By Steve Ranger, 24 January 2006 10:00
NEWS
As you are walking in to a bank branch office, a member of staff you've never seen before rushes over to greet you by name.
They lead you to the counter where you fill out a paying in slip using a digital pen - the information appears on a screen in front of you and you confirm it is correct.
Standing in the queue to pay in your cheques, you pick up a leaflet on personal loans and start reading. As you pass, a plasma screen on the wall starts showing a video on personal loans, providing more details. You put the leaflet in your pocket.
When you get to the clerk you pay in your cheque, using your fingerprint to prove your identity. He mentions that as a valued customer you can get a special rate on personal loans - if you want to sign up now...
Welcome to the bank of the future.
For all the talk of the internet killing off the high street, around half of a bank's customers will visit the branch at least once a month.
That's three times the number that will visit the website. And so banks are taking another look at how to boost sales through their branch network.
The trick is to use cutting-edge technologies to capture new types of data that can be used to improve the bank's ability to sell to customers, according to Michael Redding, director of research at Accenture's technology labs.
RFID, digital pens and motion-tracking cameras will all be added to the armoury, to help banks find out when their most important customers are visiting and how to sell them more financial products.
Bank cards will be fitted with RFID chips which will allow banks to react faster when important customers visit the branch - for example, by sending someone to meet and greet them as in the example above.
Alternatively, screens in the bank could display a greeting message advertising products that customers might like to buy, based on their profile. If the bank knows Mr Smith has two teenage kids, for example, then when he comes into the branch the screens could advertise student loans.Accenture's Redding said one bank in Latin America wants to roll out RFID-chipped cards to its VIP clients: "They are trying to make it a status symbol. By making it an object of desire they can get people to elect to take part."
RFID chips can also be embedded in leaflets and these chips could trigger videos on in-house screens to provide further information. The information could be combined with the information from the RFID chip on the customer's card and sent to the counter staff who could then use this to cross-sell.
Digital cameras can also be used to track how individuals move around the bank, helping banks see which layouts work best.
This vision of the branch of the future isn't just sci-fi whimsy, Redding said: "Everything we've shown today is being used somewhere by a bank. All these things are happening in a piecemeal fashion." Different technologies are being tested by banks to see which fit best, he said: "You don't have to do things on a massive scale until you have validated the economics."
And while some people might be concerned carrying around so many RFID chips he is confident they will be accepted: "It's not a question of will people do it it's a case of how many ones will they carry."
Many customers will see such technologies as bringing advantages - trading off some of their privacy in return for shorter queues or better services, he said: "It's about letting the customer choose. Forcing the customer is not a good story because people won't accept it."
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Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. Richard
This would deter me from using the bank!
I very seldom visit my branch of LloydsTSB, although I've had that account for decades.
My recent visit was like the Nationwide advert: I wanted to pay in a small cheque received as a refund for some faulty computer parts.
The cheque had a minor mistake in the spelling of my name. The cheque was drawn on an account at another branch of the same bank.
I told the cashier and also produce the envelope showing that it was obviously intended for me. She refused to accept it.
We called the "manager." He also refused, claiming that anti money-laundering laws made it illegal for the bank to accept it!
He also refused to telephone the other branch to get their OK.
I took the cheque to Nationwide, explained the situation and they accepted it into my account.
Common sense beats faceless technology!
2. Graham Coles
And how long to clear a transaction?
What a load of bunk. This is typical bank, a hundred improvements to identify the best paying customers and try and sell you two dozen services as you walk into a branch.
No mention of whether they will be able to clear a simple cash transaction in less than a week! Clearly this is the banks tainted perspective of customer service, not the customers ...
3. misceng
Internet banking came just in time. I detested the job of going to a bank to queue for even the simplest transaction. I would like even less pressure sales techniques. An instruction to HSBC used to be acted on eventually but give two instructions at one visit and one of them would be lost or done wrongly.
Now internet banks have to perform to keep their customers loyal (it is so easy to move) and so life is much easier.
4. anonymous
WOW! Technology that not only knows when you go to the bathroom but hounds you to buy more everytime you look at something or pick up a brochure. It's like a personal shopper that follows you around and annoys the hell out of you. "Buy this" "Look at this" What's best? Once you're in the system, you won't get out! Boy, it's sure good that we have large banks, corporations, and governments looking out for us...