BankBazaar.com - Aims to Simplify Financial Sector for Country’s Common Man

In an industry, focussed on fulfilling investors’ aspirations, Adhil Shetty’s focus on the consumer is a breath of fresh air. His passion for wanting to simplify banking for the common man and helping consumer’s avail the perfect financial product in a transparent, easy and efficient manner is what sets him and his company, BankBazaar.com apart.

1. What gave you the idea for Bank Bazaar?

My brother and co-founder, Arjun Shetty, was interested in buying a home in India. Getting the home-loan was a tiresome process and he faced the usual frustrations that consumers face while searching for the best deals on home loans. There was no clarity as to the process, too much tedious documentation, difficulty in comparing offers across lenders due to different charges and most importantly, agents gave incorrect information.

Arjun, who hailed from a strong technology and banking background and had run the world’s single largest online acquisition channel for cards with Amazon in the US, was frustrated with the entire process and wanted to simplify it. So, he along with me and Rati, decided to develop a credit processing platform for the Indian banking industry and hence, in 2007, we came back to India to start BankBazaar.com.

2. And how did you come up with the name ‘BankBazaar’?

We had many interesting suggestions but we wanted to go with something very obvious, easily recognisable with what we were doing and close to the business.

3. Many players have tried to enter the space that you inhabit and have failed. Why do you reckon you succeeded and what set you apart from them?

I feel there are two main reasons for this:

a. Vision: BankBazaar.com has a very unique and futuristic vision for the financial services. We were the first to deliver technology based ‘End-to End’ personal financial services. We were the first to introduce strict customer data privacy policy. We started talking about democratizing finance with 100% paperless platform in 2014 and are working towards that goal.

b. Team: Every pioneering vision needs a strong team to champion it, and every visionary company depends on a team that believes in its vision, technology and business plan. We have been constantly seeing industry stalwarts and freshers joining hands with BankBazaar.com, which is a validation of what we are trying to achieve. BankBazaar.com is on a growth trajectory and we are thrilled to have people supporting us in this phase.

4. How would you define the culture of BankBazaar.Com?

We encourage ownership. Team members at each level are accountable for their work quality and timeliness of outcomes. Each team leader involves employees in the overall team goal setting and planning exercise so that everyone relates to the overall vision. We seek everyone’s ideas, knowledge and insights, and invite them to help make important decisions.

5. What are the major challenges that you faced at the inception? How has the nature of the issues you now face, after 8 years, changed?

The major challenge was and still is the age-old consumers’ habit. Initially, it was very difficult to convince people to do an online purchase. No one was able to visualize it. Now, because of the overall acceptance to e-commerce and infrastructure development, our technology and vision is being accepted by the early adopters (and innovators).

6. If not an entrepreneur, what wold you be?

I’m not sure what other fields I might have explored, but one thing I’ve always known is that I wanted to work for myself and build my own brand. With that dream, we started BankBazaar.com 8 years ago and haven’t looked back since.

7. What can we expect to see in the future from Bank Bazaar (as a company) and from you (as an entrepreneur)?

We help consumers access the right financial products. With this focus, we want to extend our mission across all locations, whereby we can democratize personal finance with a 100% paperless platform using technology.

8. How has the consumer feedback been?

We have been getting positive feedback from consumers. They like our product and are appreciating this new way of banking with us.

9. Which has been the most rewarding moment in your journey of building Bank Bazaar?

I feel most rewarded when I sit in a BankBazaar Management team meeting and see our great talents working hard to deliver paperless banking to our consumers. This has been the result of many excellent moments like the Amazon investment, launching of the insurance portfolio, and scaling up to 9 million visitors per month.

10. Which is the one value in your firm that you are proud of and which value you still wish you could instil in your employees?

Customer-centricity. At BankBazaar we take decisions not because it’s good for us but because it helps the customer access the right financial products. As long as we serve the customer and generate loyalty, we are on track to build the world's largest marketplace offering instant financial services.

11. What is the craziest thing you have done?

Hard to say as I've not sky dived or bungee jumped but I've back packed across Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil on three crazy trips. I do watch a lot of foreign films, which my friends and wife think are crazy, but I believe are actually gems.

12. If you had a week with unlimited money what would you do?

In other words - “if I had a week to live!”. I would heartily spend the whole time with my family and friends talking, eating, laughing and guess what - watching movies! Also, it would be nice to spend it in a relaxed place like Beyond in Goa. As for the money, I would explore if it could effectively help solve one of many challenges the world faces - I would try to see if it could be used to drive education.

13. What are you afraid of?

Death and illness - for both my dear ones and myself. Our happiness is completely dependent on our health and so much of it is out of our control. I don't let it worry me but I know that it can change in an instant.

14. Tell me something you wish you hadn't done.

My undergraduate degree is in Electronics and Communication Engineering. I wish I had applied myself more and gained a much deeper understanding of Electronics. At the time, I felt that it was not what I wanted to specialise in and the only area I loved in Engineering was Networking because of which I started my first job at Cisco Systems. I realise that excelling at whatever one is currently doing is the key to being great - going back in time I would have excelled at Electronics when I had the chance.