BFSI Hiring Glossary: VRM, FLS, DSA, Bancassurance and 60+ More Terms Explained
BFSI Hiring Glossary: VRM, FLS, DSA, Bancassurance and 60+ More Terms Explained
BFSI means banking, financial services and insurance. This glossary explains the short forms you will meet in BFSI job descriptions and hiring conversations, such as VRM, FLS, DSA and CTC, in plain English. The terms are grouped by topic in five tables, so you can jump to the one you need. Use it to read a job post, prepare for an interview or brief a recruiter.
Roles in BFSI sales and operations
Job titles change from bank to bank, but these are the ones you will see most often.
Term | What it means |
|---|---|
RM (Relationship Manager) | Looks after a group of customers and sells the bank's products to them. |
VRM (Virtual Relationship Manager) | An RM who serves customers by phone, video or messaging instead of meeting them in person. |
FLS (Frontline Sales) | Staff who deal directly with customers and sell, such as RMs, sales officers and business development executives. |
BDE (Business Development Executive) | A sales role focused on finding new customers or new business. |
SO (Sales Officer) | An entry-level sales role selling accounts, loans or insurance against a monthly target. |
PO (Probationary Officer) | An entry-level officer role in a bank that begins with a probation and training period before confirmation. |
Telecaller or tele-sales | Sells or follows up leads by phone. |
TL (Team Leader) | Leads a small sales team and reviews their targets and activity. |
Branch Manager | Runs a bank branch and is responsible for its business and staff. |
Cluster Head | A senior manager who looks after a group of branches in an area. |
Credit Analyst | Reviews a borrower's finances to decide whether a loan is safe to give. |
KYC or AML Analyst | Checks customer identity and watches for suspicious transactions. |
Operations Executive | Handles back-office work such as document checks, account opening and processing. |
Sales, channels and products
Term | What it means |
|---|---|
Lead | A possible customer who may buy a product. |
Pipeline | The list of leads a salesperson is working on, at different stages. |
Cross-sell | Selling an extra product to an existing customer, such as insurance to a savings account holder. |
Walk-in | A customer who comes to the branch without an appointment. |
Branch banking | Banking done through physical branches, with customers served face to face. |
Retail banking | Banking services for individual customers, such as accounts, loans and cards. |
Wealth management | Investment and financial planning advice, with matching products, for higher-income customers. |
Private banking | Personalised banking for very wealthy customers, usually handled by senior RMs. |
Bancassurance | The channel through which a bank sells insurance products to its customers. |
DSA (Direct Selling Agent) | An agent a bank or lender uses to find customers and market its products. DSAs are limited to marketing, collecting loan applications and processing, and are usually paid a commission when a loan is disbursed (Vinod Kothari, GoCredit). |
BC (Business Correspondent) | Works as an extension of a bank in areas with little access to banking, and can offer a wider range of banking services than a DSA (Vinod Kothari). |
CASA | Deposits held in current and savings accounts (Axis Bank). The CASA ratio is the share of a bank's total deposits that come from these accounts. |
Liability products | Products where the bank holds the customer's money, such as savings accounts and fixed deposits. |
Asset products | Products where the customer owes money to the bank, such as home loans, personal loans and credit cards. |
Insurance and regulation
These rules decide who can sell what. Check the regulator's own website for the latest requirements.
