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Not very long ago, banking used to be tedious errand. Queues were long, and processing times were slow, regardless of the transaction. Depositing cheques and withdrawing cash were no exceptions. With banking services at our fingertips now, it’s hard to imagine going back to that time.
Mobile banking offered customers the option to fulfil their banking chores anytime, anywhere. By downloading the bank’s app, common services like checking updated balance, transferring money, etc. could be facilitated from their smartphones. This proved to be a game changer for the industry and the customer in many ways.
Let’s look at how mobile banking came to be a necessity, the recipe for its success, and the potential it holds for the future.
Mobile banking – A product of digitization
Evolution of the FinTech sector coupled with cutting-edge technology has completely transformed the way banks operate today. It has made banking simpler, convenient, and time-efficient for users by digitising most banking operations.
While digital banking has been around for a while, the transition wasn’t the smoothest. Infrastructure limitations and misconceptions about its security triggered resistance and reluctance.
But then came COVID, and our lives changed forever. With restrictions on travel and physical assembly, customers were forced to take the digital route, making mobile banking to an indispensable tool.
It forced banks to ramp up their digital capabilities too. After all, it would help them reduce costs, increase efficiency, streamline their workflow, and reach out to a wider audience.
In other words, it is safe to say that mobile banking has proven to be a win-win for both banks and users.
Reasons for the boom of mobile banking
Increased penetration of smartphones
Mobile phones have become an integral part of our lives, especially over the past 10 years, allowing us to do so much more than just making calls. There’s an application to assist us with pretty much most of our daily chores. Banking was no exception.
Changing consumer preferences
Consumers today are always on the lookout for convenience and time-saving, and mobile banking applications do just that by offering banking at their beck and call.
Improved mobile banking infrastructure
Over the years, mobile applications have improved manifold, offering customers a wider range of capabilities and services at their disposal.
Innovative products & services
From remote cheque depositing to seamless money transfer and prompt fraud detection, mobile banking applications enable more than traditional operations.
Benefits of Mobile Banking
In essence, mobile banking applications are all about creating better experiences that allow customers to connect with their finances with confidence and ease and do so much more than that.
Banks today are constantly working towards enabling more features and functionalities into their applications. Studies have shown that people would rather switch banks than use a mobile application that’s inefficient.
Here are some of the benefits that mobile banking applications offer making them a crucial part of our everyday lives:
Convenience
The biggest allure of mobile banking is convenience. Being able to access 24x7 service from the comfort of their home, or wherever they may be saves time and gives users the freedom to do more.
From transferring money to applying for a credit card or paying your bills, mobile banking allows you to manage your finances anytime, anywhere.
In fact, you can even apply for a credit card or a home loan from your smartphone. This ease of accessibility saves time and strikes one thing off your to-do list.
Money management
The best mobile applications allow you to manage your money with minimal effort. For instance, our Liv savings account helps you track your expenses, giving you the control to handle your finances better.
Or our Liv Goal account which allows you to manage your savings through an automatic transfer feature that allocates a set amount to your resolutions (overheads) in a timely manner with no intervention at all.
Spending alerts are yet another example of how these applications facilitate better management of your finances.
Better security
Banks are entrusted with the crucial business of guarding our wealth. By offering layered security, mobile banking protects our account and transactions.
Multifactor authentication, for example, requires at least two types of verification to determine the user’s identity.
Some applications offer facial or fingerprint scanning as well, taking the security a notch above. Users can even block or disable services in just a few clicks in case they suspect a breach in security.
Tailored services
Mobile banking is evolving rapidly, ushering banks to provide a more personalised, comprehensive experience that offers a host of benefits for customers, including shortcuts to popular transactions, personalised dashboards, etc.
What’s more; by leveraging their transactional, behavioural and consumption data, banks can identify a customer’s needs and provide tailored products and services dynamically, rather than offering a one-size-fits-all portfolio.
The road ahead
From offering self-service functionalities like allowing customers to open accounts online in minutes to helping them automate their critical banking functions, mobile banking has come a long way.
But this is just the start; with consistent advancements in mobile technology every day, coupled with the capabilities of big data, augmented and virtual reality, banks will soon be able to launch super apps.
Through highly personalised services, these super apps will not only allow customers to streamline their regular banking functions but also assist them with their overall financial management and services that extend beyond the realm of banking and finance.
Interesting times ahead!
