Consumers don’t just want shiny apps and digital banking, they want to feel that their bank is a partner who can help them reach financial empowerment. That is the finding of a new ethnographic study by Finastra, which has gone beyond the normal survey format to investigate the functional and emotional aspects of people’s banking relationships. According to the research, financial empowerment is key to building productive relationships with customers and it can be achieved by focusing on three steps: Knowledge, control and freedom. Knowledge is (the first step towards) power When it comes to money, it’s not about how…
Author: Shweta Jain
Author
Shweta Jain
Shweta is the Head of Product for Digital and leads the Strategy for banks in APAC. Shweta has more than 18 years of experience working with Banks and Financial services industry. She has worked with Retail and SME banks and specializes in defining their Digital transformation strategy. Over the last two years her focus is expanded to include Challenger bank launches in APAC and UK. She is also responsible for digital product roadmap and delivery and drives the Cloud strategy in APAC. Prior to Finastra, Shweta was with ICICI Bank in India and Hong Kong, where she worked on Retail, Corporate and Enterprise software strategy, application decisions and budgeting for the bank. She has also worked with iGate systems providing technology consultancy and service to financial services sector. Shweta collaborated with SFA and BCG to launch the report “Coming of Digital Banks in South-East Asia” and has been engaged in webinars on Open banking in Hong Kong; “Launch of Digital Banks” in APAC for countries like Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.
COVID-19 has accelerated a trend which had already begun in many parts of APAC – the closure of branches. At the same time though, we are seeing an increasing number of new names in retail banking in the form of digital challenger banks. Whether they are referred to as called ‘virtual banks’ or ‘neobanks’, these disruptive banks are digital-first and are differentiated by their focus on enhancing the customer experience. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, it is increasingly important for new entrants to come to market as quickly as possible given the increasing amount of competition in the digital…