Four months after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) temporarily barred HDFC Bank from issuing new credit cards, India's largest private sector lender is planning to replace its legacy credit card system with a modern technology platform, Mint reported on Wednesday.

Last December, the RBI issued an order asking HDFC Bank to temporarily halt onboarding new credit card customers following a series of technical glitches that the lender had experienced for two years.

Since the ban, HDFC Bank has seen its cards portfolio decline by 189,000 cards, as of February-end. ICICI Bank managed to capture 43 percent of the incremental cards issued between December and February.

According to the Mint report that cites a person aware of the matter, HDFC Bank is going to shift its credit card operations to a modern technology platform that is aimed to make the processes more efficient and cost-effective. The upgradation, as per the report, is also expected to give customers a better experience and more security.

According to Mint, HDFC Bank had started the talk with fintech companies nearly two years ago for this but the need to move to a different platform was felt with the rise in digital transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“HDFC Bank is considering moving its card platform to a credible fintech company for better end-to-end processing of cards, customer experience, and security. There are many new-age fintechs that have developed a good platform for online banking, credit card issuance and management that are offering banks the option to migrate it to their platforms," the source was quoted as saying in the report.

The bank is holding discussions with fintech companies like Zeta and Sprinklr to launch the new credit cards once RBI lifts the ban, added the report.