In a bid to meet the growing demand for its digital banking services, Axis Bank has inked a multi-year deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The third-largest private sector bank will use AWS, the cloud computing arm of Amazon.com, to build a portfolio of new digital financial services to enhance banking experiences to customers, including online accounts that can be opened in under six minutes and instant digital payments.

Axis Bank has deployed over 25 applications on AWS, including a Buy Now Pay Later product and a new loan management system to support it, Account Aggregator, Video-Know Your Customer and WhatsApp Banking.

The bank also plans to migrate 70% of its on-premises data centre infrastructure in the next two years to improve customer satisfaction.

Axis Bank has set up a cloud centre of excellence to accelerate its cloud migration and innovating new services in collaboration with AWS Professional Services.

Axis Bank group executive Subrat Mohanty said, “Axis Bank is designing new products, crafting digital journeys, and personalising its services to address the financial needs of its customers better. We aim to transition 70% of our infrastructure and applications on the cloud.”

Added Puneet Chandok, President, Commercial Business, AWS India and South Asia: “Cloud is transforming the financial industry and we are delighted to help Axis Bank build and grow a suite of digital banking services that evolve with technology changes, introduce new payment modes, and support evolving consumer and business needs in India."

Last year, Axis Bank made the decision to deploy all new customer facing applications on AWS. Today, 15% of the bank’s applications are already on the cloud, and the bank aims to take this number to 70% in three years.

Looking to scale up its cloud-native engineering capabilities, Axis Bank has dedicated over 800 people to its digital projects, built an in-house engineering and design team of more than 130 people, and established a cloud engineering practice centered on agile software development and DevOps principles.

Axis Bank plans to reach out to over 200 million customers with its new digital financial services.