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RBL Bank

RBL Bank Introduces GO Digital Savings Account

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With this user-friendly account opening experience bundled with the new-age subscription-based model and services thereon

RBL Bank, on Friday, said that it has launched a digital banking product, GO Savings Account, which is a zero-balance account with a simple account opening process and easy-to-operate features, the product caters to customers of all age groups.

Deepak Gaddhyan, Head of Branch and Business Banking, RBL Bank, said, “The launch of ‘GO Savings Account’ bridges the gap between traditional and digital banking by offering a compelling value proposition for customers. With our user-friendly account opening experience bundled with the new-age subscription-based model and services there on, we aim to bring digital convenience to a larger customer segment.”

The company said that the product offers multiple customer-friendly advantages including – high-interest rates of up to 7.5 per cent per annum, a premium debit card, vouchers worth Rs. 1,500 for premier brands, comprehensive cyber insurance cover, accident and travel insurance up to Rs. one crore, free CIBIL report, and an array of premium banking services, all bundled into a single package at 1st year subscription fee of Rs. 1999 + taxes & annual renewal fee thereafter of Rs. 599 + taxes.

The streamlined account opening process will enable customers to open an account in minutes by providing their PAN and Aadhaar details. Further, GO Account holders will enjoy fee-free transactions.

employee benefits

Money Club Introduces Tech- Driven Employee Benefit Program

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With Vrddi, organizations can empower their employees with access to interest-free funds in emergencies without any paperwork, said Manuraj Jain, co-founder and CEO, The Money Club

The Money Club, a fintech company, introduced a financial well-being product that businesses can deliver to their staff members to ensure financial stability and loan-free freedom in dire situations name Vrddi. In India, the business expects to sign up five million customers from various organisations over the next five years.

The Money Club created the tech-driven employee benefits programme Vrddi. In order to give employees access to interest-free money in times of need or catastrophe, corporations must first establish a corpus.

“With Vrddi, organizations can empower their employees with access to interest-free funds in emergencies without any paperwork,” said Manuraj Jain, co-founder and CEO, The Money Club. He further added that only 3-4 per cent of those in need have access to loan advances from the company. Over 95 per cent of them are left on their own. The idea for Vrddi came from the necessity for a solution that would help working professionals manage unforeseen financial obligations. He noted that in these circumstances, the only choice is to seek out loans from friends, family, or even banking institutions.

An employee of the group may request and access this corpus at any time by making a choice from more than 60 predefined categories. An algorithmic decision-making mechanism is used to distribute the corpus funds on a monthly basis to a primary recipient. Employees are grouped into clusters of 10 to 12 people and everyone else, besides the principal benefactor, receives parking benefits.

A corpus is created by a group of employees or partners who make regular monthly contributions from their salaries after being confirmed by Vrddi and recommended by their HR. Through the Vrddi platform, contributors will have easy access to this corpus whenever they need it.

phone

Optimyze Finance Established In India & UK; Focuses On Automation In Global Finance 

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Optimyze Finance, a new-age professional services firm to bring automation to global finance, was established in India and the UK by Kanika Bali, Manu Gupta and Fatima Naqvi.

It is aims to leverage fintech with domain experts for the benefit of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), startups and (NGOs) globally.

“A professional services firm at the forefront of global finance can be a game-changer for businesses by ushering in automation. Through advanced technologies and expert insights, such firms streamline financial processes, enhance efficiency, and reduce operational costs. By implementing automated solutions for tasks such as invoice processing, payroll, expense management, paperless accounting, auto-consolidation, etc., businesses can significantly reduce errors and increase accuracy, ultimately leading to improved financial health. Moreover, automation frees up valuable human resources to focus on strategic initiatives, fostering innovation and growth,” three founders commented.

In an increasingly competitive landscape, a consulting firm’s guidance in adopting automation is instrumental in helping businesses thrive and remain globally competitive, the trio added further at the launch of their new initiative in New Delhi, India.

