AMERICAS BANKING
The Evolution of Banking in The Face of a Digital World
How a company gained 10,000 new accounts in a matter of hours
When was the last time you went into a bricksand-mortar bank, stood in line behind real people, and waited to deposit a check? Or, cash in hand and music coming from your car’s CD player, you pulled next to the drive-up at the bank and used a pneumatic tube to transport your transaction to a smiling teller? Sounds like ancient history doesn’t it? I recently happened to pass by a local bank branch near the grocery store where I shop and noticed that the building is now a fitness/yoga facility. These types of scenarios are a reflection of the change in bank / customer interactions and how customers are turning to, and in fact expecting, digital to meet their changing lives.
58 | Issue 17
As a result, we are seeing new digital tools and technologies turning existing business models upside down – or at least knocking them on their side – across virtually every industry segment and banking is front and center. What we are seeing in the banking and financial services sector is the emergence of fintech, or financial technology institutions. Sometimes they’re referred to as startup “neobanks” or “digital challenger banks.” Without branches, they offer a 100% digital-first experience for handling day-to-day banking services using mobile apps. Some of these new smaller fintech banks launch very specific, very targeted digital offerings towards a particular customer segment –
