According to recent reports, ICICI bank, one of India’s largest private banks, has revealed plans regarding the creation of the bank's new senior executive as part of an annual reorganization and exploring the uses of blockchain technologies to make banking more robust and secure.
The bank made the announcement in an email to its employees last month. ICICI is bracing itself for digital future with artificial intelligence-infused chat bots to act as quasi-bankers, software bots that can even do remittances and assist with making loan choices, as reported by Livemint.com.
The bank will be creating a new post with the title Chief Technology and Digital Officer (CTDO) for this purpose, who will report directly to Chanda Kochhar, CEO and managing director of ICICI.
“This person (CTDO) will report directly to me and be in charge of a newly created team called the Technology and Digital Group (TDG) that will work solely on improving the bank’s digital reach and the technology it offers to its customers and employees,” Kochhar said.
Speaking about blockchain technology, Kochhar said that it acts as an open ledger, reducing the duplication of access to or checking of data. She went on to explain that the potential uses of blockchain technology go much beyond banking industry. Kochar said:
“If we look at trade or exports and imports – can we start linking right from the point where exports are made and the export certificates are received and then against that banks give a confirmation and another set of banks give funding? The ports give the confirmation of the physical goods having moved. Having that whole thing sit on an open ledger helps make things much more transparent and therefore reduces fraud,” Kochhar said. “It reduces mistakes of data entry and two banks giving different information".
ICICI Bank is India's largest private sector bank with total assets of Rs. 7,206.95 billion (US$ 109 billion) at March 31, 2016 and profit after tax Rs. 97.26 billion (US$ 1,468 million) for the year ended March 31, 2016. ICICI Bank currently has a network of 4,450 Branches and 14,015 ATM's across India.
