In 2017, about one million people a day all over the world joined a social media network, a trend that continued to grow in 2018. Social media users in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 394 million in early 2017, according to data from social media platform Hootsuite.
At a time when technological advances seem to be a daily occurrence and customers expect immediate service, what are the technologies banks are using to avoid being left behind?
Imagine being constantly overdrawn in your checking account and having to pay expensive fees. Then, after finding online an authorized firm to help you manage your expenses, you download the application and give your consent to this company to access your bank information, while formally asking your bank to securely share your data. Through the application, this firm gives you advice on how to manage your finances and suggests other accounts with more favorable conditions if you often overdraw. Then, you decide to change accounts.
Business magazine Knowledge@Wharton, linked to the prestigious Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, published in 2009 a list of the 30 most significant innovations of the past 30 years. Microfinance was number 17 on the list.
One of the main obstacles standing in the way of digital banking progress in Latin America is users’ overall mistrust in the ability of banks to offer fraud-proof service. And they have a point.
If you want to get a glimpse of what the future of banking looks like, travel to Shanghai’s Art K11 shopping mall. There, Standard Chartered, a UK bank, recently opened a branch in which the tellers and desks that have been a feature of banking for such a long time have been replaced by cutting-edge interactive technology that lets visitors play virtual reality games. If you go to the second floor, the bank offers services that do not require cash, according to a recent article in Shanghai Daily, a Chinese newspaper.
If you have ever run out of space to save photos, videos or documents in your electronic devices, you probably have an account in cloud storage service Dropbox. It is also likely that you were referred to it by a friend or acquaintance through an invitation.
The client has long ceased to be a passive consumer. The reason? The emergence of the internet has given consumers greater control in their relationship with companies.
