How can banks finally catch up to customers’ digital expectations?
Despite technological advances, some banks are struggling to meet and implement their customers’ digital requirements.
Customers’ lifestyle habits are increasingly motivated and directed by the speed and simplicity of online services; the same is true of how they want to bank.
Today, people expect instant access to online banking services that can help ensure they don’t miss out on life-changing moments or ways to improve their living standards.
EY proprietary research on consumer banking trends in Central and Eastern Europe found that 77% of people use a desktop or laptop to bank, 55% of respondents feel more comfortable using online-only financial providers than they used to, and 84% look to the internet first when looking for new products.
Bank customers want digital
38%of clients would change their FS provider for better digital services.
The shifting trends in this region mirror how most customers feel globally. However, parts of the industry are embracing and adjusting to this transition at different paces.
The challenge of coping with swift technological change, along with the laborious overhaul of processes, is a source of concern and frustration for all. Harder still is the urgent – and ongoing – need to implement nimble digital solutions that will serve customers effectively, not only during this transition, but for the long-term.
Customer expectations are not static and will continue to evolve with people counting on their bank to cater for them every step of the way, from mobile-first offerings and the secure handling of sensitive data, to swift and seamless processes.
Because of the complexity of this challenge, financial organizations that want to develop new services often need the expertise of external partners to both assess what needs to be improved on and the right approach for best meeting the needs of customers, regulators and stakeholders.
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In recognizing the need for such change, one large Central European bank approached EY professionals to help it build out a digital-first, end-to-end process for unsecured customer loans. The bank’s legacy system involved a long and complex offline lending process that usually required in-person visits to the bank to complete a loan application.
One of the bank’s main aims was to gain new-to-bank and new-to-market customers in real-time, and a higher approval rate, than when using its traditional lending methods.
Additionally, it wanted to credit the loan to the customer’s account within minutes after approval, while building the solution in a user-friendly way and making sure it is compliant with regulatory requirements – comprising anti-money laundering (AML) or know your customer (KYC) processes and distant contract signatures.
The EY team in the Czech Republic set about designing a stand-alone market solution that could be developed and deployed to the bank within six months.
