There have been a lot of discussions lately in the banking and fintech community about customer-centric financial products and services. To be customer-centric, financial services should be tailored based on changing consumer needs at particular life stages and everyday moments (nicely depicted as “Life Map for Money” by Oliver Wyman), but instead we mostly see product-driven sales by banks. For instance, random sales calls and banners in digital platforms promoting credit cards or pension products. And when a seemingly random* sum of personal loan is promoted to me as a “personalised offer” (on the landing page after login), it creates worse impression than no personalisation at all.
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​For banks to stay profitable by adopting a customer-centric approach, the only way forward is via digital sales that are facilitated by insights from predictive analytics tools. Before moving towards more contextual product offerings, banks should enable entirely digital user journeys for acquiring financial products. However, according to Avoka’s 2017 study on the “State of Digital Sales in Banking” from 32 largest banks in North America, Europe and Australia, still less than 30% of all products can be applied for using digital channels. If we look at the country level, according to McKinsey 2017 report “The future of customer-led retail banking distribution”, UK is leading the way in digital sales penetration.

Moving on to specific sales promotion examples, Barclays stands out in the UK market with their digital Features Store where customers can select paid-for add-ons to their bank account, such as travel pack, home pack or tech pack. Several banks in the UK and Australia offer dedicated apps for homebuyers (e.g. Barclays Homeowner app in partnership with Zoopla for property search) to promote mortgage applications. From the fintech world, Wealthfront goes a step further by using third-party data to project the future home prices and mortgage rates that are specific to the borrower’s financial situation to estimate if the customer can afford the chosen house, and advises the user which account the downpayment funds should come from. 

The above examples are just a tip of an iceberg. A broader way to look at customer-centric digital sales of financial services is to:

1. Design dynamic life maps for money with different scenarios of major life events and offer financial services that are most relevant to the stage of life, which goes beyond basic segmentation of customers as students, seniors, homebuyers, etc.
2. Apply automated transaction analytics tools to get deeper insights and offer contextual moment-specific financial services, i.e. pull instead of the traditional push sales approach.
3. Identify and maximize top value customers considering customer lifetime value instead of designing services for an "average customer".

​Customer loyalty programs ​and partnerships with fintechs are other big topics for driving digital sales for banks and increasing their customer experience, which will be discussed in separate posts. Meanwhile, please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss other of my research findings of best-in-class examples around the world.
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*The “personalised” loan offer seemed random, since my instant savings and current account balance considerably exceeded the offered loan amount, which left me wondering “who in their right mind would take a personal loan with a huge APR when having enough of their own money to spend?”

It has been a while since my last blog post. Nearly five years in digital banking and fintech world is like a whole generation. What has changed in banking? And where have I been all this time?
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Back in 2013, banks were starting to talk about responsive designs for their websites and had their first versions of mobile banking apps, which were considered only as complementary to other banking channels. Today we cannot imagine banking without digital. We have gone through the buzzwords of omni-channel, customer-centric, biometrics, big data, blockchain, NFC, PSD2 / Open Banking, Uberisation of banking, and artificial intelligence to name a few in the banking and fintech community. But what have been the true value-adding changes for the retail banking customers*?

The most exciting changes from a user perspective have been:

1. the ability to remotely (and often instantly) open a current account / card account with digital-only banks (such as N26, Monese, Monzo, etc.) that provide more user-friendly insights into spending and offer more transparent pricing of financial services; 
2. exchange currencies at interbank rates and use the same card abroad without any extra fees (e.g. Revolut, TransferWise), so the new generation of consumers may not recognise the concept of bid-ask spread; 
3. timesaving features, such as TouchID for login, Fast Balance, Pay to Contacts (from the mobile phonebook), Apple Pay, contactless payments, and transaction notifications on mobile. Instant credit-scoring and faster personal loans are also timesaving, however misselling them often leads to lowering the well-being of consumers in the long term.

​Following the PSD2 / Open Banking and advancements in machine learning, we are about to see more and smarter PFM solutions. Instead of simply copying features from more innovative banks abroad (such as Commonwealth Bank and BBVA) like it was done a few years ago, banks are now more inclined towards collaborating with fintech startups (e.g. partnership by HSBC and Bud) for new sales channels, better servicing of their customers and greater operational efficiencies. Fintech has grown so rapidly that it has been split into paytech, wealthtech, insurtech, regtech, etc. and we may see more banks launching their marketplaces (such as Starling Marketplace) in the future.
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But now chatbots (e.g. Eno by Capital One, Ceba by Commonwealth Bank) help customers with executing transactions and receiving advice​, and AI initiatives such as Aida by SEB also help with bank employee queries. I believe this year we will be seeing a lot more AI applications in banking.

On a personal note, in less than five years, our family has grown from 2 to 4, which is probably the main reason why writing a blog was de-prioritised for a while. My professional focus has been on executing dozens of projects for financial services providers in the UK, US and Switzerland with Mapa Research, and independantly for a bank in my native Latvia. 

My digital banking market research projects have been on a wide range of banking products and services, customer journeys, and fintech innovations, from public sources and the secure area of existing accounts, as well as opening new accounts. To name just a few of the topics: mobile loyalty and sales via digital channels, investment product propositions and advisory tools, digital vaults, SME banking solutions and business management tools, pensions and innovative insurance propositions, profile and help functionalities, user journeys for obtaining and replacing cards and disputing transactions, single sign on and password changes, evaluation of the disruptive banking models, SME vs. corporate platforms and dedicated apps, an so on...

