ICICI Bank, Social Money Develop Savings Feature for Indian Market (Dec. 6, 2012)
Dec. 6, 2012
ICICI Bank Ltd., India’s largest private commercial financial institution, has launched iWish, a flexible recurring deposit feature for its savings account customers, enabling them to choose how much and how often to save to meet their goals. Customers can choose to post their savings goals to Facebook, and iWish enables friends and family to contribute to the goal from any bank account using a Visa debit card.
Customers can create several goals and track their progress using the iWish online interface. Customers must begin with a minimum of Rs 500 (US$9.24) and save for at least six months. They select how much to save, how often, such as monthly or bi-weekly, and on what day of the month to deposit the funds. Customer also can elect to skip a month. Accounts earn interest, with rates varying based on amount and duration in the account.
iWish is the result of the deal struck this spring between ICICI and Social Money, the goal-based savings provider behind the Paybefore Award-winning SmartyPig platform. The Des Moines, Iowa-based company licensed its GoalSaver product to the bank two months after Social Money announced the opening of a new office in Chandigarh, India.
“ICICI is an extremely innovative group, receiving various awards recognizing its excellence in IT architecture and banking technology,” Jon Gaskell, Social Money founder, tells Paybefore. “For ICICI to choose Social Money for the first-ever social, term-based saving solution is monumental for our company.”
