State Bank of India, the largest lender in the country, will soon launch SBI Digi Bank. It will be the first public sector lender to launch a digital-only bank. While digital-only banks are popular among banks, such as Citi and DBS, in other countries, SBI’s move will be a first in India. The branchless banking system will be similar to a financial superstore offering end-to-end financial products and services on the digital medium, thereby removing human intermediaries.
SBI plans to launch its digital-only bank in the next 3-6 months and will soon be interacting with Canada’s Tangerine Bank and Europe’s M bank for better preparedness.
This omni-channel and omni-device platform will be available to both new and existing customers. All the transactions will be handled with the help of internet banking, apps and mobile banking rather than individuals. The platform will use Aadhar infrastructure to provide online services to existing and new customers.
The digital branch will be called SBI InTouch and will provide such services as instant opening of accounts, issuing and printing personalized debit cards and expert assistance on investment via video conference. However, keeping in mind the difficulty people might feel with regard to the only-digital format, the bank will have executives to assist customers in InTouch branches.
SBI is working to expand its digital footprint in the country. The bank already has close to 2.90 crore internet banking users and 1.65 crore active mobile banking users. Now it plans to increase its network bandwidth and network strength to be at par with other global banks.