Foremost among these are the needs of customers. With the balance of power shifting in their favour, consumers are raising higher demands around financial products and services, driving a re-examination of the industry’s sales strategy among other things.

1. Meeting the Expectations
of the Survivor’s World
Universal Banking Solution System Integration Consulting Business Process Outsourcing

2. Emerging from the worst crisis since the ‘Great involve customers in co-creating products and
Depression’, what is this if not the world of services.
survivors? Here, future economic success depends
on how well organizations handle its expectations. However, the expectations are not limited to
existing users of financial services. Thanks to the
Fulfilling customer needs of personalization and spread of mobile communication, even those
participation without a bank account can now transfer funds
and conduct simple transactions over their
Foremost among these are the needs of handsets. This is one of the developments
customers. With the balance of power shifting in ushering in greater financial awareness among
their favour, consumers are raising higher the unbanked masses and consequently, a
demands around financial products and services, demand for access to formal banking services.
driving a re-examination of the industry’s sales Financial inclusivity is one of the imperatives of
the survivor’s world.
strategy among other things. Since the old push
method fails to satisfy the varied and granular
Learning from best practices of other industries
needs of present day customers, increasingly the
call is for a right-selling approach that proposes
Drawing upon positive experiences from other
the right combination of product, price and
industries, customers are asking banks to adopt
channel to every user. This means making
some of their best practices, for instance, create a
products more flexible individually – for example,
closed loop community in which they can discuss
allowing customers greater freedom in
financial issues, enhance self-service channels
determining the terms of loan repayment – as well
with intelligent technology that allows users to
as in combination in the form of t bundles. seek human assistance when required or enable
customers to transact online ‘end to end’ - from
Consequently, banks are making a natural signing up for an account to taking a loan. They
progression towards customer-centricity, also like to research competing banking products
customising products and services to cater to the and services and understand public opinion
greatest number of user expectations. They are voiced in blogs, ratings and reviews before taking
discovering that satisfying the granular needs of a decision. Those on the fringes want financial
various segments with tailor-made offerings is offerings to go the same way as telecom, allowing
critical to both customer acquisition and retention. them to consume in very small quantities. The
Another important realization is that in a largely amazing evolution of electronic gadgets, which
commoditized marketplace, “quality of have progressively become faster, smarter,
experience” works as a key differentiator and a sleeker and more capable, is inducing similar
measure of customer convenience. expectations from banking.
The rise of community influence is precipitating an Complying with regulations to minimize risk
important shift in consumer behaviour. Studies
show that nearly 80 percent of consumers trust Financial regulations, which continue to get
peer recommendations but less than 15 percent tougher to prevent another systemic failure, are
believe advertisements! Even banking customers placing a burden of compliance on the industry.
are showing a preference for searching products Central banks and other authorities are watching
and reading peer reviews online over visiting a the activities of financial institutions closely to
branch. When in doubt, they reach out to fellow ensure, among other things, that products are
users first for advice. safer and transparent, capital is prudently
deployed, KYC norms are adhered to and
Customers are voicing their need for greater disclosure is adequate.
participation. Simultaneously, they are asking that
On the other hand, customers are more
banks be more open and transparent in their
concerned about the safety of their transactions
dealings. In response, a section of the industry is
on all channels in practical terms, that involves
leveraging the easy reach of social media to
Meeting Expectations to
Survive in the Survivor’s World

