Moving towards Banking and Fintech Partnership

Do you have any words or say suggestions for your industry peers or decision-makers from the Fintech landscape?

From my experiences and learning, I would like to advise people that the key ingredient of success is the mindset that brings the change. I think today CIOs need to be curious about what’s going on in the market and also excited for new technologies and have the passion for doing things a bit differently. Not only this, but they also need to be mindful of learning about information technology because everything is very different from the past. I think we need to spend a bit of time in self-educating us. I spend about two to three hours of a week meeting the staff to self-educate myself because when you have a quite demanding job, sometimes you need to take a step back and find out what's happening in the world.

Regarding technical stuff, I think the big challenge for CIOs is to change the way they think, the way they build things and try things. Earlier, CIOs’ job was to keep the systems running as cheaply and securely as possible and making sure the customers are happy. But, the scope has increased now. It’s also about transforming the way you do business and exciting your customers and doing something that separates you from your competitors.

One thing that I also want to touch is that these days, banks and Fintech companies are working together; they are no more rivals to each other. Gone are the days when banks viewed Fintech companies as disruptors, now they are working hand-in-hand. Banking is a very trust-based business, which has a lot of experience, a lot of brand equity and a lot of right disciplines but I think what the Fintech companies can bring in this sector are speed and innovation. I could see in the future a lot of more collaboration to happen between banks and Fintech companies to create new customer solutions.

On the one hand, banks bring regulatory license, understanding of technology and business risks, and reach and scale as they have access to a vast consumer base. On the other hand, Fintech companies offer agility and technical expertise, and the capability of running several controlled experiments and focus on building the best solutions.

Take us through the current technology trends prevailing in the Fintech market.

If we look at customer trends in banking, there are a lot. I mean its digital now, its mobile, personalized and integrated. Customers are now getting financial services in a better way; they can interact with banks easily.

In Fintech market space, blockchain, distributed ledger, AI, open banking, and application program interface (API) are becoming an integral part of it. The blockchain is a type of a distributed ledger. As blockchain is virtually unhackable, reduces fraud, speeds up contract enforcement and increases transparency, it's clear that it is something banks need to address with enthusiasm. Many market players have already started pilot projects to measure the feasibility of adopting blockchain into their ecosystems.

Due to the changing technology, AI has a lot of scope in the Fintech landscape. The growing internet penetration and availability of data are some of the major driving factors behind it. AI-based fraud detection system works 24/7 and identifies any suspicious activity automatically; also the system minutely watches the customer's behavior and can foresee potential frauds.

Another rising trend in Fintech space is open banking that is based on using APIs. It allows third-party developers to build next-generation services and apps around a financial institution. The key reason behind its emergence is its greater financial transparency, which helps Fintech companies to innovate and generate new profit models.