The challenges of presenting their financial records are frequently encountered by SMEs trying to expand operations abroad, startups searching for investor backing, and NGOs looking for grants. This move will be simplified by Optimyze because of its knowledge of worldwide accounting standards and fintech, the press report stated.

“With Optimyze, SMEs can gain access to cutting-edge fintech services that were once the domain of larger corporations. Our AI-driven solutions streamline operations, cut costs, and enhance compliance. SMEs can now receive personalised financial advice and services tailored to their unique needs, fostering growth and competitiveness,” Kanika Bali added.

Stakeholders and investors are now concentrating on ESG information to determine a company’s value proposition and manage investment risks as the need for sustainable investing grows, the press report noted.

“Traditional accounting has a limited scope in the measurement of a company’s transactions. When it comes to ESG accounting, accountants need to broaden their vision and think about ways to describe, assess and measure the impact of a company’s business on the neighbourhood, its employees, their health, their social needs, the effects of its operations on the environment and so on and so forth. Though seemingly very subjective, the measurement of these factors is imperative for the evaluation of a company’s financial statements”, said Fatima Naqvi.

ESG issues could have a direct influence on a company’s financial results. indirect tax consequences that could result in reduced sales and reputational harm from environmental degradation are also a possibility, it added.

“By combining our shared values with AI and automation technologies, we will power actionable insights for businesses to realise the right outcomes for them. What this partnership is enabling us to do is really double down on the use of technologies, leverage an extensive network of experts, and work effectively across international markets to enable and optimyze businesses”, said Manu Gupta.

Some of the services that the company is planning to offer to corporations, NGOs, SMEs, and startups include robotic process automation (RPA), sustainable reporting, AI in finance, mitigating fraud with tech-sensitive platforms, sustainability audits, raising capital, reducing operating costs, and implementing international financial reporting standards (IFRS).

Business men giving a handshake. Business concept

SBM Bank India Announces Strategic Partnership With Zwitch

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Partnership with Asia’s first end-to-end Embedded Finance platform Zwitch would Offer SBM Bank No-Code, Low-Code Solutions and API-based embedded finance solutions for Fintechs & Non-Fintechs. It looks forward to democratise access and reduce the go-to-market time. Also, it will help businesses unlock new revenue and engage with customers better

SBM Bank India and Open Financial Technologies announced a strategic partnership on 29 Niovember. This move is taken for launching Asia’s first end-to-end Embedded Finance platform Zwitch to offer a no-code, low-code and full-stack API solution that enables fintechs to build their own financial products using Zwitch’s technology stack, comprising of a drag-drop dashboard, low code plugins along with 300 and more APIs (Application Programming Interface).

Non-fintechs such as SaaS platforms, health-techs and more, can also use this platform to embed financial features into their product or service.

For the first time SBM has opened its rails to an Embedded Finance player to roll out these services to the larger enterprise and start-up community. Using a service like Zwitch significantly reduces the go-to-market timelines for these businesses, increases their revenue streams, creates newer avenues to engage with existing and new users.

For instance, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and payroll companies can embed banking and cards into their products, retail stores can offer co-branded cards or pay later solutions to their customers.

Zwitch is built and operated by Open which is the fastest-growing digital banking enterprise in the world. It serves more than 3 million businesses and processes annual transactions worth more than USD 30 billion.

The co-founder and CEO of Open, Anish Achuthan, speaking about the partnership said, “This is a very important partnership that helps democratize fintech for everyone including banks, fintechs, startups, small businesses and more. Through our interactions with businesses, we identified the need to embed financial features like savings accounts, credit and debit cards, lending and more, can open-up new streams of revenue generation and profitability.”

“If these businesses were to take the traditional route of building the technology and getting the required compliances in place, it will take them more than 18-24 months to get an MVP done apart from the high costs involved. With Zwitch, we have built the technology ensuring businesses can embed financial features in a matter of weeks, at 10 times lesser cost using our no-code drag’n’drop widgets or full stack APIs for developers and without having to worry about compliances. This is going to democratize fintech for all and redefine the Indian business landscape and we are happy to partner with SBM Bank India to amplify this mission,” he added.

