First Data Acquisition Expands Online Debit Capability
With the #acquisition of Acculynk #First #Data has another tool to offer ecommerce merchants looking to route #debit transactions cost-effectively.
Tom Groenfeldt – Financial Technology
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Machine Learning Is the Future of Underwriting, But Startups Won’t be Driving It
#Machine #learning is not new, it is just another level of system automation that financial institutions have been working on for ages. But when it comes to successfully deploying machine learning for #underwriting, #banks are better positioned than #startups, according to Sandeep Sood, vice president of software engineering at Capital One. “Machine learning is absolutely […]
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RegTech: what is it and what are the benefits?
Following on from my previous blog introducing the new year in the #Fintech Innovation programme, I wanted to turn the focus onto the emergence of #RegTech—technologies that address the challenge and cost of regulatory compliance. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen RegTech arise as an entity in its own right. It’s a welcome development: financial regulation’s been increasing in complexity since 2008…and so has the compliance challenge. Looking ahead, with new technologies like #blockchain and smart contracts coming into play, the pace of regulatory change will accelerate even more.
RegTech has two aims: increasing the effectiveness and the efficiency of compliance. Both are critical. The cost of non-compliance, e.g. fines, legal bills and compensation is estimated by Standard & Poor at £19.5 billion over the past year for the UK alone. Similarly, the cost of compliance is a heavy burden on the industry, somewhere between £10 billion and £20 billion in the UK. There are hidden costs too. Increased bureaucracy damages customer retention and onboarding, while complex regulation can get in the way of innovation.
Continue reading the post RegTech: what is it and what are the benefits? on Accenture Banking Blog.
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Amazon Cash: Just Like a Gift Card, But Mobile
#Amazon announced its new Amazon #Cash offering this morning, alongside a list of participating retailers which thus far include CVS pharmacy and Speedway. However, Amazon Cash seems to be less of a #mobile wallet, and more of an alternative payment method for consumers, who lack traditional ways to pay. Unlike Square or PayPal or Apple versions, […]
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SAP Ariba Will Use Blockchain to Track Shipments, Ensure Authenticity
SAP #Ariba plans to use #blockchain #technology to help users #track #shipments.
Tom Groenfeldt – Financial Technology -
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Using digital to create a phenomenal bank salesforce
Microsoft’s Bill Gates knows a thing or two about #technology. As part of his foundation’s education work, Gates has also learned a lot about how technology can improve the quality of schools. One of his observations is that “technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important … we will still need to make sure every student has an effective teacher, and every teacher gets the tools and support to be #phenomenal.”
The same is true for banking. #Digital channels now allow most banking transactions to occur online anywhere and at any time—and at a much lower cost than face-to-face interactions in branches. Yet despite #salesforce transgressions at a few retail #banks, a human salesforce remains a critical asset in the fight to attract and retain customers.
Accenture’s recent survey of nearly 33,000 consumers in 18 countries shows that two-thirds still want human interaction in financial services, especially to deal with complaints (68%) and get advice about complex products, such as mortgages (61%). While digital channels can effectively provide information, most are still a long way from providing the type of personalized advice and guidance that converts a complex and often ill-defined customer need into a meaningful action.
Banks that want to compete and win against pure digital players need to #create differentiation and competitive advantage by investing to integrate their human salesforce and digital channels. The right digital tools and training can make #bank sales people trusted problem solvers, brand ambassadors and advisors who can orchestrate the best combination of in-person and online banking.
Apple is recognized for product innovation and design, but it’s also mastered the art of physical retailing, creating spaces where customers can both interact with products and also receive tailored, personal sales advice and on-the-spot problem resolution from engaged and well-trained staff. Those interactions have now become as essential to the Apple brand as the features and functionality of the products they sell, and that is why Apple stores have the highest sales per square foot of any major retailer in the US, including Tiffany’s.
To create a phenomenal, highly productive salesforce, banks need to adopt a markedly different talent strategy that focuses on developing new digital and social traits.
An enthusiastic, friendly and welcoming attitude will still be important, but bank executives we spoke to say that the top two attributes banking employees will need in the future are proficiency with digital technologies and an ability to quickly learn new skills.
To enable this workforce, banks will also need to equip sales people with relevant and simple-to-use digital tools that will help them create truly personalized and multi-channel customer interactions. As the digital customer experience has improved, customers have noticed that branch staff often have less access to information than the customers themselves do on their phones, hence their satisfaction with ‘seamless omni-channel’ banking has been in steep decline over the last couple of years.
