Federal Bank

History

The history of Federal Bank dates back to the pre-independence era.The Bank was incorporated on 23 April 1931 as the Travancore Federal Bank Limited, Nedumpuram under the Travancore Companies Regulation Act,1916. In 1931, Travancore Federal Bank began operations at Pattamukkil Varattisseril house near Nedumpuram, near Thiruvalla, Kerala. The home functioned as the bank office for nearly 15 years. The 14 founders included Pattamukkil Varattisseril Oommen Geevarghese, his brothers Oommen Chacko, Oommen Kurian, and Oommen George. Oommen Varghese was the chairman and Oommen Chacko was the manager. After the bank had functioned for nearly 10 years, the bank's day-to-day operations had to be stopped due to Oommen Chacko's ill-health.

Travancore Federal Bank Limited was incorporated with an authorised capital of Rs 5000 at Pattamukkil Varattisseril house at Nedumpuram, a place near Thiruvalla in Central Travancore on 28/4/1931 under the Travancore Company's Act. It started business of auction-chitty and other banking transactions connected with agriculture and industry.

A lawyer from Perumbavoor named K.P.Hormis, and his acquaintances, bought the bank and took over the management on 1945.In 1945 they moved the bank's registered office to Aluva and Hormis became the Managing Director.

In 1949 December 2, the bank's name was shortened from Travancore Federal Bank to Federal Bank.

Between 1963 and 1970, Federal Bank took over Chalakudy Public Bank (est. 20 July 1929 in Chalakudy), Cochin Union Bank (est. 1963) in Trichur, Alleppey Bank (est 1964; Alappuzha), St. George Union Bank (est. 1965) in Puthenpally, and Marthandam Commercial Bank (est. 1968) in Thiruvananthapuram. In 1970, Federal Bank became a scheduled commercial bank and came out with its initial public offering in 1994.

In January 2008, Federal Bank opened its first overseas representative office in Abu Dhabi.

In April 2015, Federal Bank posted its highest ever net profit at Rs 1005.75 crore for the fiscal 2014-15. The net profit grew 20% during the year which saw the deposits and advances of the bank outgrow that of the industry by 40%.

In November 2016, Federal Bank opened its second UAE representative office in Dubai as part of a strategy to expand footprints in the Gulf to serve its fast growing overseas clients.

Digital Banking

In August 2013, Federal Bank introduced FedBook, the first electronic passbook launched by any bank in India. FedBook is a mobile app through which customers can view their passbook details.

In May 2015, Federal Bank and SBI Card launched Federal Bank-SBI two co-branded Visa credit cards, namely Platinum and Gold ‘N More. The Federal Bank SBI Platinum Credit Card will offer distinct and exclusive benefits to customers, especially for fuel payments, dining etc. The platinum variant will offer a credit limit up to Rs.5 lakh and the gold variant up to Rs.1.75 lakh. The platinum variant of Federal Bank-SBI Credit Card offers reward points for every use at dining, departmental and international stores. International airport lounge access and golf course access are the other attractive options for it.

In July 2015, Federal Bank introduced automated chat facility, a first of its kind by an Indian bank. Customer wanting to check the bank’s products and services can now visit its website and chat with its Virtual Relationship Officer/Agent. The virtual agent generates personalised responses to customer queries.

In August 2015, creating history, Federal Bank launched India’s first Mobile App for Bank Account Opening. Bank has introduced this unique facility of Mobile based Bank Account Opening as an upgrade to FedBook, its e-Passbook App. With the new avatar of FedBook, anyone having an Aadhaar Card and PAN Card, can open a Savings Bank Account and get their Account Number instantly using a mobile from anywhere. Further, the account can also be funded with an initial remittance through online fund transfer up to a maximum amount of Rs. 10000.

To open an account, one has to just download FedBook in their Mobile and follow 3 easy steps- that of taking a selfie, scanning Aadhaar and PAN Card. The App verifies the Aadhaar real time and opens the account on the click of a button. Once the account is opened, the App turns itself into the digital passbook for the customer. The App is currently available on Android and iOS phones and will soon be available in Windows and Blackberry phones.

In August 2016, Federal Bank launched Lotza, the Unified Payment Interface app which promises significantly smoother payment experience for its users. Federal Bank is one of the first Banks to be given the permission to launch the app in the first phase. Built on the concept ‘Accounts of different Banks on one App’, Lotza offers seamless and secure financial transaction capability between accounts of different Banks through a single App. Memorizing account numbers and keying them in for every transaction will now become a thing of the past as Lotza operates on the basis of virtual IDs which can be shared with beneficiaries without the risk of revealing the account numbers as such to them.

Launchpad

In April 2016, Federal Bank opened 'Launchpad', exclusive outlets for startups. ‘Launchpad’ is a one stop facility providing a range of advisory services in addition to customized banking offerings to budding entrepreneurs who wish to set up start-up ventures in diverse sectors like Digital Financial Services, Biotechnology, Hi-Tech Farming, Healthcare, Logistics, e-Commerce/e-Markets etc. The initiative is in alignment with the Start-Up India initiatives of the Government of India. These outlets offer counselling and guidance on key aspects involved in setting up of start-ups like registration, regulatory compliances, investments and accounting, Intellectual Property Protection, trading and taxation. ‘Launchpad’ will also provide customized banking offerings for Start-up ventures to run their business seamlessly which includes exclusive Startup Account, digitally powered Payroll accounts, payment/collection solutions and Forex services, apart from facilitating space and required infrastructure to needy startups to incubate their ideas. Federal Bank is one of the very few banks to have created a Corpus exclusively for investment in Start-ups.

Sponsorships

Federal Bank was the principal sponsor of Kochi Tuskers Kerala. The tickets for home matches were sold through Federal bank branches and their website. Federal Bank sponsored the Micromax ODI Cricket Series 2012 played between India and Sri Lanka in July

CSR Activities

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in Federal Bank began with the first act of cultivating banking habits in an agrarian society - to utilize idle money for productive purposes. Creating employment opportunity for a predominantly farming community was phase two. The bank approved a Sustainable Development Policy, which ensures that Bank's activities are conducive to sustainable social welfare. In addition to this, Bank has to directly participate in social activities to help the development of specific areas/segments.

Present activities of the Bank in the area of Education include:

Present activities of the Bank in the area of Health care involve:

Board of Directors

Current Board of Directors are :

Awards