SBI to launch WhatsApp banking services

India’s largest public-sector lender, State Bank of India SBI is soon going to launch banking services on WhatsApp for its customers. The plan was announced on Friday, July 1, by SBI chairman Dinesh Khara in a virtual press conference, where he also launched a few retail initiatives. 

The top officer during the press conference also said that the SBI is set to launch API (application programming interface) banking to aggregators and corporate clients. 

The API Banking system, once launched, will help in communication between bank and client servers. This will in turn make data transfer smooth between the two systems, and provide a seamless and secure experience for the customer.
 
With the launch of the WhatsApp Banking System, customers of SBI will soon be able to use the messaging platform to carry out certain banking transactions. However, Khara did not provide the details of what services will be offered once the SBI WhatsApp banking system is activated. 

Currently, the State Bank of India offers WhatsApp-based services to its credit card holders through the platform under the name of SBI Card WhatsApp connect. Through this, SBI credit card customers can check their account summary, reward points, outstanding balance, make card payments, and more. To sign up for the system, cardholders have to send a WhatsApp message, ‘OPTIN’ to 9004022022. They can also give a missed call at 08080945040 from the registered mobile number or use the mobile app to sign up for the service.