The epicentre of finance these days happen to be the new breed of neobanks which operate with digitally managed bank accounts. They do not have brick-and-mortar branches. These days they partner with licensed banks and offer an array of financial products — savings, lending and long-term investments such as FDs and mutual funds.

These can be distinguished from the traditional banks by superior user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) together with a faster, paperless onboarding experience.

Internationally, neo-banks focus on underserved categories such as blue-collared workers and businesses. In India, their clientele consists of a mix of both the regular customers and sub-prime customers. Millennials and prime users gravitate to these banks because of vastly superior banking experience.

These make their services economical by charging minimal banking and transaction fees.

The neo-banks operating here are Razorpay, Open, Fi, Freo, Niyo, Flobiz, Zolve and others.