ICICI Bank launches mobile banking app competition with Visa
ICICI Bank’s HQ, Mumbai
India’s ICICI Bank has launched an ‘ICICI Appathon’ as it looks for innovations in mobile banking apps.
The bank wants participants in India to create new APIs in five different categories – retail banking, corporate banking, treasury, ‘ICICI Group’ (such as insurance and securities), and ‘Partner APIs’. The latter comprises Visa and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
ICICI Bank says solutions need to “surpass the currently available solutions in the market [and] give a superior and intuitive experience to the end user”.
The top three winners can win prizes of over INR 2 million ($29,190) along with a ‘potential engagement opportunity’ with ICICI Bank.
The bank says winners will also be given a chance to be mentored by the programme partners (including IBM) and get a fast track entry into NASSCOM 10,000 Start-ups Program. NASSCOM is the National Association of Software and Services Companies – a trade association for the Indian Information technology and business process outsourcing industry.
Additionally, ICICI says a three-month full-time membership for up to two members of the winning team will be provided across 91springboard hubs in India. These hubs are collaborative and flexible co-working spaces in India.
The deadline for registration is 1 March 2016 and more information can be found here: iciciappathon.com
Names of the shortlisted candidates will be revealed on 4 March, and they will be given access to the APIs hosted on the IBM Bluemix platform on 5 March.
ICICI wants participants to create at least one working prototype using the virtual banking and financial services APIs. These will need to be submitted by 27 March. Finalists will be announced on 7 April and will be invited to ICICI Bank’s headquarters in Mumbai to compete in the ‘Grand Finale’ in April.
