confidence by performing essential tasks in the

organization. While working with Southeast bank ltd, Bangladesh, I have developed

good organizational and communication skills. This internship was an on-the-job

learning experience which enhanced my chances for early career success. It provided

me with a realistic work preview and offered practical, supervised learning

experience. It was a pleasure to work in a bank which has achieved the “Best IT Use

Award – 2010” and learning new thing that was related to my major.


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References

1. Southeast bank limited website: www.sebankbd.com

2. Bangladesh bank website: www.bb.org.bd

3. Bangladesh Bank (Anti-Money Laundering) Circular No. 14 (25 September 2007).

4. C.J. Date, An Introduction to Database Systems.

5. Mr. kazi Md. Ehsanuzzaman, Assistant Vice President, MIS, IT division, Head office,

SEBL.

6. Mr. Sajid Salauddin, Probationary officer, Bashundhara branch, Southeast Bank Ltd.

http://www.sebankbd.com/

http://www.bb.org.bd/


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Appendix 1

Working procedure with “Bank Ultimus” software

(A) PO ( Pay order) :

Pay Order /Demand Draft Block input: Enter 1331 in the Fastpath or Click on Core->Bills and

Remittance->Block Book->Block Book Entry. The screen will be shown as below:

Screen01: Block Input

Procedures:

1) Choose the Product Id PO for PO Block Entry or DD for DD Block Entry. 2) Write the Block Prefix in the Block Prefix field. (PO for Pay order or DD for Demand Draft).

3) Enter the start No and End no Serial of the book.

4) Select the Purpose from the Select List. (Bank Use, Client use or Both Use) 5) Enter Remark if required.

6) Click on Ok.

A successful message will be shown on the screen.


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Screen02: Message Shown after Successful Block Entry

(B) Issuing Of Pay Order:

1. Enter 1333 in the Fast path or click on Core->Bills and Remittance->Issue->Issue Original.

This screen has number of information to be inputted. But all are not mandatory only the blue marked

fields must be inputted to issue a PO. Page can be navigate to lower end by using the scroll Bar. By

default, the Prod.Grp and Product will set for PO issue.

Scroll Bar

Mark Un

check the

Transaction

if not

required.


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Screen 03: Pay Order Issue

1) Enter the PO number in the Leaf No field.

Enter details of the Applicant‟s information if required.

2) Select Customer option if the Applicant is a customer to Bank.

3) Enter the customer id in the Customer ID field if the Applicant is Bank‟s customer. Address will automatically shown after the inputting the Customer ID.

4) Enter Beneficiary Name and Address.

5) Enter Other Beneficiary details if required but these are optional. 6) Now Enter the Amount of the Pay order in the Amount (Ccy) and click on Show transaction

button.

Now, The Transaction Template will show the following transaction with checkbox besides it:

Sl Account Transaction

Mode

Dr/CR Amount Check/Uncheck

1 Client Account (Need to be

Inputted)

Transfer Dr -- Yes

2 Pay Order GL head Transfer CR -- No

3 Other Fees and Commission Transfer CR -- Yes

4 VAT on Other Banking Services Transfer CR -- Yes

5 HO GL A/C Transfer DR --- Yes

The above Transaction template is generalized for all cases of PO order Issue. If not required, one can

deselect the transaction by clicking on the checkbox.

Each Transaction can be edited by double clicking the selected row. This will prompt a new window

as shows below:


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Screen04: Transaction Edit from the Template

1. Enter the Client Account number/GL Account Number (Only Sundry A/C allowed) .

2. If the PO is going to be issued in Cash then change the Trans type to Cash and click

Split/Modify. And click on OK.

3. Please uncheck the Other Transactions if not required from the Transaction Template.

4. Check the Transaction scroll shown in the Issue window.

Click on the OK Button. A Successful message with the Control number will show as shown below:

3.2.2 Authorization of Pay Order:

Enter 1340 in the Fast path. The following screen will be shown:


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Screen 05: BILL Authorization

1) Select the Product Group to Bills.

2) Select the Product to Payment Order. 3) Select the Function to Issue (Original)

4) Click on Search.

A row of information will be shown. Tick the Checkbox besides the PO information. Click on

Authorize to Authorize the Transaction. Otherwise decline. Clicking on the Authorization button,

the Transaction showed during the Po issue will be authorized.

Appendix 2: Working procedure with “FIU” software

Step 1 : At first log into the software by using admin and password.

Step 2 : Then, select the branch. Actually this bank sends the data monthly of all the

branches it has to the Bangladesh bank through this software monthly. Here, I am showing

specifically for “bashundhara‟ branch as an example.


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Step 3 : after that, select the appropriate data folder and select the branch from the list.

Step 4 : Select the current month and upload.

Step5: It is done and for confirmation click “view” to see the report and check.

southeast bank

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