Fintech-bank collaboration yields smarter outcomes, says RBI's Kanungo

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor B P Kanungo on Friday said fintech companies need to collaborate with banks for better service outcomes for the customers.

"Fintechs are playing a vital role in the emerging areas of payment and settlement systems... ( However,) can they exist in isolation? The answer is 'No'. Collaboration by banks and Fintechs will yield smart outcomes and smart banks will find smarter ways for better use of Fintechs to serve smarter customers who are now demanding better, easy to use services," Kanunga said in an address read out by RBI executive director Ganesh Kumar at an event in Hyderabad.

According to him, the marriage between Fintech and banking also has its attendant challenges and these risks can be minimised by migrating to co-sourcing with specific role clarity.

He also cautioned people against sharing the personal information on social networking platforms and entertain unsolicited offers, particularly related to IT-based banking.

Data breach arising from phishing attacks and social engineering continues to be on the rise, according to him.

Social media provides the platform required for an attacker to mine information on an individual. This information is then used to make the user believe that he is communicating with a legitimate source. Also, the new delivery channels, that provide customer convenience are vulnerable to cyber attacks, he said.

"It has become an accepted culture that we get unsolicited requests and responding to these is taken as a normal activity. This needs to be stopped, especially for IT based banking," he added.