According to Gartner, one-third of financial services CIOs identified digital as their top business priority for 2019, up by more than 8% from last year. And it’s no surprise why – digital banking is a predominant concern for consumers, who increasingly prefer to do transactions such as transferring money, check deposits and more by mobile rather than visit a brick-and-mortar institution. And according to McKinsey, we are only in phase one, with most traditional banks offering their customers high-quality web and mobile sites/apps.
Using Data and Technology to Improve UX and CX
Here at Stefanini, we have helped hundreds of banks and credit unions with their core banking platforms. For instance, Stefanini has been working with a large international bank with $380 billion in assets, 16 million customers, and 5,400 branches since 2016 to help them innovate service delivery. Over the last three years, we have helped the bank become more agile and get more insights from data to accelerate time to market with products and services that improve user experience (UX) and customer experience (CX).
Financial Solutions
Gartner cites the fact that 26% of traditional business financial services organizations will typically rely on traditional business and growth within their existing markets as opposed to either process optimization or transformation via new technologies or business model expansion.
We have experience in this realm as well. Stefanini has been helping financial institutions use technology to improve banking processes for more than 30 years. One such use case is a large payment systems company that serves more than 1.2 million customers that includes entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as large retailers hired Stefanini to create their digital solution to help customers understand how their business is performing and recommend the steps they could take to improve performance. In addition, Stefanini created and developed digital channels (web and mobile) using secure and simplified integration with APIs and responsive design to improve user experience (UX), customer experience (CX), as well as drive revenue. This makes it easier for business owners to manage their business with motion tracking, comparisons of billings with similar businesses, insights into customer profiles and buying behaviors that enable the creation and implementation of smart, personalized loyalty programs that drive revenue and customer retention.
Regulatory & Compliance
According to Gartner, compliance risk has become one of the most crucial ongoing concerns for financial-institution executives. Since 2009, regulatory fees have greatly increased relative to banks’ earnings and credit losses.
We understand the importance of security and the expansion of regulatory and compliance. That’s why we offer a solution for the prevention and detection of financial crimes including money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Our solution uses the “Know Your Client” (KYC) principle and enables your compliance team to reach more informed conclusions about each case. High levels of configurability reduces false positives and enables team members to focus on high priority alerts.
How it works:
- Monitoring sanctions lists as well as client profiles of “expected” and “transactional” activity to identify discrepancies.
- Detection by analyzing scenarios and classifying the risk of each.
- Case management with alert-based electronic file creation and compliance vision to make your compliance team more efficient and productive.
- Reports, both internal and external, of alerts and what’s required by the different regulatory entities.
The system fulfills the requirements of internal and external audits by keeping a register of all activities and transactions by user.
Simplifying the Account Opening Process
More and more customers are demanding banking services without ever setting foot in a physical branch. According to McKinsey, more than 80 percent of people surveyed in developed Asian markets said they would be willing to shift some of their holdings to a bank that offered a convincing digital-only proposition. For consumers in emerging Asian markets, more than 50 percent confirmed the same thing. Many types of accounts are in play, with respondents indicating potential shifts of 35 to 45 percent of savings-account deposits, 40 to 50 percent of credit-card balances, and 40 to 45 percent of investment balances, such as those held in mutual funds.
Stefanini’s banking platform enables you to make the onboarding of new customers simpler, easier, with reduced friction. We have been working with financial services companies to simplify the process by reducing data entry fields, using optical character recognition (OCR), and ensuring there is a selfie “match” between document pictures and facial biometrics with data and documents stored securely in the cloud. The platform integrates with legacy systems and proprietary credit engines, is customizable, has independent modules, and enables digital contract signature capability.
Our personal financial management (PFM) module provides tools and simulation solutions that differentiate profiles and goals between investors, borrowers, and the insured. The module includes a definition of goals and objectives, client cash flow management, events control and automatic categorization, forecasting, charts, and infographics. Property management, financial advisory, video, chat, and podcasts, news, as well as a mobile wallet, are included as well.
One of our financial services clients has more than 5,300 branches, 4,800 service branches, and 38,500 correspondent banks through partnerships with supermarkets, drug stores, department stores, and other retail chains.
Stefanini is responsible for the entire digitization of the bank’s account opening process that reduces costs and back office work, while increasing accuracy and compliance. We continue to work with the bank to make the account opening process as simple and easy as it can be.
Diversifying Credit Cards
According to McKinsey, volumes are growing as cardholders spend more on their cards, with global transactions increasing by 8 percent a year. However, card issuers are finding it harder to win new cardholders and compete for market share.
