Banks of the future

What is the function of the banks today?

Banks are businesses that are allowed to conduct money transactions and offer money-related services. For this purpose, a special license is required and banks are subject to special supervision.

The most important business areas of financial institutions are the deposit and lending transactions, the investment business and the processing of payment transactions.

These business areas are nowadays increasingly being transferred to the Internet. The financial crisis of 2008 as well as digitalization and ultimately the Corona pandemic are factors that have fuelled this development. Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, predicted as early as 1998: “Banking is needed, banks are not!”

Nevertheless, bank branches still possess some advantages over direct banks, such as the fact that the customer has a direct contact point and offering a superior level of service. In addition, the branch bank simply offers online banking. Also, cash deposits can be made on the spot, as well as checks and transfers can be submitted in voucher form. As a result, some banks continue to provide financial assistance to their regional offices, touting: “advice, encounter, and connection.” 

While this is certainly the case, branch banks have unattractive conditions due to rental and staff costs, and they are also tied to opening hours and thus inflexible.

What are the trends for banks of the future?

Besides experiencing digitalization challenges, the trends for banks of the future are already reflecting, which we will now introduce to you.

Fewer cash payments

There have been massive changes in payment behavior since the Corona pandemic. It shows a strong trend toward cashless payments, which is associated with a decline in cash withdrawals as well. On top of that, aggressive payment methods such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, which have nothing to do with traditional banks, are entering the market. 

The global use of smartphones is providing additional support for these mobile-friendly payment systems. As a result, traditional payment methods are increasingly fading into the background and cash is disappearing from day-to-day payment transactions at an ever-increasing rate.

Automatic process

The increasing number of customer inquiries and the banks' inability to process them quickly and efficiently have led to the creation of chatbots. Thanks to artificial intelligence, chatbots can serve customers faster and thus reduce the bank's costs. In parallel, by introducing robotic process automation, a bank can optimize a customer's onboarding process and more effectively exploit the benefits of digital sales channels. 

Such automation helps to avoid errors because the processes are better coordinated. Moreover, the financial data of the customers is better secured, as fewer departments are involved in the process.

Customer service

People tend to visit a bank branch only when they absolutely have to. Neobanks are even eliminating physical branches entirely. Digital conversion enables customers to make online digital payments at their convenience. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the traditional bank branch will remain unchanged.

A clear trend is the redesign of many banks to become more user-friendly and to keep up with digital developments. This will enable most banks to attract a larger clientele while reducing costs.

Hyper-personalization

Online banking gives the customer the opportunity to personalize and customize their entire experience. Compared to the traditional approach, hyper-personalization enables a tailored approach to each individual customer.

This is accomplished by using predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to closely monitor individual customers' data. Information such as preferred search terms, favorite content, locations, and much more is considered. Artificial intelligence provides much more profound insights into the customer's needs than any human. 

Cash transport with pneumatic tube systems

Although cash payments are becoming less frequent, there are numerous public areas such as supermarkets, banks, service stations, electronics stores, or jewelry stores where a lot of cash is handled every day. To minimize the security risk for employees and prevent cash loss, pneumatic tube systems are the process-optimized solution for cash transport.

For example, a cash pneumatic tube system can be used in a one-way operation to transport cash securely from individual checkouts to the main counter in the protected area or directly to the safe. As a result, unnecessary “cash in the drawer” risk can be avoided. In a two-way operation, pneumatic tube cash transport is an efficient method of quickly exchanging cash between the main checkout and the individual cash registers, for example by exchanging bills for small change. This saves trips and valuable time. Should you have any questions or are interested in a consultation on pneumatic tube systems, please contact us via our website. 

In the United States, pneumatic tube systems are used in drive-thru bank counters. They make it possible for one bank employee to process several customers at the same time without them having to leave their cars.