Find out more about my competencies and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Finchmark komanda ikdienas darbā ar pasaules bankām novērojusi, ka mobilo banku inovācijas ir visvairāk apspriestā tēma banku digitālo kanālu attīstībā. Tāpēc nolēmām apskatīt mobilās bankas Latvijā, pievienojot savas zināšanas par jaunākajām tendencēm pasaulē. Tā kā ar mobilajām bankām saprotam gan banku publiskās mājas lapas un internetbankas funkcijas viedtālruņu interneta pārlūkprogrammās, gan banku mobilās aplikācijas (iOS, Android u.c.), kas ir ļoti plašs temats, tad plānojam publicēt rakstu sēriju, sākot ar banku publisko mājas lapu apskatu mobilo tālruņu pārlūkprogrammās. 

Šī raksta mērķis ir salīdzināt lielākos vietējā tirgus spēlētājus un ierosināt, ko bankas Latvijā varētu mācīties no labākās prakses pasaulē, lai uzlabotu servisa līmeni esošajiem un potenciālajiem klientiem. Šoreiz atbildēsim uz sekojošiem jautājumiem: vai banka piedāvā mājas lapas versiju, kas optimizēta/pielāgota viedtālruņa ekrānam? Vai lapa automātiski atpazīst piekļuvi no viedtālruņa? Kādas ir galvenās funkcijas, ko banka piedāvā klientiem mobilajā lapā?

Apskatot Swedbank, SEB, Nordea, DNB un Citadele mājas lapas viedtālruņu interneta pārlūkprogrammās (iPhone un Android), konstatējām, ka tikai SEB bankas mājas lapa automātiski atpazīst piekļuvi no mobilā tālruņa, ļaujot izvēlēties starp mājas lapas mobilo un pilno versiju. Arī Swedbank piedāvā lapu, kas pielāgota viedtālruņu ekrānam, bet to iespējams aplūkot, tikai ievadot adreses laukā ib.swedbank.lv, ko nezinātājam būtu grūti uzminēt. Swedbank mobilā lapa vairāk orientēta uz esošajiem internetbankas klientiem, un tajā, atšķirībā no SEB mobilās lapas, tiek piedāvāta saite uz bankas mobilo aplikāciju un arī pieejama t.s. ‘click-to-call’ poga. Citu funkciju ziņā SEB ir pārāka ar to, ka piedāvā mobilajā lapā atrast bankomātus un filiāles pēc pilsētas un rajona. Kopš Trodeks raksta 2012.gada aprīlī par banku mājas lapu mobilajām versijām, bankas Latvijā pēdējā gada laikā nav būtiski uzlabojušas savas mobilās lapas.

No pārējām apskatītajām bankām Nordea piedāvā internetbankas versiju, kas pielāgota viedtālruņu ekrānam, bet tā pieejama tikai tad, ja adreses laukā tiek ievadīts mobile.nordea.lv (kura saite pieejama arī pilnajā mājas lapas versijā). Tomēr šī lapa nav salīdzināma ar augstāk minētajām, jo tā neietver nekādas citas funkcijas, kā tikai laukus ieejai internetbankā. 
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Finchmark veiktajos pētījumos 2012. gadā no vairāk kā 100 lielākajām bankām pasaulē (no 23 valstīm) trešā daļa banku mājas lapu automātiski atpazīst piekļuvi no mobilās ierīces un lielākajā daļā gadījumu piedāvā speciāli mobilā tālruņa ekrānam pielāgotu izvietojumu. Līdzīgi kā SEB banka Latvijā, vairākums Francijas banku ļauj apmeklētājam izvēlēties, vai atvērt mājas lapas mobilo vai pilno versiju. Vairāk kā puse no bankām savā mobilajā lapā piedāvā iespēju atrast tuvākos bankomātus un filiāles, ‘click-to-call’ funkciju, kā arī aicina uzinstalēt bankas mobilo aplikāciju. Starp ne tik tradicionālām mobilās lapas funkcijām, ārvalstu bankas piedāvā saites uz savām sociālo mediju lapām, meklēšanas rīkus, bezmaksas drošības aplikāciju (mobile security software), kā arī interaktīvas banku produktu reklāmas.

Lai gan SEB savā mobilajā lapā piedāvā atrast filiāles un bankomātus izvēlētajā pilsētā un rajonā, tos var apskatīt tikai saraksta režīmā, kamēr citviet pasaulē bankas klienta ērtībai piedāvā meklēt bankomātus un filiāles, kas atrodas vistuvāk personas atrašanās vietai. Tiesa gan, Latvijā vairākas bankas šo funkciju ir integrējušas savā mobilajā aplikācijā.

Vēl viena tendence, kas strauji izplatās starp finanšu institūcijām pasaulē, ir t.s. responsive design mājas lapas. Piemēram, Lielbritānijas Tesco Bank publiskā mājas lapa automātiski pielāgojas apmeklētāja ekrānam, kas ir universāls risinājums gan dažāda izmēra datoru monitoriem, gan planšetdatoriem un mobilajiem tālruņiem. Citi responsive design  piemēri atrodami starp Jaunzēlandes bankām, kā BNZ un Kiwibank.

Labprāt apspriedīsim ar Jums Finchmark pētījumu rezultātus un priecāsimies pielāgot savas zināšanas par pasaules tendencēm Jūsu organizācijas specifiskām vajadzībām.

Evita Dzene / evita@finchmark.lv,  +371 2644 0670 /