A differentiated customer experience and the human touch bankers provide their customers in a world of digital assistants are important, according to Arundhati Bhattacharya, former Chairperson of State Bank of India.

Addressing the Founders’ Day celebration of Karnataka Bank Ltd in Mangaluru on Tuesday on future of banking, she said bankers must never lose sight of the human angle at a time when artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a kind of monopoly in every sector of society.

On cyber crimes in banking sector, she said the bankers will have to be as vigilant as possible. “You have to be one step ahead of the guys who are trying to keep you down. It is an ever lasting battle. You have to keep working on it,” she said.

On tackling ethical issues surrounding these technological developments, she said the bankers should ensure that trust remains paramount. “Karnataka Bank is celebrating 96 years because it has kept the trust of the people,” she said, adding that the data should not be used in a manner that is detrimental to the customers.

PMJDY

She said the reasons such as mobile connectivity and Aadhaar made the PM Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) a success. SBI had opened around 11 crore accounts in seven months during the launch of PMJDY, and 97 per cent of these accounts were zero balance. However, today those accounts have deposits totalling around ₹33,000 crore ($14.7 billion).

“You can imagine unmet need of the people that was there which could be met because of the empowerment that happened through technology. Today of these, 27 lakh accounts have been sanctioned loans, and 11 lakh of them have actually availed of loans, Bhattacharya said.

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