The new chairman of the State Bank of India (SBI), C.S. Setty, has outlined a comprehensive digital transformation roadmap for the bank, focusing on hyper-personalization, deeper technology integration, and an omni-channel strategy for the coming years.
"SBI's digital transformation roadmap is not just a five-year plan for a digital front-end. It is a comprehensive strategy with a strong emphasis on technology and technological resilience," said Setty in his first public appearance after taking over as chairman from Dinesh Khara earlier this week.
Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest, Setty highlighted the bank's investment in data architecture and the ongoing review of its infrastructure, network, and security. "A key element is our customer omni-channel focus. We want a seamless experience where a branch customer can easily transition to the mobile app, then to internet banking, and vice versa," he explained.
"This transformation requires deeper pre-orchestration of our IT platform. Our focus extends beyond the customer journey—it is about building technological resilience for scalability, robustness, and, most importantly, a strong cybersecurity stance. These elements work together to create a robust and future-proof digital banking experience," he added.
The bank's digital transformation strategy also includes large-scale adoption of marketing technology. "This will enable us to leverage our advancements in AI and ML to create hyper-personalized offers. We believe these personalized offers can benefit not only our retail customers but also other segments, such as agriculture and MSMEs, which are at the bottom of the financial inclusion pyramid," Setty said.
SBI, with its extensive customer database, is also focusing on acquiring new customers. "While most of our current digital and mobile offerings cater to existing customers, we are now analyzing market data to develop products tailored for new-to-bank customers. The Account Aggregator ecosystem and other factors are contributing to our digital transformation strategy," Setty noted.
Setty also discussed the upcoming YONO 2.0, describing it as a significant technological overhaul. "It's not merely an update to YONO 1.0 but a complete reimagining of the app. While the app's core design elements may remain, we're prioritizing stability, scalability, and robustness through a deeper technological transformation," he said.
"We are not just focusing on the mobile app. We plan to revamp our internet banking platform, which has strong customer acceptance, and refresh our branch application. Additionally, we will integrate our large field force of home loan and car loan sales representatives into these customer journeys," Setty added.
The bank is targeting a November launch for a closed user group trial of YONO 2.0.