To be phenomenal teachers and advisors, bank staff will need to be enabled with not only the latest technology and most up-to-date information, but also use automation to liberate themselves from repetitive back-end tasks, so they can focus on the quality and impact of their interactions with customers. They also need to work within a sales culture that values the quality of interactions and the emotional connection with customers, not just the quantity of sales made. Just as in an Apple store, bank employees need to be committed to evangelizing the digital revolution, while still recognizing the unique value added by human interactions. As technology continues to improve, the number of human interactions will continue to decline, but the value of each human touchpoint to the bank’s brand will continue to increase.
In a world where many bank staff are worried about branch closures and the migration of sales and service to digital channels, the role of leaders is to convince them that they can be phenomenal—and to provide the training, tools and incentives to lead the digital revolution in banking, not be victims of it.
To find out more, read the recent Efma and Accenture report, The banking sales force—now what?, which summarizes the outcomes of three interactive think-tank meetings with senior bank executives.
The post Using digital to create a phenomenal bank salesforce appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.
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Payment predictions for 2017
The payments landscape is changing fast due to new disruptive technologies such as open APIs, distributed ledger #technology, cloud, Apple/Samsung/…Pay, and customers’ expectations are changing for seamless and faster payments. Despite this, I can see clear trends through our work with clients and observation of industry developments, and based on these, I have developed a set of #predictions for #2017.
Contactless and Mobile Payments
- Contactless card transactions in the UK will rise to between 6bn – 9bn txns in 2017, and 20bn &8211; 30bn txns across Europe (compared to my forecasts a year ago of 3bn txns for UK and 9bn txns for Europe for 2016).
- Cash usage will see a clear reduction across Europe—as an example, ATM cash withdrawals in the UK, which peaked at 2.9bn withdrawals in 2012, will fall from 2.7bn withdrawals in 2016 to somewhere between 2 – 2.5bn withdrawals in 2017.
- Use of Apple Pay, Samsung Pay etc. will become more widespread in 2017, for both POS and in-app payments—expect to see published figures for strong growth rates in specific markets, even if absolute transaction volume figures remain undisclosed.
Retailing/Acceptance
- Omni-channel retailing will drive development of cross-channel and cross-border #payment gateway solutions.
- As augmented reality becomes a big theme in retailing, expect to see new payment solutions to support augmented reality commerce.
- Wearable payment mechanisms will remain a niche—but imaginative new wearables will emerge.
- Payment solutions from China will gain traction in other markets, following Alipay’s entry to Europe in 2016, and will start focusing on acquiring local customers, as well as supporting Chinese consumers abroad.
- The use of payments in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) will grow, in particular with connected cars and utility meters.
- Voice payments solutions will start making a hit with the public—perhaps through Siri on iPhones, Alexa on Amazon and at POS.
- Alternative payment mechanisms such as PayPal, iDEAL in the Netherlands and Klarna (Europe and US) will continue to grow strongly (20% – 30%) for e-commerce, driven both by convenience and by high fraud rates in card-not-present transactions.
The post Payment predictions for 2017 appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog. Continue on Accenture Banking Blog
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Want Mobile Banking Users? Eliminate the Login
#Users will access their #mobile and online #banking accounts more frequently, even twice as often, if they don’t actually have to complete the #login process. According to the most recent Monkey Insights report, released today by Malauzai Software, “quick balance” end users—meaning those utilizing a mode which allows them to see their balances without having […]
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Corporate payments: Catching up with the customer experiences of digital transactions
Read the full report
In the new world of #digital #payments, many #technology developments are driven by #customer #experiences. #Banks are investing heavily in technological innovations and #Fintech relationships to provide better payments experiences to their customers. Even so, there is a stark contrast between the payments experiences of retail customers and #corporate customers. While retail consumers can enjoy seamless, immediate, always-available payment services with advances such as mobile and contactless payments, corporate customers struggle with rigid paper-based processes, fragmented products and relationships, poor visibility into payment flows and more.
However, I see a shift starting to happen in the corporate payments landscape as corporates start demanding the ability to transact in real-time, in an omni-channel environment, 24/7. Banks such as HDFC, HSBC, and others are already launching their corporate mobile solutions in areas including cash management, trade services, reconciliation, authentication and operational support.
Market dynamics are driving corporates to restructure their operating models, and are driving banks to adapt their corporate payments offerings to meet these new expectations (as shown in Figure 1):
Figure 1
The (re)emergence of virtual accounts is a key trend to watch, with banks such as BNP Paribas, RBS and Barclays leading the way in offering virtual accounts to their corporate customers. Virtual accounts provide corporates with better control over their cash management accounts, reduce administrative costs and optimise the number of real bank accounts, thus eliminating the need for cash management products such as notional pools (at least in the same currency). Banks can also consider extending virtual account management features in a multi-bank environment for the corporates who bank with multiple banks.
