The intermediation role of commercial banks is in for a radical change. There could be less dependence on loans as securitization provides for sale of loans. Likewise, hybrid capital instruments, long-term and short-term deposits from overseas and ECB funds could make deposits less important.

There used to be a joke earlier that a banker is someone who will lend his umbrella when the sun shines and take it back the moment it rains. Whatever the meaning of terms like sunshine and rain in the western context it would require a great deal of imagination stretching to think of a banker without his own umbrella. Well this seems precisely the kind of scenario we are headed for in future. Deposits are the resources using which banks lend. Banks in future may do a lot more than lending and may not depend wholly on deposits as a feeder line. And this is not just a freak Indian phenomenon but a global one.

Select CEOs of some commercial banks held a discussion on the topic "Beyond deposits and resources" in Chennai on March 16, 2007 under the auspices of Business Standard. This Banking Conclave was attended by the South Indian Bank Chairman V A Joseph, Indian Overseas Bank Chairman T S Narayanaswami, Canara Bank Chairman M B N Rao, State Bank of Hyderabad Managing Director Amitab Guha and City Union Bank Chairman S Balasubramaniam. Some of the points thrown up are enumerated below

Professional Banker Magazine, Bank CEOs' Vision, Commercial Banks, Indian Overseas Bank, T S Narayanaswami, South Indian Bank, V A Joseph, Canara Bank, M B N Rao, State Bank of Hyderabad, Amitab Guha, City Union Bank, S Balasubramaniam, Statutory Liquidity Ratio, SLR, Gross Domestic Products, GDP, Liability Management, Cash Reserve Ratio, Strategic Management.