Is Digital Banking is an Oxymoron ?

I was at Digital banking 2019 in Austin just a few days ago and here are my reflections from two days at the conference.

Is Digital Banking an Oxymoron ? yes i will answer it and why.

First of all I find it hard to believe that we are so behind the rest of the world, and by we i mean the United States. I am so sorry if this is harsh but that's the reality. We are still trying to understand GDPR, let alone CCPA. If you must know more about what these are then please google them.

Banking today is going through a digital renaissance. Traditional banking that we know of is still struggling to go completely digital and while some banks may have automated processes, they are by far and IMHO not entirely digital. There is still rampant usage of paper in Banks and at every level. Very few banks if at all, perhaps a handful promise a completely digital experience.

A few weeks ago I walked into my secondary bank and asked for a check to be deposited at a specific date. They handed me a form to fill. At my primary bank at one occasion i had to deposit a bunch of post dated checks and they filled a hunch of forms and did something even worse , they put them in an envelope and tied a lace around it of some sorts. The leat i was expecting from them was to say that we will scan all of them and out them in our banking system etc.

My personal banking experiences are bad and i have hardly come across a bank that intuitively knows what I need. Have you experienced this ?

Now going back to the digital side of Banking, My idea of banking is financial services and solving a problem. It is about helping the unbanked, enabling financials service for people and communities where they have no banks. Today digital services have also moved on to services such as PaisaPay and others that make access to cash easy and affordable. Digital is a way to make this happen through the internet, or apps, by enabling savings for banks so that the savings can be offered to consumers and customers. A bank then for me becomes an experiential problem solving organization rather than someone who wants your money.

Banks today have a moral and corporate responsibility to beyond the norm and beyond the usual to offer seamless, timely services to clients the way clients want to be served, The grandpa farmer in rural Iowa may be used to traditional banking and so may be the street vendor in Jakarta. Should banks treat them differently and serve them differently ? How well acquainted are they with technology and how well much do they need to know in order to Bank. By the way digital payments in Asia are very common and all people need to have is an app. No banks needed !

Digital Banking needs to be looked at in a different way. By enabling cloud services banks do not become digital. By enabling seamless digital services for clients, and utilizing technology to provide experiences, yes we are talking about Digital Services. The next few years and in fact the next decade or two are going to be an uphill task for many banks. My recommendation to any organization, financial or non financial thatwshes to transform itself and call itself Digital is as as follows;

1. Focus on a 20+ year timeframe when you start planning the future.
2. leverage the startup community to experiment with new products and value add services that can shape your business
3. Leave the heard mentality and do something new and dramatic.

I had a great time at Digital Banking 2019 and learnt a lot. It was frustrating to see not as much progress being made in US and Canada as compared to Europe and Asia and that bothers me a lot. I want us to succeed. We need to move faster & be stronger !

Sorry if i have broken any hearts ! xxx Ian