Singapore’s DBS offers 7% rate on digital bank accounts

Singapore’s DBS Bank aims to be a disruptor in India even as it awaits the RBI’s nod to upgrade its branch to a subsidiary which will have unrestricted access to the country. The bank is offering digital bank accounts with zero balance requirements, 7% interest rate on savings and unlimited access to ATMs. These accounts can be opened by anyone with a smartphone, an Aadhaar card and a PAN card.

Speaking to TOI, Piyush Gupta, CEO, DBS, said, “We are trying to be a disruptor. There is no question for us that this channel allows us to expand into retail consumer business and provide a different kind of banking, which is a much bigger scale than the typical niche banking done in the past.” The bank has set a deposit target of Rs 50,000 crore in five years and Rs 10,000 crore of retail loans.

The reason why DBS is going full steam in India even as other multinationals are being cautious on retail is that DBS is primarily an Asian bank. Also, the bank sees India as ideally positioned for this kind of disruption.

“We are creating the Digibank in India as a global first because the digital infrastructure in India is better than anywhere else. The whole India infrastructure – the JAM (Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile) trinity – and the India stack is under-appreciated.” The India stack refers to four government initiatives – the biometric authentication, digital records, cashless transactions and digital consents where acceptance can be acknowledged without a ‘wet’ signature.

A DBS Digibank account can be opened by downloading an app and providing a fingerprint authentication at any one of the 500 designated Cafe Coffee Day outlets across the country. The bank is in talks to have more centres for biometric authentication.