Good Sunday evening , I’m still reporting on the virus.
When was the last time you were inside a bank?
If you can’t remember, maybe it was March in the pre-coronavirus days.
Banking was moving digital before the reaction to the coronavirus shut down th…
Good Sunday evening , I’m still reporting on the virus.
When was the last time you were inside a bank?
If you can’t remember, maybe it was March in the pre-coronavirus days.
Banking was moving digital before the reaction to the coronavirus shut down the country. One result of people being ordered under threat of arrest to stay in their homes is that digital banking hit warp speed and experts predict that even on Nov. 4, when the whole COVID-19 induced hysteria ends, banking will not go back to what it was.
Foot traffic at banks according to an article cited by the Wall Street Journal fell by more than 30 percent in April 2020 compared to April 2019.
Some industry leaders are convinced that once the world returns to the “new normal” in-person banking will remain close to the levels its at now.
And why shouldn’t it. People during the coronavirus shutdown have had to learn how to purchase items online, or have accelerated their online purchases because they keep being told that every venture outside the house could spell their death or the deaths of their loved ones.
Fear is a great motivator, and with the constant barrage of data about the deaths caused by COVID-19, the whole country has become scared of being closer than six feet to anyone.
Once someone has grown accustomed to handling financial matters by computer, why go to the trouble to drive to a bank, stand in line and hope you don’t get a teller on their first day of work or get taken hostage in a bank robbery gone bad.
Sajil Koroth, CEO of Kapitalwise, a data platform used by banks to get more information about their customers, in an article in Fintech Focus said, “There is no going back to normal. That’s something we need to understand.”
Koroth said that before COVID-19 a lot of bankers relied on customer interaction to understand their clients needs, but with digital banking that isn’t possible, which makes the analytics even more important.
Koroth said, “What we’ve seen there are more people who are financially stressed now, people who expect more service from the bank. And the banks need tools to meet those expectations from those customers.”
The kind of information bankers used to get from the customers themselves, like having a baby, changing jobs or going on a trip, can all change a customers’ financial needs, but without that personal interaction banks need a way to access that information, which is where companies that provide that kind of analytical data come in.
Some things should go back to normal, like kids actually going to school, crowds at sporting events and being close enough to eavesdrop on the conversation at the next table in a restaurant, but it looks like COVID-19 has hurried along changes that were already taking place in the banking industry.
I’m still reporting from just outside the citadel of American freedom. Good day.
