Banking - BT Let's Talk

Banking on the future

April 12, 2013
Steve Rathborne 0

Attitudes to retail banking are changing fast, with a recent online study revealing that adults would like to see the introduction of portable account numbers, designed to make switching between banking providers easier. The research, which surveyed more than 6,500 people in six countries also showed some interesting variations in customer attitudes in Asia Pacific — particularly Hong Kong — compared to some European countries.

The Smart Service research, commissioned by BT, identified current and future consumer attitudes to mobile banking, alternative payments and customer service. The results showed that more adults surveyed online in Hong Kong would welcome interaction with their banking providers through social media than in Germany, Britain, the US, France and Spain.When asked which three tools they’d most like their bank to provide, 18% in Hong Kong with a bank account said social media tools to track their whereabouts, compared to just 4% in Germany. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financial Services, Global, Innovation Tagged With: Banking, banks, Finance, financial services, online banking, smart service

Why Faster Switching Will Not Turn on Competition?

April 5, 2013
Jonathan Charley 0

The UK Chancellor’s announcement that from September 2013 UK banks will have just seven working days to switch customers’ current accounts to a rival, and that this will be strictly enforced, is heralded as a huge enabler of competition in UK retail banking. In particular, the Chancellor sees it as a way to encourage new entrants to build up market share.

The banks have been forced to spend hundreds of millions of pounds to rapidly put in place a system that will enable this to happen. However the Chancellor’s expectations are unlikely to be met. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financial Services, Global, IT Infrastructure Tagged With: Banking, banks, economy, financial services, IT infrastructure

Banking customers want easier switching

March 20, 2013
Mark Jopling 0

Switching bank accounts without having to change your account details is a compelling prospect — just migrate your portable ID to your bank of choice and complete the swap.

It’s what most retail bank customers want, provided they can properly trust the technology. This is the key finding of an international study that found that most customers would like a simpler way of changing their accounts, with a portable number the method most people favoured. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financial Services, Global Tagged With: Banking, IT infrastructure, mobile devices, online banking, security

The branch: it can be the future

March 13, 2013
David Cavell 1

The bank branch continues to be reviled by its detractors. Is there a future for the bricks and mortar channel?

Bankers reporting a decline in customer branch visits should hardly be surprised. The majority of UK branch customers are still being faced with an unwelcoming transaction-shop environment, staff with poor interpersonal skills, and clumsy corrosive sales tactics. Even the rigours of contact centre IVR (Interactive Voice Response) must seem like a better alternative, and internet banking avoids all. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financial Services, Global, Innovation, IT Infrastructure Tagged With: Banking, digital economy, Finance, finance industry, global economy, retail

Hotspot’s a cool move for bank

February 27, 2013
Steven Satchwell 0

When it comes to connectivity, the word on the street isn’t on the street any more. It’s in the coffee house, the wine bar, the gym reception — and now it’s in the bank.

With the announcement that we’ve teamed up with Barclays to provide free wi-fi for its customers — the first UK bank to do so — comes evidence of the increasing consumerisation of IT and the hint of an increasingly fierce turf war for hotspot ownership. New w-ifi coverage is popping up all over the place, at Tube stations and even on buses — while at BT we now offer access to 4.8million hotspots as part of our broadband tariffs. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financial Services, Global, IT Infrastructure, UK Tagged With: Banking, BT Wi-Fi, Finance, IT infrastructure, technology

Has UK branch technology finally caught up with the times?

February 20, 2013
Jeremy Ridgway 0

The history of customer-facing branch technology in the UK over the last decade is a chequered one.

Outside the core need to provide cash withdrawal ATMs, banks have experimented with technologies that aim to enhance the customer experience at every point of their approach to and journey through the branch – from cameras which recognise customers’ eye prints to using Bluetooth to broadcast invitations to visit a branch. They have also introduced a stream of new self-service units into branches to migrate transactions away from counters, reduce costs, and improve customer/staff engagement. Some have opted for “all in one” ATMs offering multiple functionality, while the current trend is to offer multiple single-function units carrying out different tasks. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financial Services, Global, Innovation, IT Infrastructure Tagged With: ATM, Banking, Finance, finance industry, iPad, smartphones, technology

Can’t all sectors use social media like retail?

