Tag: Consumer Banking

SBM Bank partners with OneCard to launch mobile-based credit card, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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New Delhi, Sep 6 (PTI) SBM Bank on Monday said it has partnered with fintech player OneCard to launch a mobile-based credit card. With this partnership, the bank said it aims to cater to the tech-savvy populace who have embraced digital as a natural way of life.

OneCard will leverage Visa‘s technology and global acceptance in this co-branded credit card offering through an app, SBM Bank said in a release.

“This partnership is in sync with our smart banking mission to build products that meet specific consumer need gaps and provide innovative solutions through state-of-the-art platforms,” Neeraj Sinha, Head – Retail and Consumer Banking, SBM Bank India, said.

The mobile-first, credit card is a significant step towards acknowledging and celebrating the expanding digital ecosystem of the country, he said.

Vibhav Hathi, Co-founder and CMO, OneCard said research shows that empowerment and transparency are the two main aspects that the digitally savvy young consumers are seeking nowadays.

“This corroborates our belief that they are hungry for credit cards which allow them to be in the driver’s seat, giving them full control,” Hathi said.

The company earlier launched the OneScore app in 2019 allowing people to monitor and manage their credit health.

The scoring platform is widely popular and has acquired more than 7 million users within just two years of its launch, said the release.

According to ResearchAndMarkets, the Indian credit card industry is expected to grow at a CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) of more than 25 per cent during 2020 – 2025 owing to the growing trend of ‘buy now pay later’, it said. PTI KPM SHW SHW



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SBM Bank India & Drip Capital partner to empower MSME Exporters, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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Drip Capital, a fintech provider of cross-border trade finance has tied up with SBM Bank India to offer trade financing solutions – customized for small and medium-sized exporters in India. Owing to this partnership, MSME exporters will be able to avail collateral-free working capital at competitive rates. In the past, Drip Capital has partnered with several local and international banks to offer its financing solutions to SMEs in developing markets like India and Mexico as well as the US. Since its inception in 2016, the company has worked with over 1,500 sellers and buyers spread across 80+ countries. Recently, it crossed over US$ 1Bn in cross-border transactions.

Pushkar Mukewar, Co-Founder and CEO, Drip Capital, said, “By partnering with SBM Bank India, we aim to provide collateral-free working capital to MSME exporters through our invoice discounting facility. This association is an example of how fintech companies are eager to partner with banks and other financial institutions to grow collectively by using technology to its very core.”

Neeraj Sinha, Head – Retail and Consumer Banking, SBM Bank India, said, “The Indian MSME sector is one of the largest exporters in the country. With India being rapidly ascending onto the map of the global supply chain, the MSME sector is set to play a major role in the coming years. It is therefore critical to design and delivers #smartbanking solutions to this segment that offer accessibility, affordability, and adaptive to the ever-changing demands. Towards this, it is our pleasure to partner with Drip Capital. We are sure, together, our solutions will help the Indian MSMEs become more competitive and resourceful.”



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Bankers, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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MUMBAI: Bankers on Wednesday welcomed the measures announced by RBI as a nuanced attempt to address not just economic concerns but public health issues as well.

SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said the unscheduled statement from Governor Shaktikanta Das has targeted moves to alleviate the troubles faced by multiple sectors.

“…the series of measures announced today reflect a novel approach. The decision to create a dedicated Rs 50,000 crore fund for ramping up Covid related healthcare infrastructure reflects RBI’s commitment to transcend boundaries by addressing not only economic health but also public health,” he said in a statement.

He also appreciated the decision to augment the lending firepower of small finance banks (SFBs) through priority sector tag, restructuring framework for individuals and small businesses, cash reserve ratio flexibility for lending to SMEs and the measures to help the state governments through ways and means advances relaxations.

MFIN, a self-regulatory organisation of micro-lenders, was very appreciative of the attempt to infuse liquidity for small MFIs by classifying and recognising SFBs’ lending to smaller NBFC-MFIs as priority sector lending.

The body’s chief executive Alok Misra said Das had met sector representatives looking at the “severity of the situation” and followed it up with the steps on Wednesday.

From the non-bank lenders, Mahindra Finance‘s Managing Director and Vice Chairman Ramesh Iyer said the measures aimed at individuals, small businesses and micro borrowers are a timely move, and welcomed the restructuring proposals.

“It’s (restructuring) an important announcement looking at the present economic landscape, this will provide as an impetus for businesses to recover from COVID-19 pandemic blues,” he said, adding that the moves to rationalise certain components of the extant KYC (know your customer) norms will support financial institutions to operate in a more efficient way.

