How banks adopt to the rapid pace of technological change

Learn from Westpac, BPI, and CIMB.

ABF: How are financial institutions coping with the pace of adoption of consumer technologies such as mobile and video placing pressure on enterprises development cycles? What are some of the things these institutions are doing to address this challenge?

Westpac: Harry Wendt, General Manager Digital
The pace of change of new technologies and digitisation is not unique to banks as it influences all aspects of society. Like any change this presents risk, but also creates new opportunities.

Organisations need to adapt to meet these changing demands to remain relevant to their customers. Remaining focused on the customer outcomes you are trying to achieve is critical, while also ensuring your technology and business strategies remain closely aligned. A good example is the changing role of the Branch, moving away from a transaction centre to being an advice, sales and service centre.

Bank of the Philippine Islands: Manuel Tagaza, SVP and Group Head for Electronic Channels
Most banks have already recognized the rapid growth of mobile technology and the consumer dependence that stems from it. To address this, they have expanded their mobile presence, which include SMS facilities, mobile sites, and fully-featured mobile banking and mobile commerce apps.

Some challenges that they are facing in developing these facilities include optimizing the performance of their mobile offerings to the level of the full website and having to choose between sustaining a mobile version of their online banking website vs. developing a native mobile banking application for smartphones.

Regardless of which path they want to take, banks should not have to make a compromise between efficiency and providing a smooth user experience. If they can’t be integrated into one mobile product offering, a bank should at least have a mobile product portfolio that can offer either one. 

CIMB: Renzo Viegas, Deputy CEO and Head of Consumer Banking
The challenge with mobile and video technology is the ability for banks like us to monetise the activities through these channels. At the moment, the focus is on enabling one's mobile smart phone into a full-service banking device where you can do account services, account and loan application or approvals and even transact over the counter using the mobile phone.

In addition, CIMB Niaga (CIMB Group’s banking franchise in Indonesia) has recently launched “Rekening Ponsel” (mobile phone account), representing the latest banking solution innovation in Indonesia, allowing anyone to make any transaction using only a cellular phone number. Through “Rekening Ponsel”, even those without CIMB Niaga accounts can now transfer funds to all cellular numbers in Indonesia at no charge. Topping up call units for pre-paid services, paying bills and withdrawing cash are now easily and conveniently possible with no ATM card required. "Rekening Ponsel" was certified by the Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI) as the first product of its kind in Asia.

Another example of adoption of video technology is CIMB Niaga’s “Digital Lounge”, which includes video banking transaction service with a touch-screen wide monitor featuring a video banking officer communicating live to assist customers in their transactions.

These innovations are some of the things that keep CIMB in the forefront of banking technology.

Fiserv Asia: Nick Wilde, Managing Director
The rapid pace of technological change is forcing financial institutions to look at how they deploy services across digital channels – online, mobile and tablet. The resulting dilemma is how to ensure a consistent and tailored user experience across these channels.

Consumers have come to expect an experience similar to the one they would get from a business outside of the traditional banking space – such as a retail company like Amazon, for example. This experience is intuitive, integrated and caters to the consumer’s wants and needs.

Tighter integration of the online, mobile and tablet channels is the way to address this challenge. Financial institutions must work toward delivering consistent financial information across channels as part of an omni-channel experience, while also providing a user experience that is tailored to the channel and the device. This will enable consumers to have that sought-after user experience while also being able to leverage the technology to its fullest capability.