- Most banking SMS is transactional: OTPs, debit and credit alerts, statements.
- Speed and delivery proof matter more than price per message.
- Templates and headers must be DLT-approved and consistent.
- Plan a fallback, such as a voice call, for OTPs that do not arrive.
Where banks use SMS
- One-time passwords for login and payments
- Alerts for card and account transactions
- EMI and due-date reminders
- Loan and application status updates
- Service notices and branch information
See the banking and finance page for how these fit together.
What to check in a provider
- Delivery speed and routes suited to time-critical messages.
- DLT support for entity, headers and templates.
- Delivery reports you can store for audit.
- API access to trigger messages from your systems.
- Support when a message fails.
Keep messages safe and clear
Never ask customers to share an OTP, PIN or password by reply. Use the same registered header every time so customers recognise the sender, and keep wording consistent with approved templates. For OTPs, see our OTP authentication use case.
Fallbacks for critical messages
If an OTP does not arrive, a short retry or a voice call can keep the customer from getting stuck. Our voice services cover automated calls that can sit behind SMS.
An OTP flow done carefully (illustrative)
- The customer starts a payment or login.
- Your system calls the SMS service with a registered OTP template.
- The message arrives with the code and a short validity time.
- The customer enters the code; your system checks it and expires it.
- If no code arrives, offer a resend after a short wait, then a voice call option.
Limit the number of resends and attempts to reduce abuse.
Common issues and fixes
- Delayed OTPs: check route, template and number status; keep OTP templates separate from promotional traffic.
- Failed delivery to some numbers: review reports for patterns such as one operator or invalid numbers.
- Customer confusion: keep sender name and wording consistent so genuine messages are recognisable.
Questions to ask a provider
How are delivery reports provided and for how long? Can messages be triggered through an API? Who supports template approvals? What happens when a route fails? Mantraxtel's team can walk through these in a demo.
Sources and further reading
Rules and platform requirements change. Last reviewed . This guide is general information, not legal advice.