Post COVID-19 banking services to witness marked improvement: MD of AU Bank

Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to go in a lockdown, thereby bringing nearly all the economic activities to a grinding halt. But we never stop making bank transactions to pay for the services we keep using even during the lockdown. Banks have been silently managing our money transfers and payment related needs by keeping online transaction functional. Many branches of the banks remain open, though with reduced staff strength.

In the last couple of years, banking has witnessed a major transformation and the coronavirus onslaught has hastened the adoption of technology, believe experts.

Adoption is the key

"Adoption and trust in new technology always remain a challenge which slows the upgradation of services in the banking sector. But situations like COVID-19 make people realise the necessity of doing the banking in a new fashion and this helps them embrace the technology which finally brings about a major change in the way do banking," believes Sanjay Agarwal, Managing Director & CEO, AU Bank.

Online has become a norm

While in lockdown, most of us have explored various video conferencing platforms, online social activities and a myriad of other interactions online happen every day. "When online interaction becomes second nature, banking online too gets ingrained into our behaviour," says Sanjay Agarwal. He was speaking during Patrika Keynote interaction--FB Live interactive session at catchnews.com on Thursday.

We look beyond loans

Sanjay Agarwal believes that loan disbursement is an important feature of the banking sector but banking goes beyond this. Banks have been efficiently running nearly all services of the banking sector for the masses. As for the disbursement of loans, things will improve once the wheel of the economic activity picks up the pace.

"COVID-19 is an unprecedented development and we are yet to assess how deeply this will affect mankind and the economy in the long run. The government is taking remedial steps and addressing the challenges that come along the way. Banking sector needs are being addressed by RBI and the government, but this is an ongoing process and many more steps will be taken as we come out of the lockdown completely," he said.

Banking to be fun, not a task

According to Sanjay, this pandemic has taught us that we don't have to physically meet in order to avail any bank-related services. Nearly all services could be provided online and interactions could easily happen on video conference. "Earlier doing bank work used to be a task, but this is no longer the case. And the experience is going to be a lot better in the near future," believes Sanjay Agarwal.

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