ICICI Bank launches full-stack digital banking platform amid Covid-19 crisis

After launching its application programming interface (API) portal with close to 250 APIs in January, ICICI Bank has now  rolled out ‘ICICIStack,’ a service package that combines APIs and digital banking services in one platform.

The full-stack digital platform will offer 500 services to ease banking amid the ongoing Coronovirus or Covid-19 pandemic, the Mumbai-based private bank said in a statement. The list includes instant loan sanctions, credit cards, UPI (unified payments interface) based payment solutions, bill payment through Bharat Bill Payment System among others.

APIs, which form the backbone of a microservices-based architecture, are a set of instructions that enable third-party applications to communicate with a bank’s technology applications.  

The new platform will enable merchants, retailers, non-banking financial companies, e-commerce firms and corporates carry operations without visiting the bank. 

Customers can access the tools via the mobile phone and internet banking platforms of the bank. 

“In the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak over the past few weeks, we have added a few new features and services to offer a bouquet of solutions to our customers so that they can experience the banking services uninterrupted,” Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, said.

Read: Post UPI outage, NPCI moots multi-bank approach for fintechs

Artificial Intelligence-led bots will also help customers with investments in fixed deposits, public provident fund and stock markets, the statement said. 

“In the recent tie-ups with payment fintechs too, it was the wide array of services, APIs and volume handling capability available within the ‘ICICI Stack’ that enabled quick integrations overnight,” added Bagchi, hinting at its tie-up with digital wallet company, PhonePe.

Payment gateway Cashfree recently migrated over 10 lakh Yes Bank UPI (unified payments interface) handles to ICICI Bank.

This move was reportedly made within the first 100 hours of the announcement of the moratorium on the Mumbai headquartered private bank Yes Bank.

The recent crisis at Yes Bank severely affected UPI based transactions of several fintech apps, especially Walmart owned-PhonePe.