How tech innovations reshape banking in India!
With the evolution of modern technology, financial institutions are taking advantage of this to be more engaging with their customers! Technology is already transforming the financial sector, and the traditional ways of banking will grow old in the next 5 years! There have been numerous growth opportunities when it comes to safe banking like advanced cryptography and biometrics that will help protect against bank scams etc. Banks are investing in digital banking technology in which customers use mobile, web or digital platforms to use any banking services. There are Artificial Intelligence solutions such as chatbots that assists customers in simple tasks. In a Forbes survey that was conducted on banking customer engagement in 2016 indicated that 86% of banks had these mega-trends as services. These days almost 60-70% of people of India use their credit or debit cards for online transactions.
A survey conducted by Cint on respondents using internet banks in India in 2018 stated that 63.97 percent of respondents in India are using internet banking. Just to make it easier for them to handle everything from right where they are. Most banks offer online portals where you can review transactions from the past, allowing you to track expenditure and income.
With the dawn of online banking and online shopping, here’s how technology is changing the world of banking-
AI-Driven Predictive Banking
One of the most exciting trends in 2019 will be the AI-driven tools used in the banking sector.
Banks around the world see that artificial intelligence (AI) will cope up their digital demands.
Accenture reported 77% of banks were planning to use AI to automate various tasks.
AI-driven chatbots is an enhanced level where financial institutions will provide greater consumer experience solving their least queries. The real innovation will occur when financial institutions fit in this capability with other expanded services of open banking. In addition to cost savings, chatbots have been able to offer financial advice and 24/7 customer support.
How does AI enhance customer services?
Another useful application of AI is a card management system. It not only automates the credit and debit card management system but also makes it safer. If a customer loses their card, it helps the customer get rid of a long authentication process. The AI system saves time and efforts of the customers and in a way, improves the mobile banking services.
Not just for customer services alone:
State Bank of India conducted “Code for Bank” hackathon last year to encourage developers to build solutions for technologies like AI and Blockchain into the banking sector. Private banks like HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have already introduced chat-bots for customers service. Some have even placed robots for customers services. Last year, Canara Bank installed Mitra and Candi robots.
Upgraded ATMs
In 1967 the ATMs were introduced, and they sure did transform the bank tech system. Up until now, there have been a lot more upgradation going on. Some ATM innovations are already available overseas. For example, biometric authentication is already used in India, and iris recognition is used in Qatar National Bank ATMs. These technologies can help overall bank security by protecting against ATM hacks.
If you have been to an ATM a few months back, you might have noticed that something has changed. Your ATM cards are fixed in the card slot till the transaction is complete. The reason behind this is the new EMV chip cards. By the Reserve Bank of India, banks had asked their customers to mandatorily upgrade their older magnetic stripe cards to EMV chip cards by December 31, 2018. Debit and credit cards without the EMV chip have stopped working from January 1, 2019. The central bank has preferred EMV chip cards for digital transactions due to the additional security they offer in the form of dynamic authentication which makes the card invulnerable to ATM scams like phishing. The next revolution in ATMs are likely to take up contactless payments.
Cloud computing
Cloud computing has been since the 1960s and its been growing vastly ever since. Just like any other technology cloud also ensures security and good customer experience. Cloud computing is also a proven solution to many core banking problems.
Cloud computing is expected to grow from $67 Billion in 2015 to $162 Billion in 2020 as a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19%. ( Forbes)
To provide a standard and secure customer experience, banks will need a 100% uptime. With their in-house IT infrastructure, this maintenance can be difficult if it was not maintained sporadically.
But this can be achieved with cloud computing, where it guarantees 99.9% uptime, ensuring server availability even during the time of maintenance.
Conclusion:
Apart from these technologies, there are many other technologies which Indian banks could make use of in the future. Banks can use Google Glass technology to locate the nearest bank branch or ATM, check account balances. Indian banks are yet to experience wide-range of these technologies and it is definitely a positive sign to see many banks adopting these technologies already.