Neobank Finin aims to provide seamless banking services

Suman Gandham, founder and CEO, Finin, describes Finin as the future of banking in an exclusive interview with BIZZ BUZZ. Finin is India's first neobank, an online-only, hyper-personalised banking solution that helps users manage, save and invest their money in a smarter and simpler way. It uses bank-level security, anti-fraud and encryption systems to protect sensitive information and prevent unauthorised usage

Finin works as a go-to app for all your money management. Right from a high utility neobanking app offering improved features such as easy transactions, easy card management which includes blocking or unblocking a card at the click of a button or enabling/ disabling contactless payments, international payments, ATM withdrawals and online transaction through the app easily and limitlessly

We divide our customers into three segments-- spenders, savers and borrowers. Our customer's safety is our priority. We have taken all protocols to ensure our customers' safety and protect their data and privacy. There is a device binding system in place and in case they lose their card, they can temporarily freeze their card until they find it or issue a new one with a tap of a button

How did the idea evolve and how did it finally take shape?

I am working in the fintech space for the past few years. I noticed an emerging trend in the neobanking space when I was in Europe. I am aware of the banking landscape in India and its shortcomings and so it was a wave of decision making when I am decided to move back and create a ripple in this very well-established industry.

A lot of people claim that India is underbanked, however, the reality is that it is indeed overbanked. The only loose end is that the solutions offered by most banks are strikingly similar in a manner to say that they lack personalization, apt utilization of data or technological inclusions to make the customer journey seamless and intuitive. The banking infrastructure is indeed a cumbersome and tedious journey.

A hyper-personalised neobanking platform like Finin is made with the purpose to bridge gaps using technology and help people develop a better relationship with money by simplifying antiquated banking services.

How is your banking system different from the normal banking system?

There is a general unawareness of finances and money management across India. Growing up, everybody is told to save, but not quite told how. FDs and RDs ruled the roost, but the general populace are unaware of smart financial decisions, the right financial terms and jargons and can't, due to lack of awareness, pick the right options for themselves when it comes to selecting the best financial manager suite.

Banking institutions lack personalisation due to their one-size-fits-all approach. It is also cumbersome to gain a 360-degree view of financial management and investments through such institutions.

Having identified this problem, Finin aims to work as a go-to app for all your money management. Right from a high utility neobanking app offering improved features such as easy transactions, easy card management, which include blocking or unblocking a card at the click of a button or enabling/ disabling contactless payments, international payments, ATM withdrawals and online transaction through the app easily and limitlessly, Finin also offers a suite of wealth management features such as budgeting and goal management. These features come gratis with nudge theorem powered insights and analytics that will not only give you a full-scale view of your finances but also guide you into financial planning, discipline and independence.

What are the benefits to the end user?

The main idea of Finin is to convert spenders and borrowers into savers and eventually investors so that they move down the road to financial discipline and further still financial independence without the need to live a frugal lifestyle.

How confident are you that non-tech savvy customers will take up to your concept of banking?

As a consumer facing neobank, our customers are our clients and by that we mean, every internet savvy, smartphone savvy individual in the country can find utility in the product. The application is free and Finin is a zero-balance savings account. With the emergence of the pandemic, almost everything has taken an online route. This entails that almost 98 per cent of the population owns a smartphone. The simple and efficient user experience helps even non-tech savvy consumers understand and utilise the application with ease.

What is your target audience and how do you plan to reach out to them?

We divide our customers into three segments, spenders, savers and borrowers. Our goal is to provide hyper-personalised features and convert spenders and borrowers into the savers segment and convert them into Investors segment.

How safe is the system if a customer was to lose his device and how quickly can he use the banking system again?

Our customer's safety is our priority. We have taken all protocols to ensure our customers' safety and protect their data and privacy. There is a device binding system in place and in case they lose their card, they can temporarily freeze their card until they find it or issue a new one with a tap of a button.

What are the key concerns for your account holders and how are you addressing in this world of super hacking?

We haven't got any complaints or concerns from our current customers. Even though we are a completely digital bank, we still need to comply with RBI regulations, hence, our security system is pretty tight. Consumers do not have to worry about it.

Are you looking at banks to sell your solutions as a kind of hybrid model?

There are talks about it, however this might be one of our targets in our roadmap.

What is the way forward for your company?

We have a lot of feature roll outs planned in the near future. Mutual funds, investments, lending and credit cards are a few of them.

What more would you like to say about the company?

Founded in February 2019, and went live in 2020, Bengaluru-based startup Finin is India's first, full-fledged consumer neobank to go live in the country. We have 3,000 live accounts created on Android, waitlist pf 15,000 users, 400 users in iOS beta. Finin provides users with a savings account powered by SBM and issues a VISA debit card. Finin helps empower users with Goal driven solutions by converting them into highly savings-driven financial disciplinarians through smart & relevant notifications, hyper-personalised solutions and nudge theorem to guide them into the 50-30-20 rule seamlessly.

Finin has plug in advanced AI technology into his digitized banking sector which automatically keeps tap on their customer money transaction and most importantly it helps in suggesting the customer about managing their wealth, savings, Investments and all this is done by the AI technology. India being not well in managing their wealth and neither any traditional Bank focuses on such issues, Finin helps customers to track their expenses and guide them on the same regardless of their status and expenditure rates.