The past years have been setting the stage for a tectonic shift in the change-reluctant banking industry, through an intricate web & mobile factors which augment each other’s influence.
Increasingly complex technological infrastructure and digital ecosystems, along with a global crisis that the world still recovers from, have reshaped consumption behaviour patterns. The liberalisation of the brand-consumer relationship, imported into the banking field from other industries, completes the mix of factors that have made room for a new challenger: the FinTech sector. Finally, the Millennial generation’s coming of age has made the evolutionary leap of the banking industry inevitable.
Thus, a highly conservatory and legacy-based model, supported by strong regulations that the industry’s giants (still) benefit from, faces a transition which will ultimately lead to the mandatory change of banks as we know today.
Banks are at a point where sheer size is what can make or break them. The bigger the bank, the harder it will be for it to change & adapt. However, it is these banks that have the will to invest in data analysis infrastructure – the winning hand for those that will know how to play the same game, but with different rules.
In other words, it will be the in-depth knowledge of the consumer that will help banks rethink their too complex and often irrelevant product portfolios, whose core products are currently being offered by an increasing number of non-traditional financial players.
The lifeblood of the banking industry, loans will no longer be a perquisite of banks, but also available in the portfolios of the fintech companies, which have the resources to offer innovative, different from traditional money management & transfer services as well. Investment opportunities are also increasingly being sought more and more outside the traditional banking services portfolio, in an emergent P2P lending industry or in venture capital companies.
Beyond the product offering, the channel has become important – today, banking services must be available anywhere the customer needs them – that is, everywhere. Thus, while mobile is to become the main bank-customer interaction point, banks must consider an omnichannel approach that can offer consumers a consistent experience throughout the decisional stream.
Simplicity. Relevance. Instancy. It is the banking industry’s triad that puts the business & communication stress on the consumer and the right time to interact with him – all the time. – Cristi MIHAI, Managing Partner, STRATEGAD.