KYC IS NOT KNOWING YOUR CUSTOMER
- Kketan Amarnath Waghmare
- Mar 3
- 2 min read
At the beginning of every new month, my father goes to his bank to withdraw cash.
It’s almost a ritual.
He is close to 90.
Hardwired to hard cash. No UPI. No online banking. No plastic money. And honestly, at that age, why should he?
For months I heard him complain about the “new system.” I assumed it was resistance.
Today, I went with him to understand his frustration.
There’s a kiosk now.
Before meeting the teller, you must enter your withdrawal digitally. The machine sends an SMS to the registered mobile number. Only then can you stand in another queue and show that message to get your own money.
Noble thought. Save paper. Go digital.
On paper.
But look at who is actually standing there.
Senior citizens. Hands trembling. Eyes straining. Some barely steady on their feet. The font is small. The prompts move fast. The anxiety is visible.
Many use their phones only for forwards and videos. Typing one message can take ten minutes. And that incoming SMS — the one that unlocks their cash — is easy to miss.
And then the kiosk monitor feels like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Bright screen. Multiple tabs. Instructions in Indian languages — yes. But where to click? What next? Which button?
Touch here. Confirm there. OTP. Submit.
For someone who has lived 90 years in an analogue world, this doesn’t feel like banking. It feels like decoding a machine.
Then there’s the 35–65 crowd.
The working class.
Drivers. Shop owners. Class IV employees. People who work with their hands, not with apps.
English isn’t comfortable. The phone is basic. Smart — but only just enough.
The kiosk doesn’t feel progressive.
It feels intimidating.
So what happens?
Repeated attempts. Missed SMS. Confusion. Longer queues anyway.
And in the middle of this, the staff carried on.
Process. Routine.
Not one person got up.
Not when someone was clearly confused.
Not when someone was asking for help.
No one stepped out from behind their screens.
Leadership was present. Watching.
Efficiency on paper. Discomfort on the floor.
I’m not writing this as a complaint.
I’m writing this as someone who has spent 25+ years in Learning & Development designing behaviour change.
Banks complete your KYC.
But do they really KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER?
Do they know who physically walks into that branch every month?
Digital transformation without empathy is not innovation.
It is displacement.
We train teams on systems. On compliance. On SOPs.
But do we train them to notice?
If your frontline sees visitors, you deliver transactions.
If they see human beings, you build trust.
KYC is documentation.
Knowing your customer is behaviour.
And that cannot be automated.
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