Bank of Baroda searches for new digital lending platform

Bank of Baroda wants to digitally shift its lending operations

India’s third-largest lender originally revealed plans for the sweeping technology changes in June.

Economic Times of India reported the bank is reaching out to consultancy firms to help it establish a “digital lending department”.

The bank aims to issue and validate new loans entirely digitally, and move older loans into the new platform to cut costs.

Akhil Handa, the bank’s head of fintech, partnerships, and mobile banking, posted to LinkedIn this week a notice that Baroda is looking for a “comprehensive” new system.

Handa told the Economic Times in June that the Bank of Baroda has established a new division based entirely around digital lending.

The bank’s June plan revolved around the standing up of a digital loan service in two months. It then plans to consolidate its overall digital strategy across other departments.

Bank of Baroda has an existing micro-lending partnership with Amazon. It runs an underwriting service for Amazon sellers unable to procure financial support.

The scheme offers working capital to around 225,000 sellers on the platform in a span of three to five days.

The Indian lender completed a merger with Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank in April 2019. All three banks use the Infosys Finacle core banking system.

The move enabled Bank of Baroda to close the gap on rivals State Bank of India and ICICI Bank. It has around 131 million customers and $170 billion in assets.