The Fintech industry has taken off, and us with it. Customers and banks are feeling the benefits from online banking, which allows for better control of customers’ own finances and an easier customer experience. Elements like eliminating the lengthy customer service center calls, enhancing user-friendly website design with enhanced security features and online applications for a plethora of services make for a much better experience for the customer and a lot more profits for banks. Read on to see how the customer and the bank can gain from embracing online banking.
Making things easier for the customer
Online banking customers enjoy the ease of an experience that is designed to make every element digestible and understandable from the off. Unlike the historically secretive financial industry of the past, online banking lays out all the information, for you to spend as much time as you like perusing.
There might be a learning curve, but once you are past it you can easily move your money between accounts, pay friends and businesses, shop online, and even apply for loans all via the one app.
Apps and websites designed to be as user-friendly as possible create a space where all the information needed to make a sound financial decision is available at the fingertips of the user.
This also reduces the need for human interference. Yes, if something goes wrong, or you are confused by something, you can call your bank and speak to a real person, but making transactions, opening accounts, paying someone, and a lot of other services offered by your banking app can cut out the middleman and save you spending hours on hold to the call center.
More security for the user
Online payments and accessing your finances online is also a lot more secure for the user. There are passwords, codes, verification of devices, personal questions, fingerprints, facial recognition, end-to-end encryption, and a lot of other security measures in play to make accessing your finances easier and more secure for you.
End-to-end encryption means that no one trying to hack into your account is going to get the chance, as the transaction is going through an encrypted tunnel, so to speak, that cannot be penetrated.
And, as for shopping online, all your details are behind passwords and other security keeping them available to only you. As these catch on, we’re bound to see less people carrying cash in their pockets, meaning less petty crime like muggings and pickpockets.
But the best security measure might well be the simplest one: notifications. Your bank is likely to have the option to give you notifications whenever money leaves your account: use them. If something comes out you don’t recognize, when you were nowhere near completing a transaction, you’ll know right away and be able to report your card as stolen, even through the app.
Giving back control to the customer
All these user-friendly elements mean that the customer is given back control of their own finances. With transactions now a lot easier, users can make decisions more informed, without being railroaded by what can feel like a car salesman, do it simply, quickly, without so much as leaving the house. They can pay who they want, when they want and can save more effectively by keeping an eye on exactly where their money is going and why.
Creating opportunities for the customer
Online banking allows the customer to think about what they want to do with their money at their own pace. They don’t have to go into a bank with a plan in mind and come out with a loan and two savings accounts they didn’t expect. They can look through every fintech service and product the bank offers and carefully think over what they need and what will fit their needs. They can apply for a personal loan, a business loan, a mortgage, a savings account, and more all through their phone.
More applications, more fees, more profits
As such, there are actually a lot more transactions being made, which the bank takes a small cut from. The more transactions are made, the more online banks make.
Banks in turn can profit from so many applications being processed and earn interest on loans and accounts where suitable. They can offer an interest-free fee as an alternative to interest on the account, and other offers and deals that can be exclusive to the online banking experience.
Conclusion
Online banking has a lot of benefits for the customer and the bank. The ease of use is an important part of the process, as it allows for a lot of other benefits. Customers are given back control of their finances while banks profit from this newfound freedom. It’s likely we’ll see more of a migration to online finances as time goes on.
