{"id":39464,"date":"2022-05-02T11:58:03","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T06:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/features\/singapore-startup-banking\/"},"modified":"2022-05-02T11:58:03","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T06:28:03","slug":"singapore-startup-banking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/features\/singapore-startup-banking\/","title":{"rendered":"A Singapore start-up helps banks open branches in remote locations for just USD 150"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"trade-content_2\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\" id=\"trade-1921873026\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/get\/telegram\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-101992\" src=\"https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/telegram-channel-300x119.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"148\" height=\"59\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN3Epgswxc--Aw?hl=en-IN&amp;gl=IN&amp;ceid=IN%3Aen\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-123430\" src=\"https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/follow-on-google-news-300x82.png\" alt=\"follow-on-google-news\" width=\"222\" height=\"61\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/follow-on-google-news-300x82.png 300w, https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/follow-on-google-news-150x41.png 150w, https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/follow-on-google-news.png 468w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><p>Singapore, May 2 (PTI) An Indian-origin banker who was so consumed by the idea of making banking accessible for the unbanked, that he poured his entire life savings into a start-up here that enables banks to set up branches in remote locations for just USD 150.<\/p><div class=\"trade-content_7\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\" id=\"trade-79390217\"><!-- Composite Start --> \r\n <div id=\"M923760ScriptRootC1549812\"> \r\n <\/div> \r\n <script src=\"https:\/\/jsc.mgid.com\/t\/r\/tradebrains.in.1549812.js\" async> \r\n <\/script> \r\n <!-- Composite End --><\/div>\n<p> Ram Sharma, a permanent resident in Singapore, and a veteran in the banking sector, having worked with Centurion Bank in India and Bank Albilad in Saudi Arabia, and his friend Ragu Nandan, set up a fintech start-up in 2016.<\/p>\n<p> Based in Singapore, Bank-Genie develops digital solutions that enables banks to overcome prohibitive costs to set up branches in remote locations and make banking accessible to unbanked populations, according to the Today tabloid.<\/p>\n<p> The germ of this idea took root in Sharma\u2019s mind during a relatively mundane road trip he undertook in south India seven years ago.<\/p><div class=\"trade-content_5\" id=\"trade-3021300084\"><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4023722985638610\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- in_content_2_news -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4023722985638610\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7925020301\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><\/div>\n<p> Sharma and his friend found themselves travelling for about 100 km just to find an ATM.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cIt struck me, why do ATMs remain here (in this town)? After this, there are villages where there are people living but there are no ATMs. Why should it be like that?\u201d The Today tabloid quoted the 50-year-old as saying.<\/p>\n<p> Sharma poured his entire savings and \u201cmortgaged everything else\u201d, except the roof over his head, to raise over a million dollars to fund the company.<\/p>\n<p> Bank-Genie offers solutions that allow a bank to open branches and provide a suite of financial services with just \u201ca tablet and a small Bluetooth printer and the card reader\u201d, Sharma said in an interview with the tabloid.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cNothing more than that, and this will cost you around USD 150 to start a branch,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n<p> In 2017, fintech managed to secure an undisclosed amount in a Series A funding backed by two key institutional investors: SBI Holdings Group, a Japan-based conglomerate that was spun-out of Softbank, and the Dutch development bank FMO.<\/p><div class=\"trade-content-10\" id=\"trade-733630727\"><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4023722985638610\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- in_content_3_news -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4023722985638610\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"2969612066\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><\/div>\n<p> Such was the affordability of Bank-Genie\u2019s solution that Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in the West African nation, was able to set up 600 branches in 90 days, including in remote areas \u2014 \u201csomewhere up the mountains, somewhere in the valleys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p> In less than five years, Bank-Genie has ramped up its presence in Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan as well as in Kazakhstan, where Sharma almost got stranded in around two years ago when borders started closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p> The start-up has acquired more than 30 client banks and financial institutions across Africa and Southeast Asia, with 13 banks in the Philippines alone.<\/p>\n<p> Scaling up its solutions took considerable effort, said Sharma, as the product built and installed for one bank cannot be replicated in another.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cEach country has its own requirements. There are statutory requirements, there are compliance things which need to be met,\u201d he was quoted as saying in the Today tabloid.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cSome countries have regulations like customer data cannot reside outside the country due to privacy, so on and so forth. So banking is an animal which needs to suit each country differently,\u201d Sharma observed.<\/p>\n<p> The start-up worked closely from the onset with the central bank of each country it stepped into.<\/p>\n<p> Sharma said that while the pandemic had scuppered some of his firm\u2019s expansion plans, it also presented opportunities.<\/p>\n<p> The growing need to practise social distancing had helped popularise the start-up\u2019s Genie Q solution, which enables bank branches to take appointments, manage crowds and divert customers to less crowded branches where necessary.<\/p>\n<p> Looking ahead, while digital banking and cashless payments continue to proliferate into urban and advanced markets, Sharma believes that there is much work left to be done in remote geographies.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cOur vision was always to bring a bank to every doorstep and democratise financial services so that financial services are accessible to the entire population in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p> With more than 40 staff globally, the Singapore-headquartered start-up has chalked up revenues to the tune of USD 3.1 million for the financial year ending March 2022, up from USD 840,000 during the previous financial year, Sharma added. PTI GS VM  VM<\/p>\n<div class=\"trade-after-content\" id=\"trade-3939939588\"><div id=\"taboola-below-article-thumbnails\"><\/div>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n  window._taboola = window._taboola || [];\r\n  _taboola.push({\r\n    mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-a',\r\n    container: 'taboola-below-article-thumbnails',\r\n    placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails',\r\n    target_type: 'mix'\r\n  });\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n  window._taboola = window._taboola || [];\r\n  _taboola.push({flush: true});\r\n<\/script><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Singapore, May 2 (PTI) An Indian-origin banker who was so consumed by the idea of making banking accessible for the unbanked, that he poured his entire life savings into a start-up here that enables banks to set up branches in remote locations for just USD 150. Ram Sharma, a permanent resident in Singapore, and a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.5 (Yoast SEO v25.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Singapore start-up helps banks open branches in remote locations for just USD 150 - Trade Brains Features<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/features\/singapore-startup-banking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Singapore start-up helps banks open branches in remote locations for just USD 150\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Singapore, May 2 (PTI) An Indian-origin banker who was so consumed by the idea of making banking accessible for the unbanked, that he poured his entire life savings into a start-up here that enables banks to set up branches in remote locations for just USD 150. 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