For fintech, there's safety in numbers
BENGALURU: Even as banks and fintech companies often find themselves in turf wars over offering digital services to customers, they have also evidently realised the advantages of collaboration.
As many as 60 banks and fintech companies have now come together under a new committee set up by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) to focus on financial technology and services.
Leading banks such as State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, and fintech companies such as BankBazaar, BillDesk, PolicyBazaar are part of the IAMAI FinTech Committee, which members say could be the largest such collaborative grouping of banks and non-banks in the country. While discussions were held by IAMAI to form the committee since October last year, the full-body meeting including all members took place in January.
"It is very exciting to have banks, insurance companies, payment companies and others such as Bitcoin and P2P players come together in one group," said BankBazaar's Adhil Shetty, who is the co-chair of the executive committee along with Mruntyunjay Mahapatra, deputy managing director at SBI.
"The most important agenda is engaging with regulators and the government, educating consumers about digital financial services, especially the benefits of paperless and cashless through eKYC and Aadhaar, as well as putting down processes for information security and privacy," Shetty told ET.
Mahapatra said in a statement that the mandate of the committee is to, "reach out to the last person and bring him into the structure of the entire financial system and create trust and safety, by leveraging technology." Several industry associations have come up in recent months within the fintech space, including the Digital Lending Association of India comprising lending companies such as Capital Float, Lendingkart and KredX, and the Digital Asset and Blockchain Foundation of India (DABFI) association comprising Bitcoin startups such as Zebpay and Unocoin. P2P lending players are also in the process of forming an association.
"While individual associations remain focused on issues affecting their sectors, our approach has advantages: we are able to take a holistic view of the evolving ecosystem and we bring banks, the largest participants of the ecosystem, on the same table with non-banks (and on the same side)," said Utkarsh Sinha, convenor of the IAMAI Fintech committee.
One of the recent public stand-offs between the two sides was when ICICI bank stopped UPI transactions for its customers through the Flipkart-owned payment app PhonePe, citing non-compliance and security concerns. The issue has since been resolved. The members, however, did not comment on whether such specific issues would be raised within the committee.
Sinha added that the committee has a "federal structure" in terms of constituent groups for the various sectors.
As many as 60 banks and fintech companies have now come together under a new committee set up by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) to focus on financial technology and services.
Leading banks such as State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, and fintech companies such as BankBazaar, BillDesk, PolicyBazaar are part of the IAMAI FinTech Committee, which members say could be the largest such collaborative grouping of banks and non-banks in the country. While discussions were held by IAMAI to form the committee since October last year, the full-body meeting including all members took place in January.
"It is very exciting to have banks, insurance companies, payment companies and others such as Bitcoin and P2P players come together in one group," said BankBazaar's Adhil Shetty, who is the co-chair of the executive committee along with Mruntyunjay Mahapatra, deputy managing director at SBI.
"The most important agenda is engaging with regulators and the government, educating consumers about digital financial services, especially the benefits of paperless and cashless through eKYC and Aadhaar, as well as putting down processes for information security and privacy," Shetty told ET. Mahapatra said in a statement that the mandate of the committee is to, "reach out to the last person and bring him into the structure of the entire financial system and create trust and safety, by leveraging technology." Several industry associations have come up in recent months within the fintech space, including the Digital Lending Association of India comprising lending companies such as Capital Float, Lendingkart and KredX, and the Digital Asset and Blockchain Foundation of India (DABFI) association comprising Bitcoin startups such as Zebpay and Unocoin. P2P lending players are also in the process of forming an association.
"While individual associations remain focused on issues affecting their sectors, our approach has advantages: we are able to take a holistic view of the evolving ecosystem and we bring banks, the largest participants of the ecosystem, on the same table with non-banks (and on the same side)," said Utkarsh Sinha, convenor of the IAMAI Fintech committee.
One of the recent public stand-offs between the two sides was when ICICI bank stopped UPI transactions for its customers through the Flipkart-owned payment app PhonePe, citing non-compliance and security concerns. The issue has since been resolved. The members, however, did not comment on whether such specific issues would be raised within the committee.
Sinha added that the committee has a "federal structure" in terms of constituent groups for the various sectors.
