OPINION
By KELVIN DAVIS
(Kelvin Davis is the director or Greymouse, a cloud service-provider that supplies high quality, time-bound and cost-efficient services through its own facility in Fiji.)
Growing at breakneck pace, customers banking via mobiles and iPads are actually not only changing the way banking is done but also challenging the definition of traditional banking hours itself.
http://tinyurl.com/smh-customers-leap-mobile.
Borderless banks
Banks ‘without borders’ or traditional branches include:
- Paypal
- Bitcoin
- Worldcash
These banks are actually shaping the new age by:
- Trading currencies and doing transfers over the internet in seconds, not days.
- Providing merchant facilities, remittance and transfers often with just an email address and password.
- They allow transactions on a mobile phone, tablet or a public computer.
New age banking is now possible at anytime and from anywhere, as long as you have you have internet.
Traditional banks are adapting to these ‘new model’ financial institutions.
Banking made easier
Never has banking been made any clearer because gone are the days when one needs to be sitting at a computer struggling to do business banking.
With the tablet banking applications, you can take full advantage of each device’s unique operating system and touch capabilities from virtually anywhere, at any time.
In fact regular banking tasks, which during peak hours can be a hassle, have now become less stressful with a simple swipe to:
l View your account balance and past transactions
l Transfer money between your accounts
l Email transaction details after you make a payment.
l View your e-Statements
l Open a personal savings or transaction account
l Reorder your accounts
l View account balances and last 100 days of transactions
l View and modifying your pending payments
l Pending payments made easy
Simple and easy for
ultimate portability
The number of customers using mobile technology to undertake banking transactions has surpassed 6 million users for the first time.
Everyone loves new technology, especially Australians and according to a global survey by Google, Australia has one of the highest smart phone penetrations in the world at 37 per cent just behind Singapore.
And by 2016, mobile payments are expected to reach US$617 billion worldwide and that’s nearly a six fold increase from 2011at US$105 billion. http://tinyurl.com/afr-business-mobile.
Major interactions
Tablet and mobile banking, often done from the comfort of the couch, has increased the number of interactions between consumers and financial institutions.
It came a lot faster than anyone predicted.
The second largest bank in the United States, Bank of America, announced that its customers are logging into the bank’s mobile platform more than its online platform.
This definitely confirms that:
l It’s quite possibly the most significant innovation across the industry.
l This change is happening quickly.
l With the increased proliferation of smart phones over the last six years, banks are now finding themselves in their customers’ back pockets wherever they go.
http://tinyurl.com/westpac-com-banking-tablet
Disadvantages
Despite being conveniently sleek, banking via tablet and mobile also has some disadvantages too:
l Setting up an account may take time – especially the paperwork part.
l Legal Issues –couples wanting to manage their accounts together online may be required to sign a durable power of attorney before banks will be willing to display all holdings together.
l Learning Difficulties – getting acquitted with banking sites software may require some time to read the tutorials in order to be become comfortable in your virtual body.
l Site Changes & Upgrades – even the largest banks periodically upgrade their online programs and in some cases, you may have to re-enter account information.
l Customer Service – there is no personal contact with any of the bank’s staff.
Dominant platform forecast
According to Westpac Australia’s head of retail and business banking Jason Yetton, by 2017, banking done through tablets and phones would match that done through PCs, before overtaking PCs soon after.
“I can certainly see a world five years out where mobile is the dominant platform,” he said.
http://tinyurl.com/afr-com-tablet-banking
In a not-so-patient world we are living in, everyone wants things to be done fast and banks have to be ready to serve the space demanded by tech-savvy consumers.
Banking has become a commodity, therefore with the enormous leap in internet banking capabilities, consumers can expect the rich user experience that will not only be a winner but will also allow banks to maintain its use to their full advantage.