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Banking-as-a-Lifestyle –The Future of Banks Lies in Adopting an Experience First Mindset

  Evolution of Banks and Financial Services It is easy to mistake banking as a modern invention and forget that it is millennia old – merchants who gave grain loans to farmers and traders carrying goods between cities, and the depositing and storing of gold in temples are just some examples to show how far back it goes. While banking has constantly evolved over the years, at the heart of it are three fundamentals – saving money for the customer, lending money to the customer and moving money across entities. Having said that, the way banking has been done has obviously changed with the times. Somewhere in the stages of this evolution, banking became about what banks wanted to sell and the products they offered the customer. Banks became institutions and while customers trusted their banks immensely, they also began to look at them as a little intimidating and complex. Change, as is said, is inevitable; the emergence and widespread access to technology began to put the focus on the ...
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Retaining and Growing Customer Loyalty with Empathetic Banking

  The banking customer has changed. Not content to be on the periphery of the system any longer, the modern customer is demanding greater control of their interactions, hyper personalized engagements and on demand availability of services. And to meet changing customer expectations and stave off increasing competition from fintechs and technology giants, most traditional banks have embarked on their digital transformation journeys. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic put digital strategies upfront and center of most banking organizations, highlighting the crucial link between digitalization and business continuity. In a post COVID-19 world, banks must reinvent their operating models and strategies with customers at their very core, and work with the objective of delivering a superlative banking experience. Customer Centricity at the Intersection of Lifecycle, Experience and Value For Kotak Mahindra Bank, customer centricity lies at the intersection of customer lifecycle, customer...
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The Future of Community Banking

  With roots that go back to the late 19th century, the urban cooperative banks of India are possibly one of the oldest examples of community banking in the world. A community bank is a depository institution that is usually owned and operated locally. Such a bank focusses on the needs of businesses and people in its vicinity. They base lending decisions on a deep understanding of local needs as very often bank employees come from the same communities they serve.  Across the world, community banks handle most agricultural and small business loans and enjoy a good amount of customer trust. The Small Business Credit survey reveals that 79 percent of independent businesses that used community banks were satisfied with their overall experience; compared to 67 percent for large banks and 49 percent for online lenders 1 . Over the years, community banks have been a critical support for the  banking ecosystem  by ensuring thriving local economies. But ho...
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Going Contactless – The Next Stage of Banking Evolution

  The earliest form of contactless payments was introduced in the 1920s in the form of Western Union’s charge cards. Since then, the banking sector has been working on different contactless and cashless payment models such as the Diner’s Club Cards in the 1950s and the Bank of America card that later became the VISA card in the ‘70s. Then as new technologies emerged, there came innovations like payments via videotext in the 80s. With the advent of the Internet and the increasing penetration of mobile networks, banking moved online and on mobile apps. And as the world socially distanced in a bid to combat COVID-19, contactless banking became more important than ever before. Will the future of banking be truly contactless and what exactly does this involve? What is Contactless Banking?   Contactless banking goes beyond mere payments to encompass every single touchpoint in a customer’s journey. This includes account opening, transactions like payments, customers support, and digi...
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Addressing the Pandemic of Loan Defaults in a Post COVID World

  As COVID-19 lockdowns disrupted supply chains, stalled production, and upended established commerce channels, businesses across the world faced losses and eventual shutdowns. Small and medium businesses were particularly impacted and over 400 million full time jobs were lost in the second quarter of last year. 1   Banks form the nerve center of business and economy, and they will inevitably bear the brunt of this crisis. Industry estimates suggest up to 80% of businesses could default on their bounce-back loans. 2   The impact of such large-scale loan default will undoubtedly be significant, and the sector will likely need to make some strategic realignments to recover and grow in the months to come. The Scale of Loan Defaults Caused by COVID-19 Non-Performing Assets (NPA) of almost all US banks show a 22 percent increase at end of Q2 2020 when compared to the data at the end of 2019. 3  Reports indicate that NPAs of Indian banks is likely to double by the end of t...
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The Edge in Focus – How Edge Computing Will Power the Age of Data

  The emergence of cloud computing changed the world as we knew it. By freeing up data from the limitations of the physical hardware holding it, cloud computing opened up new possibilities of on-demand access and availability. Today, it forms the foundation of any digital transformation effort, but is it equipped to enable next-generation technologies such as AI, ML, and IoT? Cloud computing operates on a consolidated and flexible structure but lacks the network bandwidth to facilitate the lightning fast, real-time data collection and analysis that is a pre-requisite for data centric technologies. And this is where Edge Computing can help. Edge platforms will power the next phase of digital transformation and help organizations across sectors unlock true value of their technology investments. In fact, the global market for Edge computing technology is expected to reach a whopping $250.6 billion by 2024 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.5% over the 2019–2024 forecast p...
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Embedded Banking – Understanding the “Invisible” Bank

  An ING Bank customer in the Netherlands can travel on public transport without purchasing tickets or swiping a physical transport pass of any kind. No, ING Bank is not offering free rides as a promotional scheme. It is piloting an innovative “Invisible Tickets”   for users where an app on their mobile phones automatically detects the mode of transport once the passenger boards it. 1 When the passenger disembarks, the app calculates the fare for the distance traveled and debits it from their bank account.   Modern banking is no longer restricted to the physical branches and the way customers bank is being reimagined. Internet and mobile based options took services to the customer’s fingertips anywhere and anytime they needed. And this next wave of innovation will embed financial services into disparate businesses that customers engage with every day. Banking is becoming contextual, intrinsic, personalized, and increasingly invisible.   How is Banking Embedded? Embe...
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