Amazon Web Services (AWS) India announced that PSB Alliance (PSBA) has empanelled AWS as a cloud service provider to offer cloud computing services to India’s public sector banks. PSBA is an umbrella organisation formed by 12 public sector banks and acts as a nodal body to deliver end-to-end technology-enabled banking services to them. It draws upon the strength and knowledge of member banks to develop an integrated and effective value proposition in banking operations, and provide secure financial and non-financial banking services to customers with ease and speed. PSBA supports the Government of India’s financial reforms and Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE) agenda, and aims to foster innovation in the financial ecosystem.
This empanelment will enable the public sector banks to seamlessly adopt AWS, the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud, through PSBA’s Community Cloud Services, without a need to create separate procurement processes for their cloud computing requirements. The empanelment will allow AWS to provide its services to member banks through two AWS Managed Service Providers (MSP) – Orient Technologies and Hitachi Systems.
Leveraging AWS’s proven security, compliance, and governance services will enable the banks to build a secure environment that will allow them to innovate and experiment at a low-cost, and enhance banking services and features. The banks will be able to migrate to the cloud and adopt a more agile technology infrastructure in line with their business goals and digital transformation strategy, and leverage technology expertise from the MSPs. In addition, PSBA will provide banks access to software-as-a-service (SaaS) based financial service marketplaces, enabling them to offer services such as doorstep banking, and subscribe to eBKray, an innovative end-to-end listing and auction platform to manage Non-Performing Asset (NPA) loans.
“Over the next few years, we expect several public sector banks to shift their non-core banking workloads to the cloud. Our endeavour to empanel AWS allows public sector banks to draw on the experience of their peers, establish and reinforce industry best practices, and take advantage of the combined scale of operations. Our member banks can secure better pricing structures and enhanced value from cloud services,” said Eric Anklesaria, Senior Advisor, PSBA. “We are confident that the banks will benefit greatly from AWS’s world-class security, and best practices in driving digital transformation, depth of understanding, and wide range of cloud services, to transform banking services for their customers.”
“Driving digital transformation in banking, achieving financial inclusion, and delivering better customer service are core priorities laid out by the Indian government’s Department of Financial Services. In line with this, public sector banks are exploring more agile infrastructure and technologies to provide enhanced experiences through frontline customer-facing applications, create process efficiencies, drive data-based decisions, and build a stronger revenue growth path,” said Pankaj Gupta, Leader – Public Sector, AWS India Private Limited. “Building on AWS enables public sector banks not only to derive the benefits of reliable application performance, scalability, and cost performance, but also prepares them to quickly adopt artificial intelligence and machine learning, to create more personalised experiences for customers, and build differentiated services. AWS is excited to work with PSBA to strengthen public sector banks with the power of the cloud, and help them meet the changing demands of the banking landscape.”
As next steps, the MSPs will conduct a cloud migration assessment and readiness study for each of the public sector banks and help them build a migration roadmap. Initially, the banks will use cloud services for non-core banking applications, such as loan origination system, loan management system, cash management system, WhatsApp banking, IVR system (contact center), supply chain finance, customer relationship management, human resource applications, development and user acceptance test environments, data lake and data analytics, and microfinance credit management.