100% Contactless Finance Now a Reality
Bengaluru, NFAPost: BankBazaar, India’s leading financial marketplace and provider of free credit scores for customers, is partnering with leading bank and credit card issuer – IndusInd Bank and SBI Card respectively, to facilitate contactless access to credit cards.
Contactless access to credit – meaning no meetings or paperwork, is the new normal, providing a way for consumers to access financial products in a safe and secure manner. Contactless solutions from both partners are live on BankBazaar platform and were launched amidst the COVID-19 lockdown in May 2020. This is a ground-breaking milestone for Indian industry and lays the foundation for the future of credit delivery to every Indian consumer.
Coming at a time when customers are avoiding services requiring any external physical interaction, this move would enable people to securely access financial products from the safety of their homes.
Digital alternatives
Speaking about the partnership, BankBazaar CEO Adhil Shetty said there has been a strong demand for digital alternatives to physical processes, and this has gone up significantly in the last few months.
“A recent BankBazaar survey clearly showed that over 70% respondents prefer contactless access to credit from the safety of their home. Digital KYC presents a secure, safe, consent-based option for customers to avail much-needed credit in these challenging times. I would like to congratulate the RBI for taking the decisive step to permit Video KYC for financial products,” said BankBazaar CEO Adhil Shetty.
BankBazaar CEO Adhil Shetty said the company is also appreciate partners IndusInd Bank and SBI Card for their initiative to quickly make digital KYC solutions available to customers and are very happy to partner with them to make contactless finance in India a reality.”
Contactless access
According to the company, the demand for paperless and contactless access to financial products existed long before the lockdown. In the last financial year, 60% of BankBazaar customers opted for paperless access if the option was given to them. This trend received a shot in the arm over the last few months as Covid-19 crisis has forced people to rethink all face-to-face interactions.
Today every industry including BFSI is looking to operationalise digitally, and lenders are predicting close to 100% growth in digital lending by the end of this year. Contactless access to loans and credit cards can be provided via Video KYC, Central KYC (CKYC) and eKYC as enabled by the regulators.
Banking requirements
Speaking on the decision to pioneer video KYC, IndusInd Bank EVP and Head, Marketing & Retail Unsecured Assets Anil Ramachandran said IndusInd Bank always strive to be relevant to diverse set of customers by creating solutions that simplify their lives and the delivery of their banking requirements.
“In keeping with this vision, we are happy to join hands with BankBazaar to bring forth this unique proposition that empowers our customers to instantly apply for a credit card, and get their applications verified online in just a few steps. It offers customers the benefit of not having to rely on offline processes which can be time consuming. We strongly believe that in these challenging times, ‘Video KYC’ as a service is well poised to support customers by offering them with a seamless credit solution to fulfil their critical financial requirements,” said IndusInd Bank EVP and Head, Marketing & Retail Unsecured Assets Anil Ramachandran.
Commenting on the new initiative, SBI Card MD & CEO Hardayal Prasad said SBI Card is a technology-driven company and consistently made strategic investments to create state-of-the art infrastructure, both at the back end and front end, to enhance user experience.
“Technology has been meticulously deployed to digitise the customer journey at every step and make the entire customer experience seamless. In line with our vision to Make Life Simple, we have launched Video KYC – an end to end paperless, digital sourcing and onboarding process. Today, where social distancing has become the norm, our customers can avail a simple, secure, AI driven digital journey where they do not have to physically interact with anyone. We are pleased to offer BankBazaar availability of our platform and VKYC functionality,” said SBI Card MD & CEO Hardayal Prasad said SBI Card.
Onboard customers
Video KYC is a ground-breaking technological development the Reserve Bank of India had approved in January 2020. It allows Regulated Entities such as commercial banks to onboard new customers using a live video-based interface created in compliance with the RBI’s KYC Master Direction, cutting the need for offline authentication of customers.
Central KYC Registry is a centralized repository of KYC records of customers. It allows inter-usability of the KYC records for verification every time when the customer creates a new relationship with a financial entity.
BankBazaar.com is India’s first neutral online marketplace that gives instant customized offers on loans and credit cards. It also provides free consumer credit score on its portal. Over 50+ of India’s leading financial institutions have chosen to integrate themselves with the platform. BankBazaar has so far raised USD 116 M in funding from investors such as WSV, Experian, Eight Roads, Sequoia Capital, Walden International and Amazon.
