Banks Risk Losing Opportunities Without Fintech Partnerships, Warns Axis Bank MD

Banks Need To Work With Fintechs: Axis Bank MD

His comments came on the same day as PM Modi lauded the fintech ecosystem, saying UPI is a great example of India's fintech success Axis Bank managing director (MD) and CEO Amitabh Chaudhry on Friday (August 30) said that banks will lose out on opportunities if they do not work with fintech startups. "They (fintech platforms) are coming up with technologies, products, services, adjacencies, which can make your ecosystem, your interactions with the customer that much more fruitful, powerful. And, it will be a loss on (for) us if we are not working with them... In many cases, we realised that we don't have enough resources and time to do it, so fintechs are helping us get there," Chaudhry said. He made the comments during a chat with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) chief operating officer (COO) Praveena Rai at the Global Fintech Festival 2024 in Mumbai. Chaudhry also said that the collaboration between banks and fintech startups in a "compliant fashion" would benefit both the parties significantly. "Fintechs make your ecosystem powerful. Both sides can benefit. We banks do not have enough resources and we welcome fintechs with open arms," added Chaudhry. Commenting about the bank's pilots with emerging technology, he said that Axis Bank is currently running "about 15 experiments" with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to personalise its user app. "We would like the customer to be seen as the only customer the bank is serving and every customer to have a personalised experience with the bank. Every customer should have a unique page that opens up on the mobile app where he gets all the features. To get to that vision, we are running about 15 experiments on AI and ML," Chaudhry added. His comments came on the final day of the GFF 2024, which saw tech giant Google announcing multiple new features, including UPI Circle, eRupi and Clickpay QR scan for bill payments, among others. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the event, lauded the fintech ecosystem saying that Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a great example of India's fintech success. PM Modi also said that the central government is working on advanced technologies and regulatory frameworks to strengthen financial markets. The PM said that the homegrown fintech ecosystem will enhance the ease of living of the entire world, and added that India's best is yet to come.

Banks risk losing out by not partnering with fintechs: Axis Bank CEO

Meanwhile, he highlighted that as customers transact more digitally, the banks' operating costs will come down. He also added that the rising incidence of frauds has made people "worried" about undertaking banking transactions. Chaudhry also said very soon the bank will offer a service on its mobile app where customers of other banks will be able to undertake transactions rather than just being able to view the account details as is offered today. He also said that the bank is running a total of 15 pilots on artificial intelligence and machine learning at present, and one of the areas will be in Human Resources, where technology will help the bank go through resumes to make hiring easier.