ICICI Bank unleashes tech-enabled products to enhance retail portfolio (IANS Special)

New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) To buck the Covid induced downtrend, lending major ICICI Bank plans to pursue the technology route to expand its retail presence.

Accordingly, the lender has introduced a slew of technology based products for customers, especially for millennial population.

Recently, the private lender launched 'iMobile Pay' app which offers payments and banking services to customers of any bank.

ICICI Bank's Executive Director Anup Bagchi said: "Customers are keen to know if an app can take care of all banking and payments requirements."

"Keeping their demand in mind, we have extended the ambit of our mobile banking app. Now, customers of any bank can link all their bank accounts to this app. It means they can continue to bank with any bank and still use 'iMobile Pay' for all their digital transactions."

"Also, they can undertake all transactions, which they were so far doing through a gamut of payments app, through this app."

Citing, the move, as ATMisation of FinTech, the lender sees these technologies as a way and means to expand its overall retail presence under the digital banking umbrella.

The term is akin to the fact that withdrawal and other services of all banks can be availed at any lenders' ATMs, thereby making these transactions easy to conduct.

"It is possible that the othyyer banks also come in."

According to Bagchi, financial technology enabled solutions like these will enhance the entire banking ecosystem.

"What this will help in is to offer more and more pre-approved loan offers to individuals who are not our customers."

"We have one data point which is the bureau score; now when they use our UPI handle, we also know what kind of products they buy, where they transact."

"It will give us another data point and with two or more indicators, naturally a sharper score updation we will be able to do."

In addition, he pointed out the need to digitise processes in India to cheapen services and expand user base.

The bank had launched the country's first mobile banking app, iMobile, in 2008.

In the recent past, the bank has collaborated with Visa for a FinTech acceleration programme.

Through this collaboration, FinTechs can access APIs and the developer sandbox of Visa and ICICI Bank, to rapidly build, test and deploy consumer payment applications.

(Rohit Vaid can be contacted at )

--IANS

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