Singapore-headquartered Bank-Genie has secured undisclosed funding from SBI FMO Emerging Asia Financial Sector Fund (SBI-FMO Fund). Set up by The SBI Holdings Group, Singapore-based equity fund SBI-FMO is specifically focused on FinTech and financial services.
This Series-A round will enable it to revamp the roll-out of its flagship product for financial institutions and banks. The service, Bank-Genie, is a unique and innovative technology platform helps banks to create virtual branches without the need of spending on setting up retail stores. With this, the company aims to increase penetration of basic banking services such as savings accounts, withdrawals, etc., and other financial services including loans and insurance. Hence, this reduces CAPEX for installation of branches.
The financial institutions can rely on mobile devices, POS, tablets to avail the service. Also, the software is supported by biometric, card base & PIN base, NFC and contact less payments interfaces on all wireless devices & multiple operating systems.
This service has multiple benefits. One, banks can send out agents equipped with GPRS devices to help customers with financial transactions. Two, since the enrollment process is fully automated and digitized over mobile applications, the customer acquisition cost is relatively low. Also, it manages the entire agent network and the associated complex tasks. Ramkumar Sarma, co-founder & CEO of Bank-Genie, was quoted saying,
Bank-Genie will greatly benefit from the association of SBI FMO given its rich experience in financial services and fintech in emerging markets.
Incorporated in 2016, the Singapore-headquartered firm has a development centre in India and serves clients across Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Ram mentions two-third of unbanked population resides in Africa and Asia, and therefore, leveraging financial technology is the only effective way for institutions to access and service consumers.
The firm’s other offerings include Genie-Teller that is fcoused on improving efficiency of teller operations, and and Genie-Mandate, which enables automation of cheque confirmation process.
