How Retail Banks Can Innovate in the COVID Times

The COVID-19 pandemic is taking an awful toll on human lives and their livelihood; affecting millions of people all over the world. The lockdown imposed in many countries to contain the spread of the virus has ignited a serious economic disruption. Consequently, affecting almost every industry where Banking and Finance is no exception.

Capital, profit-and-loss, and liquidity positions have been hit very hard. The flaws in banking models have started floating, leaving their reliability on doubt. To navigate in this crisis and ensure long-term sustainability, digital adoption in the mobile banking industry has a key role to play. In this post, we will discuss how retail banks can leverage digital technologies and innovate to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Meet the Low-Hanging Ways to Bring Innovation amid COVID Times

1. Build Omni Channel Experiences to Keep Your Customers Engaged

Are you still operating in an old-school way? Only having a banking website will not help you survive especially in the market where customers are bombarded by multiple bank calls, messages and Ad traps to become their customers.

You will have to grip mobile app development, banking website and other customer journey mapping tools like messaging apps to engage your customers beyond the traditional financial channels. “Mobile banking has become the new norm- says a PwC report”, be ready.

2. Become Proactive On All Your Digital Channels

Yes, the customers are restrained to visit banks and want to stay in-house to maintain their banking operations. In these challenging times, those banks will win who keep their services a step ahead. The banks that proactively update their customers with any help they need through their digital channels (such as banking mobile apps, banking websites, and mobile banking) will be the market leader.

3. Integrate Your Banking Mobile App With A Chatbot

The customer is God! And responding to customer queries in real-time should be your religion. Thankfully, we have got Chatbots to worship well. Chatbot solutions allow you to enhance the first response time and help you to provide online customer support seamlessly.

Advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning train bots as per your customer ethics and make the conversation look natural like real humans. Thus, helping you satisfy customers and nurturing leads, highlighting the benefits of chatbot in business growth and directly improving your key productivity metrics.

4. Build Empathy by Offering Your Customers COVID Relief Services and Schemes

Until now, banks heavily built varied strategies into consideration with market trends, fluctuations, demands, etc. around different sectors. But in this time of crisis, banks need to curb the needs and agonies of customers by launching schemes and take steps like:

• Offering emergency funds, credit facilities, and loans to SMBs as well as SMEs at discounted rates to slowly recover from the loss.
• Give some relaxation in EMIs, waive off minimum balance charges, and stay lenient in KYC norms.
• Increase the limits for online transactions.
• Launch products and schemes like health insurance, family/ group health insurance, easy personal loans, subsidies on education loans, and so on depending upon your customers and beneficiaries.

Image Source: Barclays

5. Educate And Engage Customers Through Banking Communities

Increase your community outreach by educating your audience about the project you undertook and the one that falls under the COVID crisis. This may include educating customers about government measures, helping people with personal credit support.

You Cannot Ignore

Mobile banking app solutions or Digital banking is the bedrock for retail banks to navigate in this crisis and keep themselves as well as the customers safe and powerful. If you are looking for a banking and finance app development company or already have a digital platform and are looking to overhaul it with new features, contact our business development executives to get started quickly!

We are available for you round the clock with personalized recommendations and a free project estimate.