Head of Retail and Consumer Banking, SBM Bank India, Neeraj Sinha, commented, “Our partnership with Zwitch will enable us to further strengthen our value proposition and open new doors for those aspiring to tap digital banking to make a positive difference in and around them.”

Previously, Zwitch powered Fedo.ai which is a health tech company to launch first health savings account in India. In the recent past, Zwitch was available only to select clients in limited beta. More that 50 businesses have built their fintech features using the platform. With this partnership, Zwitch’s technology and services will be available to the larger business community.

start-up

Fintech Sector Needs To Work Continuously On Security: PM Modi

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PM said the fintech sector in India is inclusive and needs constant attention to empower the poorest of the poor by providing them quality financial services

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday has said that the fintech sector needs to work continuously on security to maintain the confidence of the people. 

Modi in his message at the ‘Global Fintech Fest’, said that this field is a testimony to how wonders can be realised when a government that promotes innovation and young and inventive minds come together.

“Innovation has been our mantra for inclusion – the JAM trilogy revolutionised public distribution, UPI’s success in popularising digital payments, and India’s identity as an innovation hub in the fintech and startup space,” he said in the message. The JAM trilogy consists of Jan Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile. 

He said that with a large number of unbanked population, we are reaching the state of banking for all and even now we are also digitally equipped. It has been an unprecedented journey. He said, people in the fintech domain are well aware that constant innovation is essential. There is a need to act fast and consistently to ensure safety and trust.

PM also said the fintech sector in India is inclusive and needs constant attention to empower the poorest of the poor by providing them quality financial services. He expressed confidence that the deliberations at the event will focus on how the FinTech sector can play a vital role in the ‘Elixir of Time’, thereby building a strong, prosperous and inclusive India.

Fintech

Fintech Proliferation Could Spur Financial Risks And Potentially A Crisis: US Bank Regulator

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The rise of fintech services and digital banking could spur financial risks and potentially a crisis over the long term, said Michael Hsu, Acting Comptroller of the Currency, a major US bank regulator

The rise of fintech services and digital banking could spur financial risks and potentially a crisis over the long term, Michael Hsu, Acting Comptroller of the Currency, a major US bank regulator, warned on Wednesday. “I believe fintechs and big techs are having a large impact and warrant much more of our attention”, Hsu told a New York conference, noting the encroachment of fintech companies into the traditional financial sector, including via partnerships with banks, was creating more complexity and “de-integration” across the banking sector.

“My strong sense is that this process, left to its own devices, is likely to accelerate and expand until there is a severe problem, or even a crisis”, Hsu said. Banks and tech firms, in an effort to provide a seamless customer experience, are teaming up in ways that make it more difficult for regulators to distinguish between where the bank stops and where the tech firm starts, said Hsu. And with fintech valuations falling as financing costs rise, bank partnerships with fintechs are increasing, he said.

That could create IT risks around information security and resilience, and also raises customer protection issues, said Hsu. “I worry increasingly about the ‘unknowns’ and am concerned that the less familiar risks of this digital transition are unlabeled and thus unseen. As we learned from the 2008 financial crisis, risks that are unseen have a tendency to grow and later to be the source of nasty surprises,” said Hsu.

Earlier, Gene Ludwig, a former Comptroller of the Currency, also warned that regulations for fintechs are much less strict than those that govern banks. “The non-banking industry is getting away with murder”, said Ludwig, who is now a managing partner of Canapi Ventures, a venture capital firm. Ludwig predicted non-banks “will get us into the next financial crisis if we don’t do something about it.”

US regulators have been wary of allowing banks to dive into cryptocurrencies, which have slumped in recent months on fears interest rate hikes will end the era of cheap money. Several crypto companies have filed for bankruptcy. Hsu said that the turmoil had “all of the hallmarks of a classic run” on an interconnected industry that had problems, and cautioned that the market is very “hype-driven.”

