Vaibhav Tambe: Building a Successful Transaction Banking Business
In India, the digital revolution caused by the JAM (Jan-Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity alongside government and RBI policies has driven increased UPI payments and digital lending. However, innovation has been limited to payments and lending, forsaking transaction banking which is an important enabler of banking for unknown or low-trust parties. With its high fee & low risk banking verticals, transaction banking availability can alter macro and micro economy factors. By increasing the availability of transaction banking products a huge number of business transactions can be enabled for public.
With 15 years of experience under his belt, VaibhavTambe founded TransBnk in India as a highly secure and rapidly growing transactional banking company that aims to revolutionize the country’s transactional banking market with innovative and safe solutions. As a CEO he ensures growth, prosperity and strength in both his team members as well as organization. He is known for striving towards enterprising excellence in BFSI and Fintech by leveraging my strong technical & product knowledge to build TransBnk’s Transaction Banking Infrastructure employing latest technologies like AI/ML, Blockchain & Web3 to serve Banks/Fintech/Corporates/Commercial/Institutional clients.
“Through tough journeys I have completed nearly 15 years in the industry starting from an assistant systems engineer with TCS then after my MBA I moved on to SBI into transaction banking where I learned great deal about product development / business development / various operational aspects then I joined IndusInd Bank’s transaction banking sales team where eventually worked up to leading Payments , CMS , Escrow Sales for several key verticals,” says VaibhavTambe, CEO at TransBnk.
Before establishing TransBnkTM ,Vaibhav was serving as President & CEO – Payments at iServeU Tech (NiyoginFintech) where he spearheaded several initiatives like – building open banking/net banking/payments partnerships with banking & fintech alliances and driving various projects focused on digital payments, financial inclusion , enterprise business development.
During his tenure as Country Head – Payments & CMS Sales at IndusInd Bank, Vaibhav was responsible for managing complete P&L business development and strategic projects related to payments, CMS and escrows for large Corporate clients , Banks , MNCs , NBFIs , fintech companies , IT firms , capital markets, financial services & institutions, real estate, healthcare, gems & jewelry and impact investment clients.
“As a team we had the opportunity to work on entire spectrum of payments i.e B2B payments / Corporate Banking / certain aspects of Investment Banking. That exposed me to know global remittance / product core business domains / various regulatory aspects which helped me build strong relationships with clients. Our work has been recognized by numerous international awards for clients such as Bajaj Finance/Aditya Birla Capital/Vodafone etc. After this success I received an offer to become CEO of payments in a publicly traded Fintech company but after giving it some thought I realized my true passion is in building transaction banking company by myself. So along with my co-founders we established TransBnk,” he concludes.
Vaibhav’s core responsibility is to disrupt the corporate and institutional clients’ core transactional activities by transforming the associated payment systems. He also oversees cash management, escrows, remittances, and trade/channel finance.
People, Domain Knowledge, and Risk-Taking in Business
Vaibhav is particularly skilled at building techno-functional teams of like-minded individuals with hands-on experience in the transaction banking, payments, and capital markets sectors. The executive thinks that people are an organization’s most important asset – be it vendors, customers or even team members – because their relationships and priorities ultimately dictate operations.
He believes compassion and trust motivate employees more than money or rewards can ever do. Vaibhav also emphasizes that having a strong core domain knowledge is vital for building a broad-based and sustainable business. He ensures his team members regularly participate in several training programs aimed at upskilling them with new knowledge.
Considered a calculated risk-taker, Vaibhav knows that without taking risks it’s impossible to build a brand in the banking industry. However, he only takes on risks that can be quantified so proper mitigation measures can be put in place.
A significant challenge faced by many organizations today is retaining employees while keeping them motivated to pursue the company vision. TransBnk has plans to remedy this situation by hiring competent individuals who are qualified for their roles. These individuals will then be provided an environment conducive for growth within the organization. To achieve this goal, significant funds have been raised from investors while maintenance of compliance with changing regulatory requirements remains key.
“As a banking professional I understand the importance of trust which serves as our industry’s foundation. Therefore we strive to structure our digital banking business in line with regulatory requirements while establishing a secure layer of corporate transaction banking,” he adds. “Our aim is to streamline bank processes through creating smoother transactions which are safer and more efficient all while reducing turnaround time. This allows us to build a robust business model that can be replicated to meet the needs of our clients. Using my transactional banking experience, I work with other co-founders to lay a solid foundation that can address potential issues and keep transactions secure.”
Vaibhav states further, “Transactional banking involves three major risks: financial market risk, operational risk, and credit risk; all of which are associated with the macroeconomic system. By applying state-of-the-art technology stacks such as AI and blockchain as well as Web2 and Web3 we can design solutions that incorporate multiple security layers. This ensures the highest level of protection for our client’s transactions.”
Presently, TransBnk is also exploring use cases in supply chain finance, trade finance, and cross-border remittances sectors while planning geographic expansion into Southeast Asia, Middle East, UK and US.