Banks will need to be on the cutting edge of technology and ensure that customers’ needs are ingrained in every offering, stated PwC’s global financial services leader John Garvey to local bank leaders at “The Future of Banking” event held in Hanoi today, March 6.
Garvey, together with a panel of industry experts from the United States, Canada, South East Asia, Hong Kong and Japan, discussed what it takes for banks to thrive in this digital age, while maintaining their human relationships. The event attracted senior leaders from various Vietnamese commercial banks.
According to PwC, the banking industry is facing an imperative to change, brought by the powerful forces of customer expectations, technological capabilities, regulatory requirements, demographics and economics. Banks need to get ahead of these challenges and transform themselves for future success.
In particular, discussions at the event pointed to a strong interest in building a future bank that can cater to every customer’s needs across different stages of life in a unique, personalised way.
“The future of banking is about a highly-digitised customer experience and the expansion from traditional banking services to providing ‘lifestyle’ services that cover customer needs across the whole of their lives,” Garvey remarked.
“Banks need to look at the lifestyle of each customer and understand what needs or ambitions they have, whether it is to buy a car, buy an apartment or start a family. Banks should be in a position to help the customer achieve those personal goals through the use of their services, such as savings, loans, life insurance or third-party products like health insurance,” Grant Dennis, general director of PwC Consulting Vietnam, stated.
Most importantly, banks should be able to envision the needs of the customer and offer relevant services even before the customer knows about or asks for them. This is possible through proactive data analytics-driven customer insights, enabled by smart technologies and very often by partnering with fintech companies or other solution providers.
Industry experts at the event also discussed the fact that more regulations are being established around the world to manage the complexity of the banking sector and new banking activities. In Vietnam, with the adoption of Basel II, local banks will need to assess their current data governance processes and adopt proper controls to raise their risk resilience.
“Vietnam has been going through an exciting time of change with higher risk management standards and best practices being adopted by the banking sector. The banks that are well-prepared with a proper execution strategy will have more chances to succeed and gain benefits,” Dinh Hong Hanh, financial services consulting partner of PwC Consulting Vietnam, noted.
Further, though the technologies available on the market provide an opportunity for unprecedented innovation, not all of them are covered by existing regulations. Therefore, PwC experts advised banks to become more proactive in conversations with lawmakers to develop a regulatory landscape that nurtures innovation and consumer trust.
“Despite the emergence of new competitors, we believe that the traditional bank still has a bright future if it acts now and makes appropriate changes to be future-ready. Staying the same is not an option. The banks that will succeed are those who can best employ digital and data technologies to elevate the customer experience and improve regulatory compliance,” Garvey said.
https://english.thesaigontimes.vn/66642/technology-to-play-key-role-in-future-banking-industry.html
