Health Insurance Pg 6 Digital Transformation Pg 8 India Infoline Pg 19 Mandeshi Mahila Bank Pg 24
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Vol. 20 No. 2 June 2021 `75 Pages 68 Health insurance pg 6 Digital Transformation pg 8 India Infoline pg 19 Mandeshi Mahila Bank pg 24 www.bankingfrontiers.com www.bankingfrontiers.live The Risk Sentinels Presents NBFC’s ANNOUNCING DNA Distinguished NBFC Awards 2021 Call for Nomination Last date for nomination: July 16, 2021 Please contact for more information: Ashish Verma : 98332 36943 [email protected] Ravi Lalwani : 77382 97946 [email protected] Stalin Saldhana : 91677 94513 [email protected] DNA 2021 - Jury Members Harnath Babu Rishi Gupta Rajeev Yadav Mahesh Thakkar Vishakha R M Sumit Rai CIO, MD & CEO, MD & CEO, Director General, MD & CEO, MD & CEO, KPMG Fino Payments Bank Fincare Small Finance Finance Industry IndiaFirst Life Insurance Edelweiss Tokio Life Bank Development Council Insurance Editor’s Blog N. Mohan Mobile : 9322895820 Email : [email protected] June 2021 - Vol. 20 No. 2 Group Publisher : Babu Nair Neobanks a boon for customers Group Editor : Manoj Agrawal here is lot of buzz these days about neobanks. Banking industry Editor : N. Mohan analysts say they may if not one day replace traditional banks, Tbecome what Amazon is to the supermarkets. They have proved that Editorial technology can indeed make big difference and bring in convenience factor, Mehul Dani, Ravi Lalwani, V. Raghuraman especially for the customer. One of their offerings is that customers will Research Editors have complete control of their V. Babu, Ratnakar Deole, finances using apps. This is not W.A. Wijewardena, Sanchit Gogia, K.C. Shashidhar, Dr L.S. Subramanian, just a sop for the customers Ajay Kumar but a means for the neobanks to lower their overheads and Advisor-Alliances Ateeq Siddique thereby allowing them to waive fees or service charges that Marketing Kailash Purohit, Dhara Thobani, traditional banks usually levy Rohit Kahar, Aditya Arya on their customers. In markets where neobanks Events & Operations Shirish Joshi, Stalin Saldhana, have firmly established Pramod Jadhav, Ashish Verma, themselves, like in the US, Wilhelm Singh, Sneha Agrawal, the customer service they offer is far superior to those given by traditional Ramesh Vishwakarma, Sushant Tulapurkar banks. And for them, digital is all-pervading. For example, their high- profile Design chat systems ensure that there is no way a resolution will not be found. In Somnath Roy Choudhury, Sudarshan Herle comparison, the apps offered by the highly technology driven banks are Published By often stuck by poor functionality and security concerns. Glocal Strategies & Services Studies have indicated that even when neobanks own less than 5% of D-312, Twin Arcade, Military Road, Marol, the retail market, they appeal up to 35% of new customers per year. Their Andheri (E), Mumbai 400059, India. market size was valued at $34.77 billion in 2020 and it is expected to expand Tel: +91-22-29250166 / 29255569 Fax: +91-22-29207563 at a CAGR of 47.7% from 2021 to 2028. It is not a wishful thinking that neobanks will, if not render traditional banks redundant, come to stay and offer competition, thereby pushing the Printed & Published by Babu Nair on latter to evolve, modernize and become customer-centric. They will also be behalf of Glocal Strategies & Services and pushed into taking up technology for what it is and not just because others Printed at Indigo Presss (India) Pvt Ltd., too are using it. Plot No. 1C/716, Off Dadoji Konddeo Cross Neobanks have facilitated the creation of a new tech course that has Road, Between Sussex and Retiwala Indl. Estate, Byculla (E), Mumbai 400027. completely changed the services, products and speed of delivery. And this makes them highly impactful, transparent, low cost and easy to access. Editor: Manoj Agrawal (Responsible for They are assuming the role of digital challengers to the traditional financial selection of news under PRB Act) services institutions, proving to be the real people-oriented institutions to the people who need them. Banking Frontiers June 2021 3 N E W S Regulator Project Jura to experiment on wCBDC Saudi women can operate The Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) Innovation children’s bank accounts Hub, Swiss National Bank The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) said it and Bank of France will will allow mothers to open bank accounts be working with a private on behalf of their children, so long as they sector consortium on an are minors. The regulator said it is keen experiment using wholesale to contribute to empowering maternal central bank digital currency clients to manage their children’s affairs. (wCBDC) for cross-border Children’s account will be in the name settlement. BIS said the of the minor but a subsidiary of the project, called Project Jura, mother’s account. Saudi Arabia was the will look into the potential top reformer and improver among 190 benefits and challenges