Uco Bank CMD V. Sridar (right) and HP India MD Balu Doraiswamy in Calcutta on Monday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, Dec. 12: After a delay of almost five months, Uco Bank today tied up with Hewlett-Packard (HP) for implementing core banking solution (CBS) at its 1,000 branches across the country within the next five years. The bank has 1,700 branches, including four overseas.

HP will deploy Infosys’s Finacle solution for CBS. This will enable Uco customers to access banking and financial services round-the-clock anywhere in the world through multiple channels like Internet and mobiles. Uco bank is the first bank from eastern India to implement CBS.

Addressing the press here, V. Sridar, chairman and managing director of the bank, said, “The initiative will enable the bank not only to achieve cost advantages but also derive significant business benefits in India.”

Most of the back-office jobs will be taken over by CBS. Uco Bank has a total workforce of 25,000, of which, nearly 10,000 are engaged in back-office work.

“We will engage some of them in sales and marketing, while some will be trained to handle the CBS system. Initially, we will set up an internal sales team with a staff strength of 70. As and when the CBS is implemented, we will enhance the workforce,” added Sridar.

The core banking solution will bring down the transaction cost by at least 50 per cent.

The CBS technology will help Uco gain a competitive edge in the banking industry, HP India managing director Balu Doraiswamy said.