Bank of Baroda’s credit card arm chooses Fiserv to enable digital transformation

Fiserv announced today in a company press release that credit provider BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL) has chosen them to assist in enabling the digital transformation of their end-to-end card issuance and processing cycle.

The press release wrote that Fiserv will support the launch of several new and high-tech products including contactless credit cards, tokenisation and integration with branded wallets, and virtual credit cards.

Shailendra Singh, managing director and CEO at BFSL explained why they’ve chosen Fiserv for their digital transformation initiative by saying: “Delivering robust, secure products and a superior experience to our customers is our priority. Fiserv understands our market, and we value the fact that their card processing capabilities are hosted in India. The scalable, integrated technology provided by Fiserv will allow us to deliver the experiences our customers expect now and into the future, as we accelerate the launch of new products and services being adopted by all major issuers.”

BFSL are not the only company implementing digital transformation with businesses looking ahead to optimise their processes and improve customer experiences. Partly due to COVID-19, businesses are accelerating the rate of adoption for technologies and capabilities such as digital transformation.

Tech Data announced they were planning to invest $750m in digital transformation over the next five years to accelerate their business with the significant planned investment representing the value businesses are seeing.

BFSL, the wholly-owned credit card subsidiary of Bank of Baroda, claims to be one of the earliest issuers of credit cards in India and offers a suite of card payment products and services to its customer base across the country that includes individuals, businesses, and commercial clients.

The process of applying for one of BFSL’s four credit cards can all be done online with applicants being able to track their approval process. Each credit card comes with different benefits ranging from cashback on a bill payment through to earning points for money spent on travel and dining.

The company explained that to advance their digital strategy and keep pace with their rapidly changing consumer expectations they will utilise Fiserv’s product called FirstVision.

FirstVision is an end-to-end managed services solution that enables card issuing and processing with global economies of scale that’s combined with integrated capabilities that span the card lifecycle making it a useful tool to have for BFSL with their online credit application process.

Ivo Distelbrink, EVP and head of Asia Pacific at Fiserv commented on what BFSL can expect by using their service: “The speed at which financial services providers need to satisfy customer demand for digital services has further accelerated as a result of the impact of COVID-19. With Fiserv, BFSL can reimagine customer journeys and launch to market with speed in order to better serve their customers in a rapidly changing digitally-centric world.”

BFSL expects the FirstVision platform to enable them to move forward on its digital transformation journey with an armory of fully integrated card management tools which includes digital cards, loyalty management, advanced fraud modules, risk management, and analytics solutions.

The service-oriented architecture and open APIs of FirstVision facilitate rapid application development, enabling new capabilities to potentially be brought to market quicker and at a lower cost for BFSL.

Fiserv’s software as a service (SaaS) solution is to be hosted locally in India which will enable BFSL to carry out card processing for major issuers across the country. BFSL mentioned in the announcement that this will help them ensure compliance with local payment and customer data regulations.