SunTec

  The business of banking is tougher now than ever before. On the one hand, they have to contend with changing customer expectations of hyper-personalized services, differentiated offerings, and greater innovation. As more millennials and Gen Z come into the formal banking system, the sector will have to change further to meet their demand for greater choice, flexibility, and control. On the other, they must contend with fintechs, challenger banks, and technology giants who have the digital prowess to offer personalized, innovative products and services that customers want. To make matters worse, there are disruptions in the macro-environment – ranging from geopolitical unrest to a pandemic that has complicated the banking landscape exponentially and has necessitated a range of urgent measures to meet the unexpected challenges. The question now is, how can banks gear up to thrive in such an environment? The answer, as most banks understand well, lies in building the strong technolo...

  What will the bank of the future look like? To be honest, I am not sure there will be a physical bank where financial transactions take place. This is not to say that the banking industry will cease to exist. Banking systems have existed in some form, or the other as long as human beings have engaged in transactions and is likely to continue for as long as we do business. But banking in its current format and structure may not be around much longer. Deeper integration of financial services, or embedded banking is likely to be the norm in the future. Banking as we know it today is vastly different from what our grandparents or even parents knew. Consider this – when was the last time you went to a physical bank branch to carry out a banking transaction? Do you use cash or even your debit card anymore or have you been primarily using mobile apps, digital wallets, and UPIs? The emergence of new technologies has opened the doors to a whole world of digitally powered experiences and ...

The banking sector has   been regarded as one of the most stable, with reliable returns on equity (RoE). The development of fintechs and the entry of tech behemoths into the industry has completely transformed the landscape. These digital native businesses have effectively used technology to address client pain areas, paving the path for a new era of hyper personalization, tailored services, and intuitive banking.   They have already smoothly integrated banking functions in areas such as e-commerce, social networking, gaming, digital entertainment, travel, health, and home-buying in many cases. Traditional banks are unable to maintain or improve their ROE as consumers' loyalties are shifting. According to McKinsey, global banking ROE was 10.5% in 2018 and 56% of banks across the world were not generating their cost of equity (CoE). Well, how can traditional banks then chart out a strategy for the disruption caused by the new entrants and how improve their RoE even under these ...

Retaining and Growing Customer Loyalty with Empathetic Banking banking on customer centricity, customer-centric solutions for banking, customer experience in financial services, customer-centric banking The customer is constantly evolving in every sector and banking is no exception. Wanting to be at the focal point of business and services, the modern-day customer is looking to go beyond the periphery of the system and gain control of their interactions by having hyper-personalized engagements and availing on-demand availability of services. The need of the hour for banks is to evolve with the customer, meet their changing expectations, and stand out even as they tackle fierce competition from fintech and technology giants. Digital transformation is the way forward. Especially now, as the outbreak of COVID-19 has made most banking organizations aware of the significance between digitalization and business continuity. In a post-COVID-19 world, banks will have to reinvent their operating...

  The relationship between banks and their customers has evolved over the past decade, thanks to technology-driven innovations. This has led to customer relationships becoming not only more digitally disintermediated and less branch-centric, but also increasingly fickle. The pandemic further made customers even more price-conscious and amenable to shift loyalties to benefit from better pricing. In such a scenario how can banks win new customers and retain existing ones? It becomes crucial to consciously factor pricing when formulating strategies and plans to deliver “customer centricity” and “superior customer experience journeys.” In this Point of View article, you will discover: Why right pricing is the hero for banks Four distinct areas to focus on to ensure contextual price The role of technology to boost pricing ability and agility

  The credit card industry has evolved and grown significantly since the 1950s when Bank of America launched the first card. Robust consumer protection policies like quick charge back of unrecognized transactions have won the industry some loyal customers. But the basic functionality of the credit card was commoditized long ago and now there is minimal differentiation, with most cards offering variations on loyalty and cash back offers. The question now is, how will the sector hold up as fintechs and tech giants continue to disrupt the sector? Keeping Pace with Innovation Credit card companies are currently replacing the magnetic stripe with EMV chips that ensure greater security. Signatures for purchases are also becoming obsolete as most retailer no longer require this. Tokenization is another important development. This implies the use of a unique non sensitive identifier or token that is stored in a merchant’s network to protect credit card information from bad actors. But the ...

