The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic that led to must-need social distancing measures and work from home policies also prompted increased use of online and internet based resources across industries. When it comes to retail and personal banking, while businesses and consumers are now adjusting to internet based mobile transactions, it is imperative that financial institutions and banks focus on improving their end-user experience without compromising on the security and privacy of their customer data.
While several experts over the last few months have spoken about the rapid pace of digitisation within financial services that 2020 witnessed (in part, due to the Covid-19 pandemic), the move to e-banking services and mobile based financial services have been fueled by increased interest of consumers, especially younger millenials and the Gen Z population who would rather opt for convenience by resorting to instant, cashless, online facilities.
While this change in consumption patterns or preferences when it comes to financial services has been in the works since many years, it is still evident that financial services fall behind retail giants like Amazon when delivering a seamless customer experience. While on the one hand global banks and private financial institutions boost their capabilities to try and bridge this gap, there is now more need to turn to improved customer identity and access management features to help ensure a seamless and secure banking experience.
Here are a few points that can help Banks and Financial Institutes address this:
Enhancing ‘personal cyber security or access’ on smartphone apps:
Strong customer identity and access management features (CIAM) help banks focus on important elements and aspects of the data exchanged to reduce friction and create a more secure and seamless transacting experience. Another way that smaller institutes can capitalize on the safety enhancements being offered via their apps is to secure access using biometric fingerprints, or multi-factor Authentication to protect user identity and prevent fraudulent transactions.
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Limiting the need for multiple identity checks with better safety features:
When applying for a new financial service or product, users usually have to fill out a form (still) with data they have already saved with their banks before. While banks work on trying to centralize customer data to help optimize this, users in most cases still have to undergo multiple identity and access verifications when they want to access new portfolios or services. This may result in the need to create multiple profiles and logins for one single user thereby making the end user experience more disjointed.
This can also lead to customer churn, because, customers who need to spend too much time trying to adapt to a new service will most likely tend to identify another provider that offers an easier process.
Challenging legacy systems
Banks and financial institutions who still rely on legacy applications that use high communication protocols to protect how data is exchanged between parties might help meet regulatory requirements. But it is the newer challenger banks and non-traditional banking providers who have lesser reliance on legacy systems that are able to adapt faster to a changing business climate and even security protocols based on recent data amendments (like GDPR).
While financial services and banking-as-a-service evolves with fintech innovations, the focus has now shifted on meeting customer’s expectations and delivering the same service model that they are accustomed to in their B2C dealings. Improving customer security during this time is a given and the one fundamental that traditional banks now have to keep in mind is that a more agile methodology is needed to face competitors and reduce churn; all while delivery a safe and secure, seamless online transacting experience.
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