Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, earlier this month (while taking a quick break from dealing with the fallout from Brexit) spoke about the rapid rise of fintech companies and applications. “There is more than a whiff of revolution in the air. For everyone, fintech may deliver a more inclusive financial system, domestically and globally; with people better connected, more informed and increasingly empowered.”
Fintech can offer banks and financial institutions solutions to many problems, from cyber security to big data analysis. And as we wrote earlier in the year, collaboration between banks and fintechs is going to be crucial if potential benefits are to be realised.
One area in which traditional banks are looking to fintech is app-only banking, where a number of new start-ups have emerged to cater for customers who would prefer their banking experience to be a purely digital one. With mobile and wearable payments on the rise everywhere in the world, and young people increasingly unlikely to visit a bank branch, demand for app-only banking is soaring.
For traditional banks, the challenge is to be able to support the demands of this new breed of consumer as well as more traditionally minded customers.
This means that banks have to be able to enrol customers any time, any where and on any device – also known as the ATAWAD experience. Whether a customer is coming into a branch to open an account, or wants to do it from their sofa via a smartphone, the experience has to be fast, smooth and consistent. It also should simultaneously enable all customers to be up and running quickly with whatever payment method they prefer – whether that’s traditional EMV card, digital card or mobile/wearable. This will not only prevent digitally minded customers from being lost to app-only neobanks, but help all customers transition to digital banking methods and new form factors.
We’ll be at London Fintech Week to talk more about this, and discuss how our Multi-Issuance Hub can enable banks to interconnect issuance solutions and and issue all types of payment means on the spot, no matter which way a customer chooses to enrol (whether in branch, online or via a mobile device). In a market moving as fast as this, it allows banks to be more agile in the development and launch of new services, such as mobile payments, while preserving a consistent and smooth customer experience.
If you’re at the show, we’ll be giving a presentation at 10:20 on Monday 18th July. Please come and say hi, or ask any questions you have. Alternatively, leave a comment below or tweet to us @gemalto.
