Customer centricity essential for fintechs

Fintechs should keep customers at the centre of their innovation and follow high standards of good governance as part of culture, RBI Deputy Governor M K Jain said.

He said for the sustainable development of the sector, it is essential that fintechs inculcate the values of accountability, fairness, transparency, and independence.

“Regulation is merely a guardrail to keep the sector on the right path. However, beyond its ability to innovate, the development of this sector will largely depend on two critical elements. These two elements are (i) Customer Centricity and (ii) Governance,” Jain said.

He was addressing an event organised by Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad and Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL) in Ahmedabad.

When developing products and processes, fintech should design robust customer centric products that avoid fintech-induced losses to customers such as those from cyber security breaches, technical glitches, frauds, etc. They should ensure customer suitability and appropriateness and make sure that any inherent biases in models are addressed in a fair manner.