Paul K Thomas, who heads the ESAF Small Finance Bank, said the RBI’s core focus on small lending and the last-mile delivery of credit to individuals and small businesses and the schemes to boost the provision of immediate liquidity to SFBs will go a long way in expediting economic recovery.

SFBs will now be permitted to give fresh lending to smaller micro-finance institutions (MFIs) with asset size of up to Rs 500 crore for on-lending to individual borrowers as priority sector lending.

This will add impetus to the SFBs who have been consistently playing a prominent role by acting as a conduit for the last-mile delivery of credit to individuals and small businesses, he said.

Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Group President for Consumer Banking, Shanti Ekambaram said the RBI has announced some timely liquidity measures that will provide relief to the most vulnerable by ensuring credit flow to individuals and small businesses and also give them greater repayment flexibility.

Viral Sheth, finance controller at Moneyboxx Finance, said several states with a huge rural population like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal are witnessing sharp rise in new cases and it was imperative to provide a helping hand to vulnerable sections of individuals and small businesses.



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Citigroup to exit consumer banking operations in India, 12 other markets

Banking & Finance

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Citigroup will exit its consumer banking operations in India as part of an ongoing strategic review, it said on Thursday.

In its first-quarter 2021 results, Citigroup announced strategic actions in Global Consumer Banking across 13 markets, including Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

In a statement, the bank said this “will allow Citi to direct investments and resources to the businesses where it has the greatest scale and growth potential.”

Ashu Khullar, CEO of Citi India said, “There is no immediate change to our operations and no immediate impact to our colleagues as a result of this announcement. In the interim, we will continue to serve our clients with the same care, empathy and dedication that we do today.”

The focus will be on institutional banking.

He further said the strategy announced today will strengthen its ability to bring the full global power of Citi to our institutional clients, reinforcing its leading positions across corporate, commercial and investment banking, treasury and trade solutions, as well as Markets and Securities Services.

In its results statement, Citigroup said it would focus its Global Consumer Bank presence in Asia and EMEA on four wealth centres — Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE and London.

“While the other 13 markets have excellent businesses, we don’t have the scale we need to compete. We believe our capital, investment dollars and other resources are better deployed against higher returning opportunities in wealth management and our institutional businesses in Asia,” said Jane Fraser, Citi CEO.

“We will continue to update you on strategic decisions as we make them while we work to increase the returns we deliver to our shareholders,” she further said.

For the year ended March 31, 2020, Citibank India reported a net profit of ₹4,912 crore. Citi’s commercial banking segment served over 3,000 clients, and Citibank India served 2.9 million retail customers with 1.2 million bank accounts and 2.2 million credit card accounts, as of March 31, 2020.

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Citi may shutter consumer banking biz in India, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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Citibank NA, the largest foreign bank in India, may be closing down its consumer banking division, joining a host of overseas lenders to have shut shop in India over the last few years.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg had reported that the bank is looking to divest some units in retail banking in the Asia-Pacific region, including those in South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and Australia.

Reports now say it may look at hiving off its consumer banking unit in India too. The move comes when there is stress in retail portfolios due to pandemic and business is undergoing a slowdown.

Interestingly, this development comes when HSBC recently reported hitting $1 billion profit in India.

In September 2020, Citibanks’s head of consumer banking in the country, Shinjini Kumar, has stepped down after three years at the helm, the American lender said on Wednesday.

Kumar, 53, had joined the bank in 2017 from Paytm Payments Bank, where she was the chief executive.

Recent bank exits

Last year BNP Paribas had shut down its wealth management business in India, while JP Morgan had surrendered one of its NBFC licences in 2019. Barclays and FirstRand Bank have shuttered retail operations in India. HSBC had closed its private banking business in 2015, while UBS has stuttered its banking operations in 2013.

What Citi says

“As our incoming CEO Jane Fraser said in January, we are undertaking a dispassionate and thorough review of our strategy, including our mix of businesses and how they fit together. As you would expect, many different options are being considered and we will take the right amount of time before making any decisions,” Citigroup had said last month.

India operations

In India, Citi has 2.9 million retail customers, with 1.2 million bank accounts and 2.2 million credit card accounts.

It has about 6% share in credit card spends. The lender ins the largest foreign bank in India in terms of balance-sheet. the lender holds a 5.87% market share in digital payments. About 26% of foreign portfolio investment comes through Citibank India. It has over 19,000 employees with 35 branches in the country.



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