The impact of technological innovations, particularly in the area of mobile communications, has accelerated changes in how consumers expect to bank. The applications of these technologies to engage by both adjacent and parallel industries further promotes these expectations. Financial institutions need to not only record and deliver transactions. They need to deliver individualized insights of a customer’s financial habits, and how they might be advantageously modified.
One big personalisation gap that banks should fill is to provide better financial planning services. Continuous engagement does better at enhancing the personalisation experience with customers, than a handful of face-to-face meetings. Examples of engagement include sending alerts to their clients about unusual activity in their accounts, information on their spending activities, encouraging direct debits of bill payments, information on third-party services, tailored relevant offers, etc.
Mercator Advisory Group anticipates the advances in mobile banking will be increasingly leveraged to provide what will essentially be personalized financial management services with up-to-date budgeting and understanding of what is available to discretionarily spend and what needs to be held to meet previous obligations. Understanding of one’s own financial proclivities and having a rational assessment of intended fund allocations will deliver a level of financial advisory service more consumers are looking. Those financial institutions developing or accessing these types of capabilities stand to deliver a true value-add as a financial partner to consumers.
Overview by Joseph Walent, Associate Director, Customer Interactions Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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