Going paperless isn’t just about saving trees. In the world of finance, it’s so much more. Stay tuned as BankBazaar presents the first BankBazaar Digital Finance Conclave, on 18th October 2016, at Mumbai. Influencers, regulators and prominent figures from the financial industry will come together to talk about the future of paperless banking, the potential it has and the challenges ahead. Find how what this means to you and how it could revolutionise the world of finance.
Key Speakers
Amit Agarwal, VP & Country Manager, Amazon India – Click to watch the video
Nandan Nilekani, Former Chairman of the UIDAI – Click to watch the video
Key Panelists
Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank
Zarine Daruwala, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank – Click to watch the video
Rajnish Kumar, Managing Director, State Bank of India
A.P. Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI
Nilesh Sathe, Member (Life) IRDA
Rajiv Anand, Executive Director, Axis Bank – Click to watch the video
Sandeep Sikka, President & CEO, RCAM
Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard
Ashwani Kumar, Chairman & MD, Dena Bank
Live Updates From The Conference
The BankBazaar Conclave 2016 started to tumultuous applause as Adhil Shetty, CEO of BankBazaar started the conclave with his introductory speech. By the time the event commenced, the venue was packed and abuzz with positive anticipation.
After all, working as an industry as a whole to help people access the right financial products with ease, and in the shortest time possible, is an exciting prospect, if no small task. This is what #PaperlessFinance aims to do. And this is what’s got everyone all excited.
Imagine this – sitting down in the comfort of your home and being able to get a Credit Card, a Personal Loan, invest in Mutual Funds or get General Insurance, without having to physically submit any documents. Without ever leaving your home, you have your product delivered to you on your phone in fifteen minutes. No negotiating and all the terms and conditions nicely laid out for you. You have to agree, there’s no way you can beat that when it comes to convenience!
So what are the things that need to be considered to deliver this level of convenience to a customer?
Reading the signs
Adhil Shetty, Founder & CEO, BankBazaar on the future of finance and what this means for customers and the industry.
Today, your entire application and approval process for a financial product can be made simpler, faster, and paperless as regulatory bodies allow e-signing of documents and e-KYC too. To spell it out – no physical documents need be collected when you apply for something like a Loan or a Credit Card or any other financial product. Moreover, secure technology is available today, which allows for the processing of income documentation and documentation around the credit bureau. (All this is necessary information that needs to be checked when applying for a financial product.) To add to these regulations and advances in technology, the Digital India initiative by the Government of India and indications from financial regulators themselves, only go to show that going paperless, when it comes to financial products, is the way forward.
Adhil Shetty, in his address to the delegates at the BankBazaar Digital Finance Conclave, made a very valid observation about the number of e-commerce shoppers – which is 50 million at the moment and this number is expected to rise to 200 million by 2020. This can be taken as an indication of how huge the market is for paperless banking! He also mentioned that paperless banking already exists on a small scale and how customers are ‘loving the experience’!
It’s pretty easy to see that all the signs point towards paperless and seamless transactions for customers.
An observation that could be of interest to the finance industry – When consumers apply for a financial product via paperless, they are three times more likely to convert and in one-third the time as compared to a normal customer!
That’s customer satisfaction central, fellas. There’s no other way to explain it.
Did someone say #PaperlessFinance?
Nandan Nilekani, Former Chairman, UIDAI talks about the widespread adoption of Aadhaar and how it will help pave the way for #PaperlessFinance
Nandan Nilekani, Former Chairman of the UIDAI was the first speaker of the event. He went on to elaborate on the future of paperless banking. He touched upon how identity and banking are closely linked; and the growing inclusion of people, when it comes to banking, through the Jan Dhan programme and Jandhan Aadhaar Mobile (JAM) which promises to ensure that everybody in India has a bank account and Aadhaar. He pointed out that there are a billion people with Aadhaar and the popularity of mobile phones is only growing. He also mentioned that now, 34 crore people have Aadhaar-linked bank accounts which is a big stride in the right direction. It was highlighted that eKYC is now accepted by all the regulators of India including RBI, SEBI, IRDA, PFRDA and TRAI; and that e-signing using Aadhaar is also available for financial documents; not to mention Digital Lockers and how they are making access to information extremely easy. He also spoke about UPI, two-factor authentication (OTP and PIN), and in the future – one-click, two-factor authentication with Aadhaar and the phone. Now, wouldn’t that be something? To be able to manage your money right from your mobile phone.
All of this will together lay the foundation for paperless banking for everyone in the future.
Nandan Nilekani aptly summed up the value of making finance paperless by saying that going paperless is a “move from an era of low volume, high value and high cost to an era of high volume, low value and low cost. That is the change you are going to see.”
Additional Reading: How To Get An Aadhaar Card
We saw a glimpse of the future this month
Amit Agarwal, VP & Country Manager, Amazon India spoke about frictionless experiences for customers and how #PaperlessFinance can achieve this.Following the address by Nandan Nilekani, Amit Agarwal, VP & Country Manager of Amazon India took the stage to share his thoughts from the perspective of an e-commerce giant. He gave examples of how Amazon received orders from 90% of serviceable PIN codes during their recently concluded Diwali Sale. This just demonstrates how big the online marketplace is and the endless opportunities that exist in that space. He talked about how evident it was that the one thing people value is convenience. To put things simply – take the friction out of the experience and you have a recipe for customer satisfaction. He compared this to paperless financial transactions which make things easy, convenient, and frictionless for the customer.
(L-R) A.P. Hota, Rajiv Sabharwal, Rajnish Kumar, Amit Agarwal, Zarin Daruwala, Rajiv Anand, Adhil Shetty The keynote speakers were followed by two panel discussions by regulators and decision makers from the industry.
The discussion that ensued was lively as the pros and cons of paperless banking were discussed at great length. The panellists talked about advances in technology, such as UPI, which allow for quick and smooth financial interactions. They discussed some of the issues that were being faced when it comes to using new technology, and the importance of big players getting on board. It was said that with the use of a mobile phone, data, and biometric authentication; greater financial inclusion would follow. Banks that are already providing the option for paperless transactions shared their experiences and the excellent customer experience they are able to provide as a result of going paperless was termed as ‘world class’.
The good news is that regulators are encouraging paperless transactions. Today we are able to issue, Fixed Deposits, Credit Cards, Debit Cards, and more, on the mobile phone and provide customers with a seamless experience. The fact that regulators are offering encouragement and that technology allows for frictionless transactions means a free run for #PaperlessFinance.
Panel Discussion 2
In the second discussion, industry experts gave their opinions and said that they felt that paperless transactions should increase. Some of the points discussed were about how online transactions are more authentic and that the scope for misselling in such transactions was much lower. Experts from the insurance industry were also in support of paperless transactions and said that it was possible to implement it in certain cases, depending on the ticket size. Though going paperless requires the coming together of various things such as identity verification through Aadhaar, e-KYC, e-signing of documents, adoption of technology, etc.; paperless transactions have taken off in a big way for insurance.
All good things must come to an end… or is it only the beginning?
The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Navin Chandani, CBDO, BankBazaar where he spoke of the coming together of banking partners, regulators and companies like BankBazaar to make #PaperlessFinance a reality in the banking sector.
All in all, a very successful event with some distinguished guests. Big ideas were discussed, focusing on the future of Personal Finance in the country.
We’re going paperless! Come join us, won’t you?