Anne Boden's Starling Bank Is at the Centre of a Revolution
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www.retailbankerinternational.com Issue 751 / July 2018 EYE OF THE STORM ANNE BODEN’S STARLING BANK IS AT THE CENTRE OF A REVOLUTION FEATURE INSIGHT FEATURE KBC Bank on striking Optimising the onboarding How the industry’s big a balance between the process is crucial to the hitters stack up on Twitter, physical and digital worlds customer experience Facebook and Instagram RBI 751 July 2018.indd 1 23/07/2018 14:38:30 contents this month COVER STORY NEWS 05 / EDITOR’S LETTER 07 18 / DIGEST • Scotiabank Arena: new name in record- breaking deal • Biometrics set to boom: 1 in 4 online sales will require further security next year • Nationwide launches new fintech fund • Revolut reaches 1 million UK customers • Oracle selects Brussels for fintech HQ • Santander strengthens multi-channel offering with Finacle • TBC confirms Space Digital bank launch • Monzo and Transferwise team up • European interest in cryptocurrency set to double STARLING BANK 21 / ANALYSIS • RBC, WestJet to form loyalty platform Ampli, RBC to cut branch square footage 21 Editor: Group Editorial Director: Head of Subscriptions: Douglas Blakey Ana Gyorkos Alex Aubrey +44 (0)20 7406 6523 +44 (0)20 7406 6707 +44 (0)20 3096 2603 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Senior Reporter: Sub-editor: Director of Events: Patrick Brusnahan Nick Midgley Ray Giddings +44 (0)20 7406 6526 +44 (0)161 359 5829 +44 (0)20 3096 2585 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Junior Reporter: Publishing Assistant: Briony Richter Mishelle Thurai +44 (0)20 7406 6701 +44 (0)20 7406 8633 [email protected] [email protected] Customer Services: +44 (0)20 3096 2603 or +44 (0)20 3096 2636, [email protected] Financial News Publishing, 2012. 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London Office: John Carpenter House, John Carpenter Street, London, EC4Y 0AN Asia Office: 1 Finlayson Green, #09-01, Singapore 049246 Tel: +65 6383 4688, Fax: +65 6383 5433 Email: [email protected] follow RBI on twitter @retailbanker 2 | July 2018 | Retail Banker International RBI 751 July 2018.indd 2 23/07/2018 14:38:44 contents july 2018 DISTRIBUTION 08 10 / OMAN ARAB BANK UK design agency I-AM has overhauled the customer experience at the 65-branch network of OAB, writes Douglas Blakey. The result is a reduction in waiting times, and a boost in customer use of digital services 10 FEATURES INDUSTRY INSIGHT 06 / STARLING BANK 12 / SOCIAL MEDIA 11 / DEALFLO Starling Bank founder and CEO Anne Boden Social media presence is a necessity for any Optimising the onboarding process is is at the centre of the banking revolution. She institution in any sector, but in an industry crucial if banks are to offer a great customer tells Briony Richter about Starling, why she as tightly regulated as financial services, how experience. As Abe Smith argues, innovative decided to go it alone, and the need to improve ‘social’ can you become? Patrick Brusnahan use of the latest biometric technologies gender equality in the financial sector ranks businesses and assesses their strategies benefits both customers and banks alike 08 / KBC BANK 16 / CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE 22 / PAYU Technology is rewriting the rules of interaction Client service is of utmost importance in any India-based fintechs will transform cross- in the financial industry. Aidan Power, director sector, expecially the financial sector. The border payments, argues PayU CCO of customer, brand and marketing at KBC Asia-Pacific region is a developing market with Matthias Setzer. Get the technology right Bank Ireland, speaks to Briony Richter about plenty of potential to gain customers, but how and there is huge potential to solve the balancing the physical and digital worlds do you keep them? Patrick Brusnahan writes challenges currently facing merchants 12 22 www.retailbankerinternational.com | 3 RBI 751 July 2018.indd 3 23/07/2018 14:38:49 Simple, secure and effortless digital solutions for fi nancial services organisations To fi nd out more please visit: www.intelligentenvironments.com @IntelEnviro Intelligent Environments provides fi nancial service organisations with the ability to transform their digital customer experience. We do this through Interact®, our powerful software platform, whose pre-built components enable our clients to deliver customised solutions to market quickly. By integrating into any core banking