Vaibhav Tambe: Building a Successful Transaction Banking Business
The JAM (Jan-Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity, along with government and RBI policies, has fueled a digital revolution in India, resulting in increased UPI payments and digital lending. However, innovation has been limited to payments and lending, neglecting Transaction Banking, a significant banking enabler for unknown or low-trust parties. The availability of Transaction Banking can greatly impact macro and microeconomic factors, as it is a high-fee, low-risk banking vertical. Increasing the availability of Transaction Banking products can enable countless business transactions for the public.
With 15 years of experience, VaibhavTambe has established TransBnk, a highly secure and rapidly growing transactional banking company in India. He aims to revolutionize the country’s transactional banking landscape with innovative and safe solutions. As a CEO who cares for his people, Vaibhav ensures an environment of growth, prosperity, and strength for both his team and the organization. He is known for striving for enterprising excellence in BFSI and Fintech by combining his strong technical and product knowledge to build TransBnk’s Transaction Banking Infrastructure, employing the latest technologies such as AI/ML, Blockchain, and Web3 to serve various clients, including Banks, Fintech, Corporates, Commercial, and Institutional.
“Through a series of challenging journeys, I have accumulated nearly 15 years of experience in the industry. My career began as an assistant systems engineer with TCS, and after completing my MBA, I joined SBI in the transaction banking sector. During my tenure, I learned a great deal about product development, business development, and various operational aspects. The next step was to join IndusInd Bank’s transaction banking sales team, where he eventually worked his way up to the position to lead the Payments, CMS, and Escrow Sales for several key business verticals,” explains VaibhavTambe, CEO, TransBnk.
Before establishing TransBnkTM, Vaibhav held the position of President and CEO – Payments at iServeU Tech (NiyoginFintech), where he spearheaded several initiatives such as building open banking/net banking/payments partnerships with banking and fintech alliances and driving various projects focused on digital payments and financial inclusion, as well as enterprise business development.
During his tenure as Country Head – Payments and CMS Sales at IndusInd Bank, Vaibhav was responsible for managing the 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 and institutions, real estate, healthcare, gems, and jewelry, and impact investment clients.
“As a team, we had the opportunity to work on the entire spectrum of payments, including B2B payments, corporate banking, and certain aspects of investment banking. This exposed me to a wealth of knowledge about global remittance, product and core business domains, and various regulatory aspects, which helped me to build strong relationships with clients. Our work was recognized with numerous international awards for clients such as Bajaj Finance, Aditya Birla Capital, Vodafone, and others. Following this, I received an offer to serve as CEO of payments for a publicly traded fintech company. However, after some contemplation, I realized that my true passion lay in building my own transaction banking company. And so, along with my co-founders, I established TransBnk,” he asserts.
Vaibhav’sfocus is on revolutionizing the core transactional activities of corporate and institutional clients by transforming transaction banking products such as payments, cash management, escrows, remittances, and trade/channel finance.
Importance of People, Domain Knowledge, and Risk-Taking in Business
Vaibhav’s core expertise lies in building teams of like-minded and techno-functional associates with exposure in the transaction banking, payments, and capital markets domains. He understands that people are the most important aspect of any organization, be it team members, vendors, or customers, and values the relationships and priorities of individuals.
He believes that compassion and trust are more motivating to employees than money or rewards. He emphasizes the importance of core domain knowledge for building a large and sustainable business, which is why his team regularly upskills through various training courses.
Vaibhav is not afraid to take calculated risks because he knows that without risk, it is impossible to create a brand in the banking industry. However, he also recognizes the importance of assessing risks and quantifying them to mitigate them.
According to Vaibhav, retaining and motivating employees while keeping them aligned with the company’s vision is a crucial challenge faced by organizations today. TransBnk aims to overcome this challenge by hiring competent and qualified individuals and providing an environment that fosters growth within the organization. The company has raised significant funds and leverages technology to achieve this goal. They prioritize transparency and honesty in all interactions with their employees and grant them the freedom to experiment and learn. Furthermore, compliance with regulatory changes is essential to prevent the failure of fintech and start-ups. Therefore, TransBnk ensures that it complies with all regulatory changes to remain law-abiding.
“As a banking professional, I understand that trust is the foundation of our industry. That is why we are committed to building a digital and regulatory compliant banking business that is equipped with a secure layer of corporate transaction banking. Our goal is to streamline the banking process, making it smoother, safer, and more efficient, while also reducing the turnaround time. This helps us build a robust business model that can be replicated according to the needs of our customers. Leveraging my experience in transactional banking, I work with my co-founders to build a solid foundation that can effectively address any potential issues and ensure the safety of all transactions,” he states.
He further adds, “At TransBnk, we recognize that transactional banking carries three major types of risks: financial market risk, operational risk, and credit risk, all of which are associated with the macroeconomic system. To mitigate these risks, we leverage a variety of cutting-edge technology stacks, including AI, blockchain, and a combination of Web2 and Web3. These technologies enable us to incorporate multiple layers of security and safety features into our solutions, ensuring the highest levels of protection for our client’s transactions.”
The company is currently exploring new use cases in areas such as supply chain finance, trade finance, and cross-border remittances. Additionally, there are plans to expand geographically soon, with a focus on the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the UK, and the US.
