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https://twitter.com/annairrera/status/824652800466509832

Doesn't get more fintech than this: Robo-hedge fund to invest in P2P loans notarised w/blockchain

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In this day and age of AI, ML, Chatbots, etc., the very notion that an ad seen by bot is fake is so 20th century!

LOL. I thought this issue was forgotten after #CurrencySwitch. During the cash crunch caused by the recent demonetization in India, the longest queue I saw outside an ATM was at the bank whose ATM network was run by HDS and held responsible for the debit card data breach. 

Going by the experience with 2FA in India, the angst is justified. Sad to see EBA regressing.

Why do I get this feeling that this is a long and convoluted way to achieve "top of wallet" status for NBD's credit & debit cards?

At last I've found a fintech that offers credit card.

Bling Nation on Blockchain? The original Bling Nation failed because local didn't equal scale. Hope Colu has better luck.

I agree with some of your Defection Triggers (esp. #2 & 4) but #1 contradicts #2. More frequent enquiries means more interactions, not less. While banks may be serious about controlling attrition in their PWM business, I doubt if they care about attrition in their plain-vanilla retail banking business. Because, they know customers know that there isn't too much difference between two high street banks and also that fintechs don't offer an equivalently broad offering to really pose a threat. TBH, 124,615 moves in a month seems to be a tiny number compared to the tens of millions of current accounts out there. And it's not just me: According to Finextra, 

Current account switching flops 

As the cash crunch has eased, I've seen many people going back to cash. Unanimous reason of around 15 people I polled being cash is frictionless.

I've been personally disappointed by the lack of enforcement of the government's policies at the ground level. Over a year ago, the government said payments made by Debit Cards or Credit Cards or Internet Transfer to government agencies and Public Sector Undertakings would attract no surcharge. This commitment was reiterated after #DeMo. However, I know at least two PSUs that still continue to levy 1-2% surcharge on digital payments. As a result, if I pay them digitally, I incur a higher cost.

As a consumer, I don't care what MDR is charged by issuer banks to merchants but I definitely expect the government to ensure that, regardless of whatever MDR, a consumer shouldn't have to incur a higher cost for making digital payments compared to cash. I think the success or failure of the government's drive for #CashlessIndia will largely depend on how the government manages this issue.

Historically, merchants in developed countries started accepting card payments widely despite MDR and without surcharge because (a) they'd lose business otherwise (b) card payments make consumers spend more, both of which are benefits for merchants. This is an old insight but I'm amazed that banks are just not propagating this message widely enough in India, thus leaving it to the consumer to fight it out with merchants to avoid the latter trying to pass on MDR as surcharge.

Security is a hygiene factor. Convenience is underestimated until experienced. It's an exercise in futility to design a payment app for people obsessed with fraud - they will anyway not survive the additional friction that comes with trying to make an app absolutely secure. In the Indian context, RBI / NPCI didn't realize this then when they mandated 2FA a few years ago. While it made online payments fraud-proof, it created so much friction and caused so many failed payments that (a) it hardly attracted new customers for online payments, and (b) actually drove people who were previously using online payments to Cash on Delivery for online shopping.

Meanwhile, a fintech called PayTM came from nowhere and designed its mobile wallet for frictionless CX, acquired 150M users plus a $5B valuation and has become a household name in India today. Many - if not most - PayTM users don't even realize that they've made a payment without entering a single password or PIN. RBI / NPCI seems to have learned a lesson and has launched UPI / BHIM A2A app recently, where the emphasis is clearly on frictionless CX.

Five Reasons Why PayTM Is Miles Ahead Of Its Rivals

@BabuChellappa:

My point is that there are NO "newer products". You may list features like "...better financial planning by obtaining transaction data" but I see no evidence that any of these new-age money management apps or bots are offering them. As for future plans to do so, I'll believe them when I see them.