  Brett King has been one of the few people advocating digital banking long before it was fashionable. In a ‘not so recent’  blog , he pointed out a scorecard for banks who think they are digital banking. Check it out if you haven’t already. Becoming a digital bank is on the lips of every banker worth their salt these days. However, most of them draw the line at being able to provide services on a digital platform. Being part of one of the companies deemed the leader in enabling an omnichannel experience orchestration; this is definitely much welcome news. However, digital channel is not the only component for a truly digital bank. Being able to truly transform yourself into a digital bank means you have to inherently become digital. As Brett puts it in his blog – ‘Everyone’s job is digital’. Especially for a corporate bank, digitalized channels are probably a very small benefit to the clients. Therefore, most corporate banking segments think they are quite separate from the d...

  Customers are always on the lookout for the best price and where they can get the most value for their money. It’s no different when it comes to banking. For instance, customers expect their banks to give them better interest rates on deposits based on their relationship with the bank or want rewards on credit card spend in line with their needs. Today customers increasingly value their personal relationships with their bank. While banks enjoy customer trust, offering products and services that lack differentiation has posed a potential roadblock to delivering consistent value. A Deloitte report points out that 75 percent people think that banking products and services are the same across all banks. 1 With customers willing to shift their loyalty for better prices and services, and with the emergence of new-age competition from Fintechs and BigTechs, banks have come to realize that this one-size-fits-all approach is counterproductive. Pricing, therefore, becomes a strategic imper...

  The once stable and staid world of banking is experiencing disruption at an unimaginable scale today. Competition for share of wallet is hotting up even as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc by precipitating economic slowdowns, loss of revenue and bad loans. And customers are not content with services and products that don’t deliver hyper personalized, relevant and effortless experiences. In a bid to meet customer demands, banks have invested in building customized products and services with hundreds of variants, many of which are not particularly profitable.  Banks must now take a more strategic look at their products and services and their pricing models to ensure profitability, optimize operational costs and deliver satisfactory customer experiences. The Rationale Behind Rationalization In addition to new products and variants, many banks have also expanded operations into new regions, and signed M&As with new entities to grow the business. Multiple localized product ...

  A customer of a leading telecom operator receives their monthly bill and is shocked to find it running into several thousand dollars. The call details reveal hundreds of calls to international locations that they never made. Yet the telecom company says that the bill is genuine and not an error at their end. Unfortunately, both the customer and the telecom service provider are victims of telecom fraud. Today DCS’ are often connected with the corporate network but inadequately protected. This presents a weak spot for hackers to exploit, resulting in significant revenue leakage. Communication service providers usually ignore the threat as they consider the losses from individual incidents minimal, but over time, these leaks can have a significant impact on revenues. Over the last year, as the world grappled with the COVID 19 pandemic, incidents of fraud went up significantly, and raked up a considerable financial impact as well. Can organizations really afford such massive losses? ...

  From grocery shopping to taxi hailing to entertainment, the modern customer is used to a customized, easy, and intuitive digital experience that was unheard of even ten years ago. More importantly, modern customers are demanding the same experience from other services including banking. For years, the banking sector resisted change because of concerns around security and compliance, and because they enjoyed a high degree of customer trust and loyalty. The emergence of fintechs and technology majors in the banking sector has changed the name of the game. With their agile platforms, multitude of products and services, and hyper personalized strategies, these new age entities are pulling customers away from traditional banks. As a result, banks are now faced with eroding customer loyalty and diminishing revenues. Today, it is clear that  digital transformation  is no longer an option but a crucial business necessity for the banking sector. And most banks have invested in m...

  The 21st century banking customer expects on demand access to products and services, a seamless experience across touchpoints, and  hyper personalized offerings  and engagement. Business growth and customer satisfaction in this context depends largely on understanding customer requirements and behavior. Unfortunately, across most traditional banks, different business lines still work with individual legacy systems. As a result, the bank cannot gain a comprehensive overview of performance. And customers are left grappling with a fragmented system that does not give them a unified view of their transactions and billing. Banks need a unified, advanced technology framework that can analyze data in real time and deliver usable insights for better strategizing. How can they scale up and improve their technology foundations to deliver a better customer experience and improve its functioning without disrupting business operations. The Problem of Many Most traditional banks toda...