Aline, Ayotte, Head of Commercial Banking, HSBC Channel Islands and Isle of Man, highlights the ongoing imperative of investing in digital delivery
One of the key challenges to emerge from the pandemic for financial services firms, including banks, is how they can better use technology to make life simpler, safer and speedier for their customers.
Digitising at scale has become a priority for many businesses globally, with their digital journeys having moved into the superfast highway.
This is in part due to the global pandemic – Covid-19 is cited as a reason for digitally enabled products and technology being several years ahead of projections (McKinsey 2020).
For customers, this speed of delivery can only be a good thing. It can make the ability to manage their finances simpler and more efficient and it can help them feel protected.
As far as HSBC is concerned, its digital foundations were enhanced by a $5.5bn investment in technology during 2020, focused on ensuring it could support customers during the global pandemic.
It also focused on providing banking services to people and businesses that were accessible, timely and, importantly, future-focused.
In 2021, HSBC expects to spend an additional $5.8bn on technology. The indications are that this financial investment in digital technology has translated into significantly different customer journeys and interactions over the past year:
• Across the bank, the value of mobile payments increased 220% in April to June 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.
• There were 1.28 billion log-ins to the personal banking mobile apps.
• Downloads of the mobile app for corporate customers rose 155% during the first nine months of 2020.
• Around 689 million transactions across 236 million accounts were screened every month using analytics technology for signs of money laundering and financial crime.
These global figures give some indication of the accelerated growing trend in the need and desire for digital usage.
Customer focus
But the increasingly global nature of the international finance industries in the Crown Dependencies means that the need for firms in the islands to digitise their own customers’ journeys is just as important.
Closer to home, we’re seeing a strong and sustained demand for digital solutions. In the corporate space, for example, there is considerable interest from businesses in the ability to access and generate their own virtual accounts online in seconds, removing the need to go through the account opening process.
Increasingly, electronic document acceptance processes are in place, allowing clients to sign the majority of forms digitally, rather than conventional wet signatures, with customer due diligence and Know Your Customer documents also being accepted electronically.
Treasury APIs (application programming interfaces) are helping to unlock new possibilities for businesses too, by providing simplified, real-time access to innovative cash management services directly from a client’s own treasury platform, without the need for proprietary bank platforms.
Cash flow forecasting tools are also providing a quick and easy online access point, enabling businesses to build an accurate picture of their future finances.
The message is clear: providing digital platforms to enhance and streamline a business’s operations is essential. Digital solutions can help businesses make smarter decisions, decisions that can ultimately make a positive difference to their business in terms of saving them time and money.
For personal customers, meanwhile, technology is being used to provide greater, easier access to investment opportunities, including ESG-linked funds, enabling them to take control of their investment decisions.
Digital banking platforms and apps are also enabling islanders to cut down on their carbon footprint and branch visits, apply for services such as credit cards online, or sign their mortgage documents digitally.
Regtech is also helping customers manage their affairs safely and securely online – by being smarter in identifying potential cyber crime and fraud, keeping data safe online, and helping individuals and businesses navigate and comply with complex regulatory and reporting requirements.
Ultimately, everyone is busy and time-poor, and people need speedy and immediate access to their money. Changes in customer behaviour are driving an ongoing need to provide access to products and services through their channel of choice, and that means blending the power of technology with the expertise of our real people.
This is the challenge for the island’s banks and wider financial services sector. We need to create and deliver fast, easy digital customer experiences; partner with technology innovators to enable new customer benefits; ensure we are resilient and secure; execute with speed and automate at scale.
As we look forward to 2022, collectively we need to continue to drive digital progress, with the core aim of making life simpler and safer for our domestic and international customers, ultimately enabling them to stay in control.
• This article was first published in the November 2021 - January 2022 Technology Edition of Businesslife magazine