system and Fintech ecosystem, we bring together the functionality to improve the customer experience, accelerate growth, optimise costs and manage risk. We are the chosen partner to four of the UK’s fi ve largest banks and have deployed Interact in 28 countries. We were recognised as one of the world’s “most signifi cant providers” in the Q3 2017 Forrester Wave for Digital Banking Engagement Platforms, offering “a well-defi ned Digital Banking Platform that supports Corporate Banking, Private Banking and excels in Retail Banking.” Intelligent Environments is privately owned and has more than 130 employees. Our head offi ce is set on the riverside in London with further offi ces in Belfast, Frankfurt, Dubai & Brisbane. IE Adverts - 2018.indd 1 07/02/2018 10:41:07 editor’s letter Which banks truly deserve to be described as innovative? Douglas Blakey, Editor ick a bank – any bank, incumbent or challenger, Similar comments apply to KBC’s Irish unit, which is also mature market or emerging – and sure as night featured in this issue. P follows day it will claim to be ‘innovative’. RBC also deserves a mention, and if anyone is in any Back home in Scotland the other day, this writer was doubt as to why it merits a plug, next month’s issue of RBI asked by some Scots lawyer pals: “So which banks truly will provide footnotes and interviews with a number of deserve to be regarded as innovative?” its senior management, arising from a recent visit by the Is it, they asked, a little like a number of corporate writer to Canada. clients they had in mind and diversity: the more they In the Middle East, it is hard to look beyond Emirates mention diversity in their annual reports, the more NBD; the award of RBI Banker of the Year to Suvo Sarkar likely it might be that people will be kidded and conned was one of the easier calls the RBI judging panel made into thinking that they truly embrace race and gender this year. In the Nordic region, it is equally hard to look equality? beyond Nordea, and it was pleasing to see its investment By that measure, few will be kidded by banks’ annual already paying off in July with a strong set of second- reports. The word ‘innovation’ attracts 54 mentions in quarter results – well ahead of analyst forecasts. the RBS annual report; by contrast, unarguably more- Others banks I mentioned to my legal friends, but that innovative peers Chase, RBC and DBS use the word they did not know, included Idea Bank, Number 26 and ‘innovation’ a mere 16, 18 and 27 times respectively in mBank. their annual reports. There are many others that I, no doubt, ought to have Put on the spot by a ferocious Edinburgh court cross- mentioned, but from a slightly parochial point of view, examiner, the writer was obliged to come up with 10 having regard to the global picture, one argument can banks that he might have heard of with innovation at the safely be made: Europe is leading the way. heart of their DNA. While there is much innovation in the US, Singapore, It is not as easy a task as one might think. DBS is Australia, China, Hong Kong et al, Europe is way ahead an easy first pick; no one to have had the pleasure of of the field in terms of banks’ willingness to partner spending time with the bank’s head of innovation, Neal with fintechs, regulatory pressure from the EU and local Cross, is likely to take issue with that. regulators, and the overall level of European fintech DBS hosts the world’s largest banking API platform investments. with 155 APIs at launch across more than 20 categories such as funds transfers, rewards, PayLah! and real-time Link’s U-Turn payments. It is generally a good idea not to fall foul of the UK BBVA is another easy one, with its API Market offering Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee (TSC). Link has a range of APIs that provide access to data for accounts, been under not just regulatory pressure from the Payment cards, loans, and notifications. It also includes an API that Systems Regulator, but under political pressure not to connects to China’s Alipay, reduce the UK’s free-to-use ATM network. Not everyone will agree with my third choice, Chase, Just as the TSC was not going to accept the UK but check out CEO Jamie Dimon’s comments on the bank’s enthusiasm to axe cheques a few years back, TSC bank’s $10bn tech investment. Better still, have a glance members had Link in its sights when it proposed to slash at Chase’s key digital metrics, such as 31.65 million active the fees paid by banks to cash machine operators.