Banks have always been at the forefront of the digitalisation revolution. Internet banking became a reality as early as the 1990s. Mobile banking was possible by the early 2000s. The last two decades have seen several digital innovations that have made banking more accessible to customers. Fintech apps and platforms have just added to the convenience of customers.
The Covid pandemic has given a push to the banking ecosystem to rapidly embrace digitalisation. We take a look at the digital technologies that have transformed the way we bank. To read more details about the initiatives, go here.
Banks have always been at the forefront of the digitalisation revolution. Internet banking became a reality as early as the 1990s. Mobile banking was possible by the early 2000s. The last two decades have seen several digital innovations that have made banking more accessible to customers. Fintech apps and platforms have just added to the convenience of customers.
The Covid pandemic has given a push to the banking ecosystem to rapidly embrace digitalisation. We take a look at the digital technologies that have transformed the way we bank.
Digital KYC
The know your customer (KYC) process has become digitalised and faster with the approval of video KYC by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in January 2020. With RBI approving digital KYC, fintech firms are able to onboard customers faster and branch visits have reduced to a minimum.
AI-Enabled Chatbots
Nowadays, all banks and lending institutions use Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled chatbots to communicate with consumers. Chatbots can converse with millions of consumers at a fraction of the cost of human customer support agents. With technological advancements, the bots are able to handle increasingly complex queries. This capability has witnessed significant improvement.
Neo Banks
Neo banks operate only online and come without the legacy of physical branch networks. They are also called online banks, digital banks, virtual banks and internet-only banks. Technology allows these banks to reach a more customers and at a lower cost. As platforms, their core function is digital distribution of financial services.
API Banking
Application programming interfaces or APIs have transformed banks from being just physical institutions to digital-only or digital-first institutions. Customers want to be able to do more with their apps, whether it’s making payments, learning more about certain bills, or keeping track of their money and API banking makes that possible as services and products can ‘communicate’ with each other and leverage each other’s data and functionality. This means faster and more efficient functioning.
Self-Service Banking
Even as bank branches returned to normal in 2021, customers who adopted digital during the pandemic continue using digital services for convenience and safety aspects. Though bank branches will remain a vital part of the mix, the transformation to advisory service will witness a similar surge. Also, micro-branch or shared-branch resources may gain popularity.
The overall adoption and experience of these new digital processes has been well-accepted by the consumers and have become the norm rather than the exception. One thing is for sure, the way we bank will never be the same again.
