Tech alone can't answer emerging questions in banking, says RBI Swaminathan
This story was originally published at 15:57 IST on 4 May 2026
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MUMBAI – Technology alone cannot answer the questions emerging in the banking sector though it offers a range of possibilities, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Swaminathan J. said in a speech at the Madras School of Economics. Swaminathan was speaking at the 12th G. Ramachandran Memorial Lecture Thursday, according to a release from the central bank Monday.
While technological developments make banking easier by reducing costs and widening access, they also pose questions such as whether the customer is being treated fairly or whether risks are being recognised early enough, the deputy governor said. "These questions cannot be answered by technology alone," he said. "They require judgment. They require institutional discipline. They require humility about what we do not know. And above all, they require a sense of public purpose."
Swaminathan also laid stress on the importance of sound finance and strong governance in banking. "Weak governance in a financial institution can affect many who had no role in creating the weakness," he said. "Sound finance is therefore not only a matter of profitability, but also of responsibility."
In order to ensure that finance serves the needs of the economy and the people, the present generation must ensure sound regulation, responsible innovation, and better governance, Swaminathan said. "Your generation will have to answer it in ways that may not yet be fully visible to us but which will require the same combination of knowledge, judgement, and public purpose," he said in the speech.
The financial system of the future will not only need technical skills, but also "people who can combine knowledge with judgment, and ambition with public purpose", the deputy governor said. End
Reported by Nandini Sinha
Edited by Rajeev Pai
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