IndusInd Bank, India's private sector bank, becomes the country's first to go live on the Reserve Bank of India's account aggregator (AA) framework as the 'Financial Information Provider' (FIP). This allows customers to avail various services such as viewing account statements, tracking deposits, planning investments and more - all in one place.
"We at IndusInd Bank have always focused on innovation in technology for customer empowerment. The Account Aggregator framework is an important step towards that direction which will empower the customer to view as well as choose their preferred product & service from banks and other participating players." Soumitra Sen, Head – Consumer Banking, IndusInd Bank said.
What are the benefits?
RBI's AA framework was first announced back in 2016 and is said to be a pathbreaking initiative to promote open banking system. Here are the key benefits of IndusInd Bank going live on AA framework:
- Eliminates the existing process of physical document submission which is time consuming.
- Enables individuals and SME customers to share their financial information digitally with regulated financial institutions like banks, NBFC's among others, within a secure framework.
- Allows customers to have better control on financial information shared by providing his/her explicit consent before sharing the information.
BG Mahesh, Co-Founder of DigiSahamati Foundation, a Collective of the Account Aggregator Ecosystem, lauded the move by IndusInd and said it can bring diverse and innovative products to the market.
"It's no surprise that IndusInd has led the way in adopting the Account Aggregator Framework - they saw the game-changing ability of AA framework to India's financial services market early on and led the industry with that conviction. As an early mover in this space, they have the opportunity to bring diverse and innovative products to market", Mahesh said in a statement.
Speaking of the new initiative, IndusInd said: "As an 'FIP', IndusInd Bank will facilitate customers to share their financial information with Financial Information Users (FIUs) on the Account Aggregator Ecosystem in a secure and seamless manner, basis an exclusive consent from the customer. Once the other financial institutions go live on the AA framework, it will eliminate the need for collecting/submitting physical documents for getting loans or accessing other financial products and services."
