FF Virtual Arena: Interactive Digital Banking Features Radar – What Banks Need To Know

In this exciting Virtual Arena, we catch up with Peter-Jan Van De Venn, the VP of Global Digital banking at Mobiquity, about the company’s recent Interactive Digital Banking Features Radar report and what banks and financial institutions should be focusing on the most in this age of online, digital-first banking. 

“The bar is continuously raising, everybody is looking out for competition and that’s how it starts. You look at what the competition has so you know the necessities of your region – and if that continuously changes, of course, you need to invest.” 

Considering the tectonic digital transition occurring in the industry, FI’s are scrambling to offer modern customers personalized products and services to get ahead of their contemporaries. For Van De Venn, this represents a great shift to customer-centricity in the banking sector – banks are not unique and cannot attract new clients through legacy alone. 

“We say to our clients, you’re very special but you’re not that different, so leverage the fact that the foundational scope that everybody has – try not to spend too much of the budget on that – but spend it on the 20% that you can differentiate,” said Van De Venn. 

The most damning statistics to come out of the report reveal that almost 80% of daily banking functionalities provided by banks to customers are similar. This trend indicates that banks are just starting to embrace digital banking, but are not going far enough in being full-fledged disruptors. 

“N26 used VR because you could pick different colours for your card, so you can use your app and VR to see your card on your desk before you order it,” explains Van De Venn. “They’re saying – hey we are using new technologies, we are a neobank, so every new technology, we will experiment with it and bring it to our app.” 

What has become the standard for digital banking has often emerged from the creative work done by fintechs and neobanks. The further push in innovation does not mean banks and FIs need to offer as many differentiating features as they can – a banking app does not need to be all things to all people – but they should offer robust products which they know their customers need. 

For Mobiquity, there are three key pillars to building a successful digital solution; Customer Experience Strategy, Digital Products & Services and Digital Branding & Marketing. Whether it be multiple modes of customer service, or an instant and straightforward security process, ‘musts’ come first and customer retention is guaranteed by being able to deliver efficiently on those essentials. Once the core human needs have been established, the product builds itself.