State Bank of India is planning to monetize its integrated digital banking platform YONO by allowing small lenders such as regional rural banks and small finance banks to use it, chairman Rajnish Kumar said. He also added that India’s largest bank may soon carve out the integrated digital platform into a separate entity and the work for the purpose has been started. Other lenders would need to connect YONO Application Programming Interface (API) for using the platform.
Kumar in an earlier release had said that You Only Need One (YONO) is a profitable platform with 2.7crore users. YONO could have been valued at $40billion if had a valuation had been done. The YONO platform was launched in November 2017.
Within the first quarter of this fiscal, SBI brought in about 29lakh customers on this platform. Almost 3million transactions had been seen around in the period. Three pilot YONO branches had also been by the bank. 93% of the bank’s total transactions take place through alternate channels currently. In an aim for debt restructuring, SBI has so far no rush for availing of the facility. The situation may change if the recovery takes longer than expected; adding that shopping malls, aviation, and hospitality are facing difficulties and cash flow issues. For the past 5 years, the real estate sector have been struggling and have seen their pain aggravated, Kumar further added.
SBI had launched YONO cash, which was introduced as a one-stop solution for insurance, banking, and lifestyle needs. A lot of things could be done through this app, including applying for loans, shopping online, and opening a savings account instantly. After the launch of YONO cash, customers were able to withdraw money from ATMs without using a card. Users were able to withdraw cash without a physical debit card. This had helped in eliminating the possible associated risks of using at ATMs for cash withdrawals. YONO uses a two-factor authentication which makes it more secure and also eliminates the risk of skimming and cloning.
YONO has been designed to offer maximum customer convenience and that the product has been developed by SBI using artificial intelligence, predictive analysis, and machine learning. It is accessible through both Android and iOS platforms.