Corporate portals are another product that banks such as CitiDirect, J.P. Morgan and Barclays have in their corporate payments service portfolio. A corporate portal presents corporate customers with a single view of all their banking services and activities, and for banks it can support greater cross-sell of products, making it easier to roll out new and enhanced digital services.
Key features include:
- Multichannel access, seamless user experience across web, mobile devices and offline channels
- Availability of 24/7, real-time, up-to-date information
- Integration with corporates’ ERP systems and banks&8217; infrastructure
- Tiered dashboards at the enterprise/product/business level with decision-making tools
As banks strive to deliver against corporates’ expectations, they need to invest in new payments technologies, move closer to corporate customers, and integrate themselves into their value chains. If banks themselves don’t move quickly to seize this opportunity, then somebody else will do it first—thus relegating banks to back-office utilities running accounts for others’ front-office payments offerings.
At Accenture, we recommend banks focus on the following three key areas to sustain corporate relationships and grow future revenues from an expanding array of solutions centred around corporate payments:
- Become a trusted adviser on corporate customers’ problems; don’t just sell corporate payments products.
- Collaborate and partner (instead of competing) with Fintech companies to provide innovative digital services.
- If you’re a local bank, use digital to stay relevant and compete with global banks.
Accenture recognizes the challenges banks will have in balancing innovation with handling ‘run-the-bank’ issues such as regulation and the inflexibility of legacy systems. Those banks that can execute on both fronts most effectively will win out in the race to forge durable, profitable relationships with their corporate customers.
Read more in the full report, Transforming the corporate payments landscape
The post Corporate payments: Catching up with the customer experiences of digital transactions appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.
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Aim bank distribution and marketing where customers are going to be
Good baseball center fielders can consistently catch a line drive over second base. They do that by instinctively running to a spot that allows them to intercept a ball that is moving at a fixed speed in pretty much a straight line. #Banks would love to be able to use that same technique to predict and meet customer needs. Just predict where the customer is #going, and then stand underneath that spot to catch the mortgage application or the account opening. Unfortunately, customer needs in banking are no longer behaving like line drives. Instead, they’re behaving like knuckleball pitches that move fast, but in erratic and unpredictable directions.
Read the full report
Accenture recently examined rapidly changing consumer expectations in banking in our 2017 Global Distribution & Marketing Consumer Study, which gathered the views of more than 33,000 #customers across 18 markets. The results were surprising. For example, customers’ biggest driver of loyalty now is their willingness to trust banks to protect their personal data. Transactional trust used to be consistently high across the banking industry, but now consumers are telling us that it is a point of competitive differentiation, so cyber security is no longer just a hygiene factor, it’s a customer acquisition tool. The survey also showed a paradox around attitudes to branches. While only a minority of customers now cite branches as their top driver of #bank selection and retention, over 80 percent of them (including the vast majority of millennials) still want the option of visiting a branch—an option that involves high operating costs for the bank if it isn’t a primary driver of account acquisition—so banks need to find the ‘branch lite’ sweet spot that delivers the option value without fatally undermining their economics.
One conclusion to draw is that customer expectations and needs in banking are far more malleable than they used to be when you had well-established industry norms like the s-curve describing the relationship between branch share and deposit share in a local market. Their experiences on digital platforms like Facebook, Amazon, Uber and Google are shaping what they expect from their bank and this highly iterative process is leading to rapidly changing priorities. To track and capture these customers, the implication is that banks are going to need to stop trying to act like center fielders and start behaving more like echo-locating bats. Bats’ flawless adaptive behaviours, including ultrasonic pulses, agile flight and head-aim control, allow them to detect and capture free-flying insects in incredibly narrow time windows. Likewise, banks need to understand not just where customers are, but also how to jink and weave to zero in on what they are going to need and when they are going to need it.
While ideally banks should use complete customer genomes to track individual behaviours, our research pointed to three distinct consumer personas—Nomads, Hunters and Quality Seekers—with broadly similar needs that banks can use to shape offerings and #marketing tactics. Within these broad personas there will still be a lot of insects and knuckleballs that are moving erratically, but at least banks will be in the right part of the ballpark to make a play on the customer with an offer or piece of advice that has a higher probability of being timely and relevant.
I invite you to read the key 2017 Global #Distribution & Marketing Consumer Study findings in the full report, Beyond Digital: How Can Banks Meet Customer Demands? It also details the three consumer personas and implications for banks as they seek to understand—and market to—today’s banking consumers.
The post Aim bank distribution and marketing where customers are going to be appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.
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