ICICI Bank Customers Can Create FD, Pay Bills Over WhatsApp: Here's How

On Thursday, ICICI Bank announced the launch of services to enable customers to create fixed deposits, pay utility bills and access details of trade finance over WhatsApp.

Retail customers can create FDs, pay bills for electricity, cooking gas and postpaid mobile phones through WhatsApp, while corporates and owners of MSMEs can check trade finance related services like customer ID, Import Export (IE) code, limit availability of all credit facilities availed from the Bank, status of pending inward remittances and history of inward remittances on-the-go. The bouquet of trade finance services is available for current account customers with trade services enabled in their account.

ICICI Bank said that while services like opening FDs and paying utility bills are available for customers, the trade finance services are being piloted with some select corporates and will be available for all in the next few days.

In total, up to 25 banking services are being made available over WhatsApp by ICICI Bank to its customers. A few services were launched 6 months ago. These services include checking savings account balance, last three transactions, credit card limit, get details of pre-approved instant loan offers, block/unblock credit/debit card in a secure manner, the opening of instant savings account in a few minutes, opting for loan moratorium, access pdf of some prominent newspapers /magazines and locating nearby essential stores.

How to use ICICI Bank's WhatsApp Services?

• Save ICICI Bank's verified WhatsApp profile number: 86400 86400 on the mobile phone.
• Send "Hi" to this number from your mobile number which is registered with the Bank.
• The Bank will respond with a list of services available.

Typing keywords for service

ICICI Bank has provided a list of keywords of services that can be highlighted in the WhatsApp conversation for easy recognition.

Instant Fixed Deposit: Type keyword like "FD" or "Fixed Deposit" and select the FD amount (anything between Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 crore) and the tenure. The system displays interest rates for different tenures and the amount of money on maturity.

Bill payment: In the case of an electricity bill, the customer has to provide the electricity board and consumer number. For paying the bill of postpaid mobile connection, the phone number and the network need to be confirmed by the customer. For paying the cooking gas bill, the customer has to confirm the gas provider and the customer ID. Type keyword like "Pay Bills", "Electricity", "Gas", "Mobile postpaid".

Trade finance related banking services and keywords:

Check customer ID & IE code: Inquire customer ID and import-export code linked to the customer account. Type keyword like "Trade", "Trade services", "Customer ID", "IE Code".

View credit limit: Check limits of all the credit facilities available with the Bank. Customer can see the limit ID, total amount of sanction limit, available limit and validity of the credit limit on WhatsApp. Type keyword like "Trade", "Trade services", "Limit Availability".

Track inward remittances pending for settlement: View all the foreign inward remittances received and pending for settlement. Type keyword like "Trade", "Trade services", "Pending for settlement".

View inward remittances credit history: Get to know about the credits received through inward remittances. Type keyword like "Trade", "Trade services", "Statement".