State Bank of India Set to Collaborate with Fintechs and Start-ups for Digital Solutions
In a strategic move, the State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest bank, has announced plans to engage with start-ups and fintech companies to provide an array of services, ranging from digital KYC to credit profiling and property and car aggregation. The bank has issued a tender inviting bids for the development, customization, and integration of digital solutions.
As outlined in the request for empanelment (RFE) document, the SBI is seeking services for various functions, including income verification and analysis, employment verification, and portfolio management.
For income verification and analysis, the selected bidders will be tasked with extracting data from bank statements, analyzing the data to determine income and expenditure, and identifying fraudulent transactions and anomalies.
In the realm of Spend Analytics, chosen bidders will collaborate with the bank to analyze and categorize spending patterns in individual bank statements, providing visual and insightful results.
The empanelment period is set at three years from the date of approval. The bank emphasized that, regardless of the timeframe, the empanelment will remain active until the completion of assigned projects, requiring agencies to ensure resource availability throughout the project duration or any extensions per project terms and conditions.
Fintech companies involved in credit profiling will focus on activities such as credit bureau score report analysis, multi-bureau analysis for creditworthiness determination, and AML checks. Additionally, they will identify high-risk entities and conduct credit profiling based on alternate data, including non-transactional data and other digital footprints.
In portfolio management, the SBI is seeking partners to implement digital wealth management using automated algorithms to offer financial advice and investment management. The bid document specifies providing personalized investment recommendations tailored to individual needs and risk tolerance.
The selected entities will also play a role in assisting SBI in establishing in-house marketplaces for the sale and purchase of tickets, vehicles, properties, commercial and agricultural equipment, agricultural commodities, and health services. Furthermore, they will provide advisory services to customers, according to the bid document.
In a prior initiative, SBI had joined forces with two fintechs utilizing artificial intelligence to identify borrowers at risk of default. Representatives from these fintech firms were dispatched to visit such borrowers, offering chocolates as a friendly reminder of upcoming installments.