(Reuters)

data security

IT System Compromised; Authorities Informed: Policybazar

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The company identified certain vulnerabilities on July 19 in a part of Policybazaar Insurance Brokers IT systems leading to illegal and unauthorised access to the network

PB Fintech, the parent company of Policybazaar Insurance Brokers, on Sunday said that the IT system of the firm was hacked on July 19 and subsequent corrective action was taken. The company identified certain vulnerabilities on July 19 in a part of Policybazaar Insurance Brokers IT systems leading to illegal and unauthorised access to the network.

“In this regard, Policybazaar has reached out to the appropriate authorities and is taking due recourse as per law. The identified vulnerabilities have been fixed and a thorough audit of the systems has been initiated,” the insurance brokerage firm said in a regulatory filing. The matter is currently being reviewed by the information security team along with external advisors, it said.

“While we are in the process of undertaking a detailed review, as on date, our review has found that no significant customer data was exposed. Policybazaar has always prioritized the security and integrity of its systems and is committed towards protection of customer data,” it said. Policybazaar is into insurance brokerage and stores lots of data about its policyholders including their transaction details.

(PTI)

20211213_091753

Industry Veteran Ashish Chandra As General Counsel, CoinSwitch Kuber

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During the last two decades, Chandra has played an active role in the evolution of the legal and regulatory ecosystem of fintech in India

CoinSwitch Kuber, India’s crypto unicorn, has appointed Ashish Chandra as the General Counsel. Chandra will play a pivotal role in building a conducive legal framework for the business as crypto-asset adoption continues to grow amidst the mainstreaming excitement.

During the last two decades, Chandra has played an active role in the evolution of the legal and regulatory ecosystem of fintech in India. He is known in the industry for his contribution to the fintech industry from its early days of ATMs and cheque truncation technologies, to building the payment intermediaries and payment wallets, and most recently UPI-based WhatsApp Payments in India.

Most recently, Chandra was the Associate General Counsel of WhatsApp India and was handling its legal, regulatory, and litigation affairs.

Ashish Singhal, Founder, and CEO, CoinSwitch Kuber, said, “At CoinSwitch Kuber, we are building an asset investment platform that regulators and customers can trust. In our endeavour to simplify Crypto investing with customer protection at the center, I am delighted to welcome Ashish Chandra to the team. Ashish’s unparalleled experience in launching revolutionary products in the fintech space, coupled with his understanding of regulations and jurisprudence in the overall Indian internet and technology, will further enable us to capture our customers’ lifetime value with investment as the use case.”

Ashish Chandra, General Counsel, CoinSwitch Kuber, said, “I have been following the Crypto industry developments since 2013. Crypto can play a crucial role in shaping the future of fintech while keeping customer protection at the forefront. I am excited to be part of CoinSwitch Kuber and contribute to our mission of making money equal for all by building a platform that investors and regulators can trust.”

CoinSwitch Kuber has raised $260 million in Series C funding from Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) in September 2021 to become India’s most valued crypto Unicorn at a valuation of $1.9 billion. In October 2021, the company crossed 11 million registered users in a record 15 months and now plans to deliver diverse investment options to its growing customer base. 

The Crypto unicorn has been expanding its senior leadership team over the past few months with leadership level appointments, including Krishna Hegde (Senior Vice President – New Initiatives), Sarmad Nazki (CFO), Jayram Krishnan (VP – Product), Nishant Das (Global Head of Talent Acquisition), and Zeeshan Ramlan (Director and Head of HR).

20211201_114444

Jack Dorsey Chases Crypto, Fintech Dream Post Twitter

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Well before the surprise news, Dorsey had laid the groundwork for his next chapter, seeding both companies with crypto-related projects.

At a packed Miami conference in June, Jack Dorsey, mused in front of thousands of attendees about where his real passion lay: “If I weren’t at Square or Twitter, I’d be working on bitcoin.”

