All articles by RBI editorial
RBI editorial
Power shifts towards to the consumer
Potential account switchers have almost doubled in the past year as consumers increasingly take control of their banking relationships. As customer expectations rise, banks need to reassess their products and service levels. On a positive note, more customers are willing share personal information with banks if it improves service levels. Consultants Ernst & Young has released its second annual global survey of customer behaviour in retail banking, building on regional surveys it launched in 2009. Globally an average of 12% of customers are planning to switch their main banking provider this year up from 7% last year and attrition rates have increased in a number of markets.
Striving for process excellence
With the aim of tackling the labour intensive process of data entry in the bank, a project named eOps has been launched by Standard Chartered (StanChart). eOps aims to enable StanChart to outsource data entry, while ensuring data security, accuracy and scalability. eOps, so far, has only been deployed for the account opening process, but can easily be expanded to other processes, according to the lender. David Lynch, group head of consumer banking operations at StanChart, says: What regulators and our customers alike are most concerned about is the protection and confidentiality of information. That has always been our first priority with the eOps programme. Because of that focus, we have had very good support in the initial markets we selected.
Digital marketing key for retail banks
Marketing in retail banking is no longer just about selling. It is about understanding each customer, and then making informed multi-channel decisions. By tracking customer behaviour banks are able to offer relevant and timely products cost-efficiently. These are key conclusions from a new VRL report, examining how digital marketing is important for retail banks. Retail banks that are thriving in the current economic climate are using new technologies and channels to enhance the relationships they have with their customers. By tracking customer behaviour banks are able to offer relevant and timely products cost-efficiently, which leads to customer getting a consistent and superior service across all touch points. Marketing is no longer just about selling. It is about connecting everything in the organisation to revenue, connecting all of your customers to the organisation and sharing all of your customer insight across all channels. It is about understanding each customer, and then making informed multi-channel decisions not just better campaigns. As service quality comes to the fore for consumers, the ability to provide a more personalised banking experience will provide a major competitive advantage in the battle for new customers.
Winning retail strategies
Building a winning retail bank demands investment in three core areas: maximising the benefits of the branch channel, core modernisation technology and mobile money. These are the key conclusions from a new report from VRL, examining strategies of 10 successful retail banks from around the globe. With long-term vision and commitment from senior management and an environment that fosters innovation, any retail bank can outsmart and outperform their competitors. These are the key conclusions from a report in which VRLs editorial team has selected 10 retail banks from around the world that have beaten their competitors during and since the financial crisis. Interviews with top executives, case studies and data analysis of these international banking trailblazers unlock the winning processes that have enabled them to outperform their peers in branch banking, mobile money development; customer service innovation and IT process improvement.
Ceská sets out its stall to remain Czech market leader
esk spoitelna, the Czech Republic subsidiary of Austrian banking group Erste, has been one of the most successful major retail banks before, during and after the economic crisis. Jiri Skorvaga, Ceskas head of retail banking discusses the banks channel investment strategy, products and marketing with RBI. esk spoitelna is widely credited by analysts and industry observers as one of European retail bankings success stories of the past decade. Since its acquisition by Erste Bank in 2000, esk Spoitelna (eska), the Czech Republics second-largest bank by assets and the countrys largest retail bank, has undergone a significant transformation. With more than 5 million clients and a branch network of 653 outlets, it is well placed to grow profits once the economic recovery gathers pace. At the heart of Ceskas success has been its focus on loyalty product innovation and multi-channel investment.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Get industry leading news, data and analysis delivered to your inbox
State Bank of India takes Android crown
Android phones have skyrocketed market share in the smartphone market. In the US, Android boosted its market share from 36.4% to 41.8% in only 3 months until July 2011, compared with 26% to 27% for iPhone, according to data from Comscore. Asian and European banks seem to have realised this trend ahead of their US counterparts. Mobile banking is growing fast and banks are slowly looking beyond the iPhone to serve more customers through new mobile applications. State Bank of India makes the top of the list in terms of application downloads, with an unspecified number somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000 downloads in just30 days. SBI offers a comprehensive array of services such as fund transfers, enquiry services, account services, bill payment, mobile top-up and m-commerce. With an average rating of 3.7 out of 956 reviews, it is not the best application out there, but of reasonable quality. NatWest makes the second rank, offering balance enquiry, money transfers between own accounts, ATM and branch locator, and mobile phone top-up.
Turkish banks turn focus on alternative delivery channels, youth, unbanked
Turkish banks are increasingly focusing their sales efforts on the youth and unbanked segment as well as the distribution of alternative delivery channels. Despite sector-wide tensions following the decisions by the Central Bank to increase reserve capital ratios whilst simultaneously cutting interest rates, senior bankers that RBI has spoken to during a visit to Turkey were not too worried about the this years earnings. The general expression was that there is enough potential in the Turkish banking sector in particular the youth and unbanked sector to generate further sales.
Recognising changing customer behaviour
Alex Sion, vice-president of financial services at SapientNitro, an interactive marketing, design and technology services agency, examines the impact of technology on retail banking He discusses what banks can do to innovate and stay relevant as they enter into what he calls a new era of engagement banking.
A data monitoring roadmap for Nedbank
Nedbanks head of retail decision science support, Eugene Liebenberg, discusses the challenge of transforming de-centralised data monitoring systems into one single platform. With responsibility for all marketing, attrition and prediction data models in Nedbanks retail unit, head of retail decision science support (DSS) Eugene Liebenberg was in charge of a pile of de-centralised data systems.
Three Erste directors discuss the bank’s retail strategy
Erste, the second-largest lender in Central and Eastern Europe, is well placed to capitalise from the economic recovery Martin Skopek, board member at Erste Group, Jozef Skela, CEO of Slovakian subsidiary Slovensk Sporitelna and Peter Bosek, board member at Erstes Austrian-based unit, discuss strategy. Erste Group posted a resilient set of results for the first three quarters of 2010: net profit rose by 2.3% to 736.8m ($979m).