In an apparent effort to promote social distancing to cub the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 in India, private lender ICICI Bank on Monday (March 30) launched banking services on WhatsApp.

The bank said that the launch of new service will help the retail customers to undertake several banking requirements from their home during 21-day nationwide lockdown. ICICI customers will be able to check their savings account balance, last three transactions, credit card limit, get details of pre-approved instant loan offers and block/unblock credit and debit card using WhatsApp banking services. The customer can also use WhatsApp services to get details of the nearest three ICICI Bank ATMs and branches in their vicinity.

“It has always been our endeavour to offer improved convenience to our customers. Recently, we had rolled out ‘ICICIStack’. Now, we have introduced this service on WhatsApp, one of the most popular instant messaging applications in the world. Our retail customers can execute a host of their banking requirements on their own, without visiting a branch. The services are instantaneous and secure. With the growing prominence of social media in every-day life, we believe that this would add immense convenience to our customers, as it allows them to bank while they are on social media,” Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said.

According to ICICI Bank, any savings account customer of the bank who is also on WhatsApp can access the new service. The customers carrying only a ICICI credit card can use this service to ‘Block/Unblock’ their card. 

How to start ICICI banking services on WhatsApp

1) The customer will have to save ICICI Bank’s verified WhatsApp profile number, 9324953001, to ‘contacts’ on the mobile phone and send <Hi> to this number from his/her mobile number which is registered with the bank. You will receive a response from the bank with a list of services available

2) From the list of services, type the keyword of the service required. Example : <Balance>, <Block> etc. 

Here is the list of banking and other services available on WhatsApp:

Check account balance: Type any keyword like <balance>, <bal>, <ac bal> among others

View last three transactions: Type <transaction>, <stmt>, <history> among others

Get outstanding balance and view available credit limit of credit card: Type <limit>, <cc limit>, <cc balance> among others.

Block/Unblock credit and debit card instantly: Type <block>, <lost my card>, <unblock> among others

View details of available pre-approved instant loans: Type <loan>, <home loan>, <personal loan>, <instant loans> among others

View nearest ICICI Bank ATM and branch: Type <ATM> , <branch> among others

Check available nearby offers on travel, dining, shopping: Type <offer>, <discounts> among others