Digital Disruption In Banking

BW Businessworld, one of the India's leading media conglomerates in partnership with Wipro, recently concluded an exclusive roundtable on "Digital Disruption in Banking" on 16 September, 2016 at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. With a power packed line up of over 50 digital banking leaders and influencers, thought provoking discussions around identifying limitations, best practices in digital banking, barriers faced by banks across digital threshold were held. The roundtable received support from Adobe and Intel as Event Digital Partners.

The evening commenced with welcome address by Vipin Ahuja, national sales head-BFSI, Wipro followed by a brief introduction to Wipro Digital by Sriram Shankaranarayana, general manager & head of digital, Wipro India & Middle East, where he showcased Wipro's proposition in digital with the acquisition of Designit.

The panel discussions were moderated by Vivek Law, co-founder & editor-in-chief, Investonomix. He is a senior business and finance journalist, and former editor of Bloomberg TV India. He has covered Indian capital markets and Banking, Financial services and Insurance (BFSI) sector for over two decades.

The first panel discussion on "Digital Banking: Opportunity for Unprecedented Gains in Reach, Service and Productivity" highlighted how digitisation is transforming banks while preparing them for digital future. Rajnish Khare, head digital transformation & digital banking, HDFC Bank, shared that banks will have to become fully-digital, while differentiating themselves in customers' minds through experience leadership and innovations.

Traditional banks are changing their internal policies and processes, while becoming capable of solving customer problem digitally, opined Sujatha Mohan, evp & head-enterprise solutions, RBL Bank. Sudhakar Ramasubramanian, CEO (Designate), Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank, laid emphasis on converting retail transactions, of which 98% happen in cash, to digital money. He shared that this can be possible through physical, technological and digital interfaces.
Prasanna Lohar, head-technology (digital banking), DCB Bank, mentioned that digital change and upgradation will come through internal processes and business models of banks for fluent services. The panel was of unanimous opinion that financial technology (FinTech) companies complement banks in enhancing customer experience through logistics and automation processes.

Saurabh Pandit, Digital Solutions Specialist, Adobe, delivered presentation on "Digital Imperatives for New Age Banking". He highlighted that unbanked population of over 200 crore provides a big opportunity to banks endeavouring to leverage on digital pie of the economy with maximised reach.

The second panel discussion was on "Making Digital Disruption Happen- What Will It Take?". Abhay Johorey, head - digital solutions, consumer bank, IDFC Bank, shared how data mining and analytics have helped banks in credit decisioning, lending ability, reconciliations or settlements. FinTech companies are bringing technological edge, helping banks improvise on transactional experience in a faster and secure manner.

Agrees Jitendra Gupta, founder, Citruspay that both banks and FinTech companies are interdependent to attain success. Sriram Shankaranarayana of Wipro India & Middle East highlighted that startups and technology companies provide specific analytical abilities to banks.

Banks are able to bring down the operating costs by unbundling services, and pass it to millennial customer, who transacts only through digital mediums. On digital banking security, Deepak Sharma, chief digital officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank, was of staunch opinion that if perceived risk outweighs convenience, people will adopt mobile banking faster. Rajesh Kumar, cgm-digital and e-commerce, (corporate strategy & new business), State Bank of India, shared that banks of late have transcended beyond leaps and bounds digitally. He opined that banks still have a lot to catch up with digital banking, customer experience and leveraging digital in a better way.

The presentation on "FSI Vortex of Change" by Vineet Giri, industry technology specialist - FSI, Intel Solutions Group - APJ, emphasized upon how constant change is bringing new era of disruption and shift to digital. The event was concluded with parting thoughts of Surojit Roy, head-BFSI vertical, Wipro India and Middle East, upon digital playing important role helping banking industry and how Designit acquisition will cater to critical aspect of design.