With the growing popularity of wearable devices in India, HDFC bank is the first bank in India to foray into watch banking and launched today banking app for its operations on Apple watch.
To start with, HDFC Bank will provide a total of 10 banking transactions such as View Account Information, Bill Payments, Recharges, Hotlisting facilities, locate nearest branch/ATM/offer, request statement/chequebook etc. HDFC Bank’s WatchBanking app is not required to be downloaded separately but the interested customers can activate WatchBanking from an upgraded version of HDFC Bank’s MobileBanking App itself.
HDFC bank has taken security precautions for this app also and has incorporated same level of high security of its Mobile Banking App to its Watch Banking experience. HDFC bank has enlisted following security features in this app:
• Any user information or data flow that happens, it is from the mobile phone to the bank’s secure servers. The watch is merely a projection device
• For added security, there is a watch banking PIN that the user himself sets during the one time set-up process. This can be done only after entering his customer id and password known only to the user.
• Additionally the Apple watch itself has a passcode lock just like other iOS devices.
According to HDFC Bank, they are starting with the Apple Watch and aims to provide banking services through all wearable devices across platforms like iOS and Android in the future.
In December 2014, HDFC Bank launched its ‘Go Digital – Bank aapki mutthi mein’ campaign on the banks of the Varanasi river with an aim to provide holistic banking services in all possible digital channels. Today, HDFC Bank provides 175+ banking transactions through its Net banking platform and 80+ transactions through Mobile banking (Mobile and Tablet apps).