of economies in the World Bank’s Women, wCBDC in settling cross-border payments and digital financial instruments. It Business and the Law 2021 report, getting will involve 2 wCBDCs and a French digital financial instrument on a distributed a score of 80 out of 100, compared with ledger technology platform. The private sector consortium is led by Accenture and last year’s 70.6. includes Credit Suisse, Natixis, R3, SIX Digital Exchange and UBS. The project is an expansion on central bank experimentation investigating the effectiveness of wCBDC for cross-border settlement. Several central banks are exploring the scope of launching CBDCs as a virtual form of a country’s fiat currency. Ravi Menon gets 2-year term at MAS HKMA to set up fintech group The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is setting up a new Fintech Cross- Agency Coordination Group to formulate supportive policies for the local fintech ecosystem. This is part of the central bank’s Fintech 2025 strategy plan. The project involves local commercial banks, blockchain-based data sharing, talent supply and the central bank’s own work in exploring the outer boundaries of digital currency creation. The regulator is proposing to start study on a possible retail e-HK$ to understand its use cases, benefits, and related risks. It is also intending to roll-out a Tech Baseline Assessment to take stock of banks’ current and planned adoption of fintech in the coming years, to identify fintech business areas or specific technology types which may be underdeveloped, and would benefit from HKMA support. Singapore President Halimah Yacob has re-appointed Ravi Menon as the Managing Malaysia regulator sets up new funding facility Director of the Monetary Authority of Bank Negara Malaysia has established a 1-billion-ringgit financing facility, called Singapore for a further period of 2 years. the High-Tech Facility - National Investment Aspirations (HTF-NIA) to support He will now have his tenure until May 2023. local high-tech and innovation-driven small and medium-sized enterprises Menon has also been reappointed to the impacted by the pandemic. Eligible companies can receive up to 1 million ringgit MAS’s board for the same length of time. as working capital and up to 5 million ringgit for capital expenditure. HTF-NIA The central bank said in a statement it has is available until 31 December 2021, or until the funding has been fully utilized appointed 2 new members and reappointed (whichever comes first). SMEs that are not eligible for the HTF-NIA can apply 5 existing members to its board. Menon has for other financing facilities from BNM, such as the SME Automation and seen his global profile rise since he took the Digitalization Facility (ADF). Under this scheme, businesses can receive up to 3 job in 2011. Under his leadership, MAS has million ringgit for the purchase of equipment and software that accelerates the adopted a multi-pronged strategy to build automation and digitalization of business operations. what is now regarded by many as one of the most vibrant fintech ecosystems in the BIS to open innovation hub in London world. The 2 new members of the board The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has opened a London innovation hub are Lawrence Wong, Minister for Finance, in collaboration with the Bank of England. This is the fourth innovation center that as deputy chairman, and Deborah Ong, a the BIS has launched in the past 2 years, having already established innovation retired partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. partnerships with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Monetary Authority of They will have a term of 3 years. Tharman Singapore and the Swiss National Bank. It now plans to open such hubs in Toronto Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and with the Bank of Canada, with the European Central Bank and the Eurosystem in Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, Frankfurt and Paris, and with 4 central banks in the Nordic region. It has also entered has been re-appointed as Chairman until 31 into a memorandum of understanding with the US Federal Reserve in this regard. May 2024. 4 Banking Frontiers June 2021 Sri Lanka Covid Maneuver: Banks & Regulator Respond Dr W.A. Wijewardena, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, shares interesting insights on measures taken by Sri Lankan banks to stay afloat in the aftermath of the pandemic: Babu Nair: How has the Sri Lankan The sharing of data between the banking sector been able to be resilient banks is bringing transparency in the in the pandemic scenario? banking sector. W.A. Wijewardena: The Sri 2. The Central Bank’s initiative to Lankan banking sector had taken the introduce blockchain technology technological path since some time. The for customer services is also being pandemic came as a shock as face-to-face implemented. transactions took a hit. The banks could 3. Cryptocurrency is being promoted by not render services in the usual way.