On Monday, Dorsey made good on one part of that, announcing he would leave Twitter for the second time, handing the CEO position to a 10-year veteran at the firm. The 45-year-old entrepreneur, who is often described as an enigma with varied interests from meditation to yoga to fashion design, plans to pursue his passion which include focusing on running Square Inc and doing more philanthropic work, according to a source familiar with his plan.

Well before the surprise news, Dorsey had laid the groundwork for his next chapter, seeding both companies with crypto-related projects.

Underlying Dorsey’s broader vision is the principle of “decentralization,” or the idea that technology and finance should not be concentrated among a handful of gatekeepers, as it is now, but should, instead, be steered by the hands of the many, either people or entities.

The concept has played out at Square, which has built a division devoted to working on projects and awarding grants with the aim of growing bitcoin’s popularity globally.

Dorsey has been a longtime proponent of bitcoin, and the appeal is that the cryptocurrency will allow for private and secure transactions with the value of bitcoin unrelated to any government.

The idea has also underpinned new projects at Twitter, where Dorsey tapped a top lieutenant – and now the company’s new CEO Parag Agrawal – to oversee a team that is attempting to construct a decentralized social media protocol, which will allow different social platforms to connect with one another, similar to the way email providers operate.

The project called Bluesky will aim to allow users control over the types of content they see online, removing the “burden” on companies like Twitter to enforce a global policy to fight abuse or misleading information, Dorsey said in 2019 when he announced Bluesky.

Bitcoin has also figured prominently at both of his companies. Square became one of the first public companies to own bitcoin assets on its balance sheet, having invested $220 million in the cryptocurrency.

In August, Square created a new business unit called TBD to focus on bitcoin. The company is also planning to build a hardware wallet for bitcoin, a bitcoin mining system, as well as a decentralized bitcoin exchange.

Twitter allows users to tip their favorite content creators with bitcoin and has been testing integrations with non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a type of digital asset that allows people to collect unique digital art.

Analysts see the transition as a positive signal for Square, the fintech platform he co-founded in 2009. Square’s core Cash App, after a bull run in its share in 2020, has experienced slower growth in the most recent quarter. It is also trying to digest the $29 billion acquisition of Buy Now Pay Later provider Afterpay, its largest acquisition ever.

But these ambitions will not pay off until years from now, analysts cautioned.

“The blockchain platform they’re trying to develop is great but also fraught with technical challenges and difficult to scale for consumers. I think he’ll focus more on Square and crypto will be part of that,” said Christopher Brendler, an analyst at DA Davidson.

(Reuters)

IPO

Paytm’s IPO Subscribed 48% As Fintech Firm Heads Into Last Issue Day

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Paytm digital payment IndiaEarlier in the day, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board put in an order for about 6 million shares in the main book, a source told Reuters. At the higher end of the price band, this translates to about 12.8 billion rupees.

Fintech firm Paytm’s initial public offering (IPO) of up to 183 billion rupees ($2.47 billion) was subscribed 48 percent on the second day of the issue period, receiving bids for 23.5 million shares, stock exchange data showed on Tuesday.

Paytm digital payment IndiaEarlier in the day, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board put in an order for about 6 million shares in the main book, a source told Reuters. At the higher end of the price band, this translates to about 12.8 billion rupees.

Paytm has put 48.3 million shares for sale in what is expected to be India’s largest stock market listing.

Ant Group-backed Paytm said last week it allocated shares worth 82.35 billion rupees to more than 100 institutional investors, including the government of Singapore, BlackRock Global Funds, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Paytm is looking to raise roughly $2.2 billion via the IPO at a valuation of $20 billion.

The bids close on Wednesday and Paytm will list on Indian bourses on Nov. 18.

Top investor Ant Financial, which owns 27.9 percent of Paytm, plans to sell shares worth 47.04 billion rupees.

(Reuters)

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