i2c President Says Banks Have Reset Their Go-to-Market Strategies

Jacqueline White, president of i2c, told PYMNTS in an interview that financial services have undergone a seismic shift in recent years.

When the pandemic hit, banks of all sizes were already on a trajectory toward modernization and their own respective digital transformations, she said. Those initiatives were greatly accelerated through the past few years as we all got used to living more online.

In answering the PYMNTS question “What is a bank,” part of a series of interviews, White said: “What’s happened now is that everyone expects a personalized and seamless experience.”

Banking clients want their money and their account data quickly, accessible across any device — and even to pay mortgages and home loans, which are complex transactions, she said. Against that backdrop, banks have had to re-examine their go-to-market strategies.

Brick-and-Mortar Still Has a Place

None of this is to say that the brick-and-mortar setting is moribund or on its way out. There will always be a need for branches, as some customers simply prefer them, White said. They like face-to-face interactions, especially when significant transactions or loans are under discussion, or individuals want guidance on investments or resolution of disputes, or they need details on how to save for college or retirement.

Although we’re all enamored with using mobile devices, the fact remains that credit and debit cards, and even cash, are going to be key payment modalities that will be around for a long time to come.

Data and Open Banking

With the amount of data that is on hand across digital and physical channels, banks can create a personalized experience that engages with customers no matter where or when they might be interacting with their financial institution, White said.

The high-touch approach — in the branch setting, too — can pay dividends, helping spur customers to use their banks’ products and services more often, she said.

Joint research between i2c and PYMNTS Intelligence, for example, revealed that 8 in 10 consumers are interested in finding out more about, and using, the rewards programs that come attached to their credit cards. They also place value on being educated by banking employees.

The same data that banks have on hand in real time can help them be proactive with their clients, reaching out in ways that, with the aid of artificial intelligence and machine learning, can help make sure members do not overdraw their accounts. Advanced technologies are also proving essential in the never-ending battle against fraudsters.

Looking ahead at the future of open banking in the United States, White contended that Europe has led the way in showing how banks and FinTechs can collaborate to forge innovations with consumer-permissioned data. New regulations on data privacy and sharing will ensure that traditional financial institutions and digital-only upstarts will work well together within the confines of evolving frameworks, she said.

“Banking used to be about a place we went,” she told PYMNTS, “and now it’s become a thing we do.”