A recent study by A J.D. Power, conducted in February of this year showed how the number of new bank account openings that happened at bank branches comprised just 55% of all new account openings. The same study indicated that 31% of new bank account openings are now made online via a bank’s website or the bank’s mobile app.
Several industry leaders have expressed their thoughts on how the shift to a digital banking experience was already largely underway, but the Covid-19 global pandemic just accelerated this further. The ongoing pandemic has made digital transformation a priority for companies across the globe, without focusing on this, companies stand to lose market share and reputation amid the growing capabilities and innovations of other competitors who do focus on it.
Read More: What Helps Drive Innovations in Fintech?
While a big chunk of the world’s consumers have adopted digital banking and mobile banking facilities over the years, several others have been forced to look into these capabilities during the lockdowns imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. While companies worldwide get accustomed to new working styles and work from home models and while businesses adopt to the new normal, the question remains – in the post-Covid-19 world, will consumers really want to step into their bank branch anymore, for anything?
Here’s why every bank needs a more balanced remote customer on-boarding and digital banking process today.
Improves the customer journey
The latest innovations in fintech, when it comes to enabling individual users or businesses, are all built with one aim in mind – improve the financial management capabilities of the end-user while enhancing their customer journey when using a particular fintech product.
According to an earlier Digital Banking Report, more than four in five financial institutions ranked improving the customer journey as their most important strategic priority for 2019,
In many ways, an improved digital banking and on-boarding experience will give them that. While fintech innovations are on the rise, now is the time for banks to not only replicate their physical branch inspired on-boarding process on their websites but to also focus on introducing various platforms through which customer on-boarding can be done in a more seamless and convenient way directly via their mobile.
Automating the basics leads to better convenience
Banks the world over have to follow certain routine procedures while on-boarding customers as part of regulatory and state requirements, one of these necessary due diligence processes includes the KYC (Know your customer) step. While the number of on-boarding steps vary according to country and region, the basics remain the same in most cases.
In order to offer a more streamlined customer experience, the first step starts with ensuring a good standard (automated) on-boarding process, reducing the need for paperwork and constant branch visits to either open or access an account, this is proving to be the need of the hour for banking customers today.
Read More: GlobalFintechSeries Interview with Christian Spaltenstein, Managing Director – Americas at AFEX
Vulnerable sections of the society are served better
While on the one hand, Covid-19 has enforced social distancing norms, vulnerable sections of society like the elderly, or those with disabilities might not always find it convenient to visit their bank branch, irrespective of there being a pandemic or not. If these sections of society are familiar with the use of mobile technologies and apps, and if these apps follow ADA norms, a seamless mobile banking and digital banking experience can boost the way they choose to invest and manage their finances while ensuring more numbers from these sections adopt digital banking methods, reducing the need also for a physical on-boarding experience.
Designing a digital, sophisticated on-boarding process is not difficult
With the latest range fintech solutions to integrate and choose from, banks big and small, can easily adopt and re-define their existing digital on-boarding strategies (if they already have one) to keep enhancing the customer experience. For banks who are still adopting or streamlining a digital-first on-boarding experience, identifying what problems customers face with an in-branch on-boarding process can help pave the next steps to identifying the flow for a full-proof digital on-boarding solution.
Evaluating what current vendors and competitors are doing to make this integral banking step easier can also help plan a more wholesome on-boarding experience, one that can prove to be a step ahead of everyone else.
Banks need to consider how new finance technology can optimize and expedite the on-boarding process to create the type of experience consumers want (and need) more of. And all of this starts with the first step – a seamless digital on-boarding experience.
1 comment
Comments are closed.