Credibility of fintech start-ups hinges on rating based system

Santosh Misra, Commissioner of eGovernance, TN, said the state government had been given the mandate to set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Blockchain, AI and Drones. It is imperative for technologies like AI and Machine Learning to be connected to skills. For such a thing to happen, rather than seeking to position these emerging technologies on a pedestal, it was necessary that access to a common technology is made available thereby making it a routine process. In this context, he also mooted the idea of having an “API” exchange that can be used to give a leg up to start-ups. Apart from this, a rating backed by government agencies would validate start-ups and such an approach is needed given the high security risks involved. Though newer technologies are exciting, as a policymaker these were causes for worry as the profiling risk, fraud risk and the decision to impact credit are factors to be considered. Banking data derived from historical data, simulator environment and institutionalising sandbox were key things to focus. This is where the TN government could be a willing partner with STPI and Intellect Design (the workshop partner), he said.

Taking cues from Lego, Misra said with blockchain being the platform of use, rating of AI solutions must be as easy as putting a few bricks together.

HDFC, Yes Bank, Repco, Union Bank of India, Karur Vysya Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, ICICI, HSBC, Axis, Bank of Maharashtra, Barclays, RBS and Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank were engaged in a panel discussion chaired by Arun Jain, CMD, Intellect Design Arena, at a workshop on Fintech held here recently.

As buyers of technology some of the key points that emerged from the session were the scope of opportunities to implement fintech solutions. With blockchain gaining attention, the banking fraternity feels that such a platform to roll out solutions would take care of transparency and security issues. Majority of operational work such as opening a bank account would get simplified just like how the automation of clearing process has shown.

Jayanthi Giridharan, DGM, ICICI said bankers must present tech-savvy solutions in a manner that leads to customer engagement.

Attendees felt the need to focus on consumer experience by offering friction-less transaction process or not revealing card details even as e-commerce and fund transfers are catching up; addressing fraud risk (instead of operating in silos) by early stage fraud detection leveraging the predictability aspect of AI; last mile connectivity; cross-industry collaboration by making available a single marketplace and tweaking systems to remove legacy issues and adopting simplified technology instead of complex process. While access to real-time data remained a point of concern, the representatives largely felt that legacy data in a banking environment would make emerging technology adoption easy.