As the diversity and types of credit cards have grown, so has Stefanini’s banking platform. We are able to handle every aspect of a financial institution’s credit card program:
- Issuance and processing – we can handle all card issuance and transaction process of Visa and MasterCard flags whether physical or virtual.
- We support debit, private label, prepaid, voucher, and hybrid cards so you can create the best strategy to maintain a loyal customer base at a low cost.
- The issuance of virtual cards makes it possible to reduce cost while providing a seamless purchase experience.
- Our APIs, SDKs, and white label applications allow you to make all of the features available and to connect with the end-user through a centralized real-time channel.
Processing Transactions
Business Insider notes that the most prevalent trend in the banking industry is the shift to mobile and online banking. As Millennials and the older members of Generation Z have started to become the dominant players in the workforce, they demand swift, digital access to their banking institutions. Therefore, processing transactions is all about speed and scale with security and accuracy.
One of Stefanini’s financial services clients is an online or mobile payment-based e-commerce service for commercial operations. They acquired a banking license and are currently managing more than 10 million accounts. Their business model covers five pillars:
- Multiple digital banking solutions;
- In-person payments via their own point-of-sale (POS) devices;
- Free digital accounts provided to consumers and merchants with functionalities such as bill payments, top up prepaid mobile phone, Uber, Spotify and/or Google Play credits, wire transfers, peer to peer transfers, prepaid credit cards, cash cards, loans, investments, QR code payments, and payroll portability, among other digital banking services;
- Issuer of prepaid, cash, and credit cards; and,
- Full end-to-end digital bank.
After reviewing a number of alternatives, the client selected Stefanini’s banking platform due to the diversity of applications, scalability, and capacity to handle an ever-increasing transaction volume.
Security in Digital Banking
As part of a survey, Fiserv reported that when it comes to digital banking, security is crucial: 64% of consumers who don’t use mobile banking say it’s due to security concerns. Therefore, it is clear that banks must ensure effective security in order to have more people be comfortable with actively using digital banking.
Stefanini Rafael is a multi-modal biometric platform that provides access control across our banking platform. It can manage multiple security credentials and the risk engine assures the appropriate security level regardless of the chosen user authentication method.
The platform always applies dual verification using voice, face, fingerprint, device, vehicle, driver, and/or peer matching.
Leverage New Digital Technology
Stefanini’s ecosystem of solutions enable fast implementation of several different financial journeys including opening new accounts, loan applications, and credit cards.
However, a recent report by Forrester on The State of Digital Banking Transformation, 2019, noted that many banks are struggling with their transformation initiatives, while some haven’t started. In order to stay ahead of the curve, it’s time for banks to start embracing digital initiatives.
Digital Relationships & Innovation
McKinsey recommends constantly testing different digital banking methods to refine the customer experience. Stefanini helps financial services firms enhance customer relationships by mapping the decision-making journey, providing personalized support, and enabling real-time, personalized communications. Combining data and technology enables loyalty programs, personalized promotions, cross-sell and up-sell, as well as referrals. All of the personalization and customization results in more customer engagement, more sales, more revenue, and more customers.
A digital-only banking client enables customers to open an online checking account securely from a mobile device. Stefanini is helping provide open banking via APIs. Customers connect via a mobile app to make transactions, get balance information, review investments, and make transfers between accounts.
Making Use of Chatbots
According to Forbes, chatbots have already been used by Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Capital One for years. Sophie is Stefanini’s advanced cognitive computing solution that’s able to provide support for financial institutions as a virtual service desk agent, personal digital assistant, natural language search assistant, and chatbot.
Current use cases include:
- Providing 24/7 customer support
- Executing real-time operations automatically
- Automating processes is reducing costs by 40 to 60%
- Real-time, personalized recommendations drive up-sell and cross-sell efforts
- Consistent answers with logs of every interaction
- Understanding when customers are becoming perturbed and are at risk of churning
Sophie can assist you with most high-volume, repetitive tasks such as triggering workflows, escalating issues, and sourcing information from users. She is able to help financial institutions improve service, user experience (UX), and customer experience (CX) by satisfying the need for constant customer support, reducing request handling time, and providing detailed, actionable records of customer pain points and interactions.
Work with Stefanini
If your bank or credit union is looking for ways to use data and technology to improve UX and CX, let Stefanini know how we can help you achieve your goals.
*C. Thomas (Tom) Smith, III is a Digital Strategist and Analyst from Stefanini North America
