The banking sector has seen a significant transformation since its inception. The days of
standing in long queues even for a simple money transfer are a thing of the past. Now users can
do net banking, pay utility bills, check account statements all through mobile banking and
banking apps. Studies highlight that banking apps will witness a 14% increase every year.
Banking apps now integrate with modern technologies like Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, IoT,
and Blockchain to improve security and convenience. Banking apps are rich in features and
tend to reach a more extensive audience base. Customer insights through data visualization
and an intuitive experience have become the new ways of banking.
Bringing a Revolution in the Banking Sector
The banking sector also recognizes the presence of innovation. Hence, banks have shifted their
gears from offering mere products towards providing engaging user experience. Banks realize
that digitization can solve users’ problems and also build long-term relationships.
Online Payments Banks are gradually heading towards paperless economies with self-service systems. Global cashless transactions anticipated growing at a CAGR of 12.7% till 2021. Peer-to-peer
transactions where users can transfer funds from a person to another through an app have
taken the digital payments to the next level. And it has only contributed to the banking sector to
raise its standards and provide even better services.
Hence, the banking apps have now upped their game and offer app services like loans, initiating
a savings account, mortgage payments, etc. App usage creates a convenient experience, and
that ultimately leads to almost a doubled increase in sales. Plus, Big Data and IoT help in
tracking the in-app customer behavior, and banks utilize the interpreted data for creating better
services.
Secured Accounts
The digital revolution has also increased the threats related to the security of users’ accounts, hacking, and fraud. Hence, mobile apps have come up with advanced security features like
fingerprint scanning and face recognition. Apart from the regular sign-up options, voice security
is also lined up for the introduction. Frauds can be easily detected now by Artificial Intelligence. AI assists in identifying patterns regarding any suspicious activities in real-time, and even forecast how such behavior might happen in the future. Additionally, biometric authentication has replaced the multi-factor one since the latter is a bit time-consuming. Biometric processes examine physical attributes like voice, gestures, and typing speed for identification and verification.
Chatbot Assistance and Voice Transactions
QR codes scanning already simplifies the in-store and online transactions as users only have to
scan code through their banking app. Additionally, voice search is increasingly becoming a
convenient way of connecting various devices and smartphones. Transferring funds is also
going to benefit from voice search. Voice payments are going to find its place in the banking
sector soon. Many banks like Barclays already benefit from adopting this technology.
Chatbot assistance is one of the most common technologies that have come up in recent times.
And the banking sector is also utilizing the benefits of AI chatbots to serve their customers.
Chatbots can quickly answer all the customers’ queries without waiting. They can answer them
anytime and don’t require any human interaction.
Open API and Blockchain
Accelerated Programming Interfaces (APIs) are the newest technology that has made its way
into the banking sector. Banking apps are now more focused on providing value-added
services. Apart from their regular products, banks tie-up with other financial service providers
too. And APIs make it easier, reliable, efficient, and secure to share data across systems.
Moreover, APIs assist in creating brand new applications from scratch or adding new features to
re-develop the existing ones. Third-party services help boost banking services and increase the
number of transactions.
Blockchain solves many of the common challenges that customers face while transacting.
These issues ultimately prevent them from making full and optimum use of mobile banking.
However, Blockchain helps solve security concerns regarding cashless and electronic
transactions. It provides maximum security against any fraudulent activities, double-spending,
price gouging, and many more issues.
ATM Tracking
Banking apps now have the feature of locating the nearest ATM. Some of the banks are
introducing this feature to help customers find the nearest branch where they can withdraw
cash. Also, such a feature is capable of digitally updating and even predict the cash available at
a particular moment. Virtual Reality has made it possible to locate and track the ATM from
which they want to withdraw some money. Apart from it, these banking apps also have
geolocation services that help in finding the ATMs. These apps also help in enhancing the
customer experience by sending context-based notifications. However, such a feature is still in
progress due to rising security concerns.
Financial Planning
Planning one’s finances is a tricky task. Hence, banking apps now come up with an added
facility of providing financial solutions to their customers. It currently offers various investment options that can help customers in making informed decisions. Additionally, they can manage their investments better, boost savings, and think better about where to invest in the future. Plus, instead of long calculations, customers can rely on the app’s machine intelligence and analyze the situation better. The margin of errors also lessens as compared to human arithmetic. Ultimately, better financial planning helps only contributes to building customer loyalty for a bank in the long run.
Concluding Thoughts
As digital banking keeps making new developments, modern banking is becoming more
consumer-focused. Since the services are more about offering a great user experience,
consumer behavior plays a crucial role. Banks now invest more in learning the spending and
saving habits of their customers to be able to create compelling and immersive interfaces.
Engaging interfaces also help customers in gaining valuable insights into their risk
assessments. Personalization and customization are the two critical touchpoints that today’s
digital era focuses on. And since innovation is the key to be able to sustain, banks have to keep
innovating the engaging experience to retain customer satisfaction.
