Mumbai, Feb. 28: Citi, India's largest foreign lender in terms of assets, today said branch banking in the digital age is a "challenge" and that it will reformat them to be relevant.

"Not that we don't like branches, they are important. It is just that the role of branches have changed and will continue to change across the world," Citi's head of consumer banking for Asia Pacific, Anand Selvakesari, told reporters.

"The challenge today is what should we do with the branches. Over 95 per cent of our transactions are happening in self-service channels and not through the branches," Selvakesari said over video-conference from Singapore. Citi has over 40 branches in the country.

It is important to reformat the branches as smart phones are turning into branches and doing a majority of functions, he said.

Selvakesari, however, added that this should not be construed as the end of the branch model, and cited the analogy of retail and e-commerce where the need to have physical stores has not gone off.

The American bank today launched a new feature in its mobile phone application that will connect clients with their relationship managers instantly through in-app chat, audio and video calls that are archived for future reference to discuss investment options.

Clients can also converse with product experts, service relationship managers and branch managers, perform real-time secure transactions and upload documents.

Today's initiative is part of a series of various solutions introduced by the bank, combining consumer insights and emerging technologies.

"Social media has redefined the way people engage personally and professionally, and clients expect their banks to provide a similar experience," Kartik Kaushik, country business manager, global consumer bank, Citi India, said.

"They also believe that trust and human connect are as critical to wealth-related discussions, as are security and confidentiality. Citi now combines the power of social and digital with its rich global expertise in wealth management, to unleash a new paradigm in Citigold relationship management," Kaushik added.

British lender HSBC has announced to nearly halve the number of branches to 26, while others like RBS have shuttered them.

"What is the branch required for? Our focus right now is to re-format the branches, to do things that it should be doing," Selvakesari said.

The introduction of this new feature comes after its proprietary research showed that affluent clients desired a higher degree of control over their finances and expect personalised services that seamlessly integrate with their connected lives.

The research also showed that clients look forward to engaging with relationship managers, instead of generic customer service representatives.

The lender expects that the feature will not only help to curb mis-selling of products but also increase the productivity of the relationship managers multiple times and help the clients.