3. safeguarding not only clients’ money but their data Fighting against and alongside competition
and identity as well. Hence, beyond the
requirements of the law, banks are obligated to Competition, both from traditional rivals and
institute a robust security mechanism – including emerging players is making it harder to defend
measures such as multi-factor authentication and one’s turf. This is pushing banking organizations
data encryption – at the insistence of their to sharpen their edge in order to maintain their grip
customers. on existing clients and get to new ones before the
next bank does.
Managing post-restructuring apprehensions
Since a healthy customer base is critical to
Since 2008, there have been over 250 bank survival, banks are replenishing their customer
failures in the United States alone! Such acquisition arsenal with innovative offerings,
occurrences have caused a spate of mergers and enhanced services, attractive marketing programs
organizational restructuring, leaving many and more. They’re seeking to make loyalty
surviving banks to deal with their concomitant programs more effective as a retention tool. On
challenges, not the least of which is integration of the operational side, the focus is back on
systems, processes, services, workforce and lines improving process efficiency and automation and
of business. manifesting that as a smoother user experience.
What expectations do customers have from Conventional institutions are also entering new
reorganized entities? businesses like Internet-only banking or P2P
lending, frequently pioneered by innovative
Mostly, customers worry about how this will companies from outside the industry.
change their relationship with the bank. Will
charges go up? Will their relationship manager In some instances, competitors are joining
change? Do they have to learn new processes? together in a co-opetition arrangement that
Will they retain their privileged account holder enables each one to leverage the other’s strength.
status or cease to be as important to the newly For example, a national bank may tie up with a
constituted bank? regional co-operative to distribute its products
through the latter’s network within a limited
Addressing these issues is a post-reorganization territory. In this win-win arrangement, the
top priority. Banks must take their customers into co-operative allows the large rival to access its
confidence by giving them a fair appraisal of the customers in exchange for an additional product in
benefits of restructuring and its downsides, for its suite.
instance, by telling them how the move would
result in improved performance, efficiency or Leveraging partnerships to meet more
higher profitability in the long run, but require them expectations
to learn some processes before that. Some banks
might even consider passing on a part of the The cost of launching a completely new product or
benefits as they accrue, back to their customers. service could put it out of reach, especially that of
smaller institutions. A partner eco-system adds to
In fact, when reorganization transfers ownership a bank’s ability to serve different customer needs
of the customer relationship from a single through product, technology or distribution
executive to the entire bank, it produces several alliances and become a one stop shop for their
benefits for both – since customer insight is now clients. Also, a bank raises a customer’s exit
uniformly available across the banking entity barrier by satisfying all his financial requirements,
comprising different lines of business, it may be from credit card to insurance under one roof. In
holistically leveraged to improve the quality of return, the bank must nurture partners by
engagement. Such restructuring also assures providing them access, information, training and
customers of continuity and eliminates the need to support so that collectively they can create a
start from the beginning with each change of superior experience for their customers.
personnel.
Meeting Expectations to
Survive in the Survivor’s World

4. Satisfying regulators’ and customers’ green service, banks are actually hoping to distance
appetite themselves from the past and restore the faith of
their customers. That is why meeting the various
With green laws becoming mandatory, besides expectations of the survivor’s world is extremely
regulatory obligation banks are facing the critical.
pressure of expectation exerted by their socially
conscious customers. Since they will be
increasingly judged by their commitment to Author
environmental causes in future, it is important that
they take proactive sustainability measures today. Arunnima B S
The good news is that eco-friendly initiatives also Finacle - Product Strategy
yield direct benefits to customers – for example, Infosys Technologies Limited
branchless banking and statements over email
add to convenience and sustainable lending
promotes the interest of certain SMEs – even as
they contribute to the overall well-being of the
planet and its inhabitants.
Using technology to meet goals
Under the current challenging market conditions,
operating efficiently and using resources optimally
is more important than ever. The role of
technology in facilitating these goals and helping
banks meet other customer expectations cannot
be overstated. Technology sharpens the
competitive edge by enabling faster rollout of
products across all channels and bringing both
scalability and higher reliability to service delivery.
Developments in biometrics, NFC and smart card
technologies are not only adding another layer to
data security but also spreading the adoption of
financial services among the unbanked. The
option of accessing Software as a Service has
made it possible for banks to acquire technology
quickly and enhance it only when required.
Conclusion
The survivor’s world is a tough place for banks to
be, rife with the pressure of fulfilling the various
requirements of customers, regulators,
competitors and other influencers.
While lawmakers responded to the economic
crisis by strengthening regulation and the
authority of those responsible for its enforcement,
customers raised their own defences through
cautious behaviour. Thus, financial institutions of
the survivor’s world still suffer from an overhang of
low consumer confidence and erosion of trust. In
fulfilling the demands surrounding compliance,
transparency, personalization, efficiency and
Meeting Expectations to
Survive in the Survivor’s World

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