Term | What it means |
|---|---|
RBI | The Reserve Bank of India, which regulates banks and NBFCs. |
IRDAI | The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, which regulates insurers and insurance sales. |
SEBI | The Securities and Exchange Board of India, which regulates the securities market and mutual funds. |
Corporate Agent | A bank, NBFC or similar entity registered with IRDAI to distribute insurance, usually from up to nine insurers (Deployit). |
Specified Person (SP) | An officer or employee of a corporate agent who is trained, certified and authorised under IRDAI's Registration of Corporate Agents Regulations, 2015 to sell insurance (Deployit). |
POSP (Point of Sales Person) | A person who can sell only simple, standard products such as motor cover, some health and travel plans and pure term life. POSPs complete simple training and a short assessment (Deployit, InvestKraft). |
IC-38 | A qualifying exam for people who want to become licensed insurance agents in India (InvestKraft). |
Premium | The money a customer pays for insurance cover. |
Persistency | The percentage of policyholders who pay their renewal premium. The 13th-month figure looks at the start of year two, and the 61st-month figure at year five (Tata AIA). |
Mis-selling | Selling a product that does not suit the customer's needs, or hiding facts about it. IRDAI's 2024–25 annual report called it a significant concern. |
KYC (Know Your Customer) | Checking a customer's identity and address before opening an account or selling a product. |
AML (Anti-Money Laundering) | Rules and checks that help detect money that comes from illegal sources. |
Institutions and employers
Term | What it means |
|---|---|
BFSI | Banking, financial services and insurance. |
Private sector bank | A bank mostly owned by private shareholders, not by the government. |
Public sector bank (PSB) | A bank in which the government holds the majority stake. |
SFB (Small Finance Bank) | A bank that focuses on small borrowers, small businesses and savers who are often outside large banks' reach. |
NBFC (Non-Banking Financial Company) | A company that lends and invests like a bank but does not hold a banking licence, so it cannot take demand deposits such as savings accounts. |
HFC (Housing Finance Company) | An NBFC that mainly gives home loans. |
AMC (Asset Management Company) | A company that runs mutual funds and invests customers' money. |
Fintech | A technology-led financial company, such as a payments app or digital lender. |
GCC (Global Capability Centre) | An India-based centre that does technology, data and operations work for a global parent company. The Nasscom–Zinnov report counts 2,117 GCCs in India for FY2026 (Zinnov). |
Hiring, pay and HR terms
Term | What it means |
|---|---|
CTC (Cost to Company) | The total yearly cost of an employee to the employer, including fixed pay, variable pay and benefits. It is not the same as take-home pay. |
Fixed pay | The part of pay that is guaranteed every month. |
Variable pay or incentive | The part of pay that depends on meeting targets. |
Target | The number a salesperson must reach each month, such as accounts opened or premium sold. |
Achievement slab | A band of target achievement, such as 80% or 100%, that sets how much incentive is paid. |
Lakh and crore | Indian number units. One lakh is 100,000 and one crore is 10,000,000. A pay of ₹4.2 lakh a year means ₹4,20,000. |
Notice period | The time an employee must work after resigning before leaving. |
Notice period buyout | When a new employer pays the old employer to shorten the notice period so the candidate can join sooner. |
Time to fill | The number of days from opening a vacancy to the candidate accepting the offer. |
Offer-to-joining ratio | The share of candidates who accept an offer and then actually join. |
Offer drop-out | A candidate who accepts an offer but does not join. |
Cost per hire | The total recruitment cost divided by the number of people hired. |
Onboarding or induction | The first weeks of a new employee's job, when they learn the company, systems and role. |
Probation | A trial period after joining, before the employee is confirmed. |
Attrition | The share of employees who leave in a period. Always check how it is counted, such as 90-day, first-year or voluntary only. |
Early attrition | Employees who leave within the first few months, often tracked at 30, 60 and 90 days. |
Retention | The share of employees who stay for a given period. |
Train-and-hire | A model where candidates are selected, trained for the role and then join as employees. |
Mentoring | A new joiner is paired with an experienced person who coaches them, for example during the first 90 days. |
Tier 2 and tier 3 cities | Smaller cities outside the large metros. Nearly 48% of new BFSI roles now come from them, according to Adecco India (Business Today). |
FAQ
What does BFSI stand for?
Banking, financial services and insurance.
What is the difference between an RM and a VRM?
An RM usually meets customers in a branch or in the field. A virtual relationship manager (VRM) serves customers by phone, video or messaging.
What is the difference between a DSA and a BC?
A DSA finds customers and markets a lender's products. A business correspondent works as an extension of the bank and can offer a wider range of banking services, mainly in areas with little access to banks.
What does CTC mean in a job offer?
Cost to Company is the total yearly cost of the employee to the employer, including fixed pay, variable pay and benefits. Take-home pay is lower.
What is bancassurance?
It is the channel through which a bank sells insurance products to its own customers. Staff who sell insurance this way need IRDAI certification.
Sources
Terms without a source here are standard industry definitions. Check the regulator's website for the latest rules.