Digital innovation transforming financial services

The ways in which people are managing their money are being transformed by digital innovation – with apps at the forefront of the changes – as consumers in the UK logged into their banking apps as many as 5.5 billion times in 2017.

Customers are increasingly making use of new technologies to consult with experts away from normal banking hours instead of having to do so during their working day, with over 5.5 million customer web chats taking place last year, according to the major banks.

A new report also indicates that consumers are being encouraged by the popularity of social media apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Twitter to take advantage of the kind of webchat services that financial providers are now offering.

Global consultancy EY sponsored the new report, entitled The Way We Bank Now, which revealed that banking apps have been downloaded by over 22 million customers in the UK so far.

UK Finance’s Chief Executive Stephen Jones said that customers have led this “seismic social change” by wanting more convenience from digital innovation and that the industry has responded to this desire.

Jones added that artificial intelligence and Open Banking will change people’s relationships with banks and the way in which they access and make use of financial services and products over the course of the next few years.

Mobile banking apps are being used by customers for a number of services, including paying bills (51%), transferring money (62%) and setting up standing orders (27%). 512 million SMS alerts were also received by customers last year, which ranged from notifications of new payments to reminders ahead of yearly payments.