Global fintechs lend a hand to banks in testing times of Covid-19

Amidst the corona chaos, fintech lends helping hands to the banks.

Moneycontrol News

March 30, 2020 / 06:52 PM IST

Covid-19 has hit almost all the industries across the globe and the impact of the pandmic on the financial services sector has been significant.

Lockdowns and social distancing particularly has had immediate effect on several banking activities. Experts in the sector have greatly underscored the need for focusing on digital channels and platforms during times like these.

Interestingly, the COVID situation has led to the increased collaboration between banks and their new-age fintech counterparts. To aid the banks and their customers, many Fintech providers have come forward to offer technology for free or at discounted prices.

The NY-based 7Chord is one such fintech which has proactively come forward to aid the players in the financial services sector. The company offers an AI-driven platform for bond traders—called BondDroid which is now being offered at no charges for the next three months. Another great case in point is Active.ai. While customers are confused and look for answers, the virtual assistant from Active.AI comes to the rescue of the banks. The technology helps in customizing answers rapidly, specific for any institution and the company is now extending its trail period for an additional 30 days.

Communicating with the clients is another vital factor, which has been hit by the pandemic. Bankingly, an online and mobile banking software, has launched a free android app for banks to effectively communicate with the clients. The app is non-trasactional, but it does display various forms for onboarding. In another instance is, Q2, which offers digital banking platform, has announced discounted deployment fees for both its corporate and banking customers.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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