February 15, 2013
Nicola Millard 0

Retail rules the social media game. But our research has shown that not all sectors are equal in the social media world – and some have a much harder job than retailers to get engagement from their customers on social.

Part of it is down to different audiences. Retailers have the brands that we like to talk about – but we rarely share the intimate details of our finances in the pub (not to mention the fact that banks face a legal and regulatory minefield around giving financial advice in public). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Contact centres, Financial Services, Global, Retail, Social business Tagged With: Banking, BT Contact, contact centre, Finance, retail, social media

Sure fire bets for payments in 2013

Banks building trust in new technologies

January 23, 2013
David Birch 0

I don’t normally pay any attention to those silly end of year predictions columns that you find in newspapers, magazines and blogs. They tend to be about things that are either obvious or that no one will ever go back and check up on. You know the kind of thing: next year will see a green iPhone, Princess Kate will have twins and so on.

But this year I’m going to break with tradition and make three predictions about my little corner of the electronic finance world that I will cheerfully stand up and be counted for this time in 2014. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financial Services, Global, IT Infrastructure, UK Tagged With: Banking, Finance, finance industry, uk

T&Cs: are your customers selling their souls?

Hand entering personal identification number on ATM dial panel

January 17, 2013
Chris Skinner 1

Every time I click on something online, I get this funny thing about agreeing terms and conditions. The popup window appears and my brain shuts down. I just hit ‘accept’, ‘agree’ and move on.

I guess the reason is that I don’t care what the small print says, I just want the end result. I want the game, the goods, the download, the music, the movie, the wine, women and song. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financial Services, Global Tagged With: Banking, Finance, finance industry

Banks need to improve their sourcing strategies

January 3, 2013
BT Let’s Talk 0

André Vanden Camp, newly appointed CIO at AXA, reflects on the evolution of IT in the banking sector and offers his view on bank’s sourcing strategies

You have spent many years in IT in the banking sector, at ING, Dexia and currently at AXA. How have you seen IT evolve in the sector?

The evolution has been profound. In the 1990s, IT was totally dominant in most banks. If you wanted anything done, you needed IT. IT always had the final word and could make or break any initiative. IT was the centre of the world, and no wonder really, because a bank is a computer. In those days banks also competed very heavily on the basis of IT, such as their ATM networks, internet banking, electronic payments and so on. In the years leading up to 2000, IT was at its pinnacle – eating budgets and resources. However, the business was becoming increasingly frustrated with IT as well. The end came with the millennium bug. Costs had escalated to such an extent preparing for this impending disaster that when it turned out to be harmless the business finally said “enough!” That’s when most banks started shifting massive budgets away from IT toward the business. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Global, IT Infrastructure, Security Tagged With: André Vanden Camp, AXA, Banking, CIO

To Queue or Not To Queue? Only if you get Value for Effort

Queuing – it may be a British pastime but it’s not exactly something that we relish doing. How many times have you just shrugged and walked away when it’s “not worth the effort”? We are busy people who want to minimise the amount of time, energy and effort we put into things that we don’t [...]

Do you know why collaboration really matters?

There are numerous reasons why collaboration matters. Saving costs is one, for instance by lowering travel expenses. Increased productivity is another. And then there’s the fact that the ability to collaborate often comes from within the organization and your workers in these days of consumerization and BYOD. Hundreds of analysts and reports look at all [...]

Make it Easy and They Will Come

There’s a basic fact behind every purchase you make – you want it to work. Whether it’s a washing machine, a car or a broadband service, you want it to work. And the effort you have to put in to making your purchase work will influence how you feel about the company that sold it [...]

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