On January 7, 2021 Punjab National Bank (PNB) partnered with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and Foundation for Innovation & Research in Science & Technology (FIRST) to jointly set up ‘Fintech Innovation Centre (FIC)’, the Punjab National Bank – IIT Kanpur Innovation Centre at the IIT Kanpur campus.
Key People:
i.In this regard an MoU was signed at Dwarka, New Delhi in presence of top officials from the PNB, IIT Kanpur and FIRST.
ii.Agyey Kumar Azad, Sanjay Kumar, Executive Directors of PNB and CH SS Mallikarjuna Rao , Managing Director(MD) & Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of PNB exchanged MoU with the Dean IIT Kanpur Prof Amitabh Bandopadhyaya
Provisions of the Partnership:
i.Under this partnership, PNB and IIT Kanpur will set up a FIC to do research and develop technological solutions to address challenges & explore opportunities in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) space.
ii.PNB aims to create new products / solutions with technological innovations by FIC with the help of FIRST and IIT Kanpur’s experienced faculty members.
iii.PNB will provide problem statements and also guidance regarding banking regulations.
Benefit of Collaboration:
This collaboration of technical expertise from IIT Kanpur and financial expertise of PNB will help to develop innovations and entrepreneurial excellence.
About Fintech Innovation Centre(FIC):
Support
A comprehensive ecosystem of financial institutions, academia, Venture Capital funds, technology companies and key government organizations will support the FIC.
Area of Focus
The planned area of focus include Fintech, Digital Lending, Payments and Cyber Security among others.
Benefits
i.The setting up of an FIC will provide an opportunity to Start-ups and Fintech companies incubated by IIT Kanpur and students to provide technological solutions to problems defined by the bank and will be aided by Professors.
- In addition to it, they can develop solutions to the financial ecosystem.
ii.PNB will get access to the Fin-Techs incubated by IIT-Kanpur along with their innovative solutions.
iii.To develop advanced solutions for the bank, World class research will be carried in Fintech related neo-technologies.
About Foundation for Innovation & Research in Science & Technology (FIRST):
The First Trust Non-Governmental Organization(NGO) is an Indian not-for-profit initiative that provides Rural Development and Education through programs.
Founder & Managing Trustee– Mrs. S. Sudha
Headquarters– Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu
Recent Related News:
i.On 19th October, 2020 National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog launched First of its Kind, Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) with Amazon Web Services (AWS). CIC will help in addressing societal challenges through digital innovation with focus on agriculture, healthcare and skill development.
ii.On December 23, 2020 Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with Indian Institute of Technology(IIT)-Banaras Hindu University(BHU) to set up its Regional Academic Centre for Space(RAC-S) at the institute. This will enable advanced research in the future technology of the Indian space program.
About Punjab National Bank (PNB):
i.The United Bank of India(UBI) and Oriental Bank of Commerce(OBC) has been merged with PNB with effect from April 1, 2020.
ii.PNB with this merger becomes the 2nd largest nationalized bank of India, in terms of business and branch network.
Founded– May 19, 1894
Commenced Operations– April 12, 1895
Tagline– The name you can bank upon
MD & CEO– CH S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao
Headquarters– New Delhi, India
About Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur:
Director– Prof. Abhay Karandikar
HeadQuarters– Kalyanpur, Kanpur
