Read the passage given below and then answer the questions given below the passage. Some words may be highlighted for your attention. Read carefully.

When compared to most other fields and specialisations, banks were needed to adopt disruptive technologies from very early days to match customer expectations, given their mandate to ensure unparalleled efficiency and service standards at all times — as well as deliver a highly relevant customer experience.

Banks were traditionally created solely to support the financial needs of individuals and businesses. This meant that most banking operations such as providing finance, credit or debit cards, and insurance/Takaful services among others, were conducted through face-to-face interactions at a branch closest to the customer.

However, this one-on-one interface has since changed dramatically with banks introducing new channels and touch points following the emergence of new technology to meet the evolving demands of today’s customers. According to the EY Gulf Cooperation Council Digital Banking Report 2015, customer expectations have also risen significantly — with three out of four customers in the GCC region ready to switch banks for a better digital experience.

Just five to 10 years ago, it would have been commonplace to visit your bank’s branch to check your monthly balance, transfer funds through a money order or even to make out payments via cheques. While several of these services have virtually disappeared today, others have gone digital.Core banking systems and digitisation of all important services are critical requirements for banks to provide innovative services today. Digitisation has swept across not only the operational systems of the bank or customer services, but also the central platform that shapes new capabilities and services.

Disruptive Technology 

Following the global financial crisis of 2008, banking practices in the UAE went through a phase of significant advancement. Financial institutions began to engage retail customers with next-generation offers and services. Banks vied with one another to create an environment that offered customers multiple interaction-points such as the branch, the ATM and the mobile banking app. Today, the customer expects various functions to be done remotely — with requests for account statements, fund transfers and investments only a few clicks away.The onset of the World Wide Web over two decades ago truly revolutionised the banking sector and financial institutions to think out-of-the-box in meeting their customers’ needs. This led many banks to invest extensively in internet services and provide a second layer of services over and above those offered at branches.

According to recent surveys on New-Age banking behaviour, today’s sophisticated clients prefer to maintain multi-platform interactions with their banks. They visit a branch occasionally, pay bills online, more often preferring to deposit cheques via mobile phones, or use web-chat or videoconferencing to receive home financing advice.Another innovation that has transformed the traditional banking landscape is the ‘smart’ phone. According to Gemalto, an international digital security company, mobile banking users in the Middle East and Africa will exceed 80 million by 2017. Consumers today enjoy 24-hour access to ICE (information, communication and entertainment) through their smart phones. For banks, as is the case with all services sectors — the writing is on the wall. One device has slowly enabled and empowered customers in carrying out their life and work responsibilities, without leaving their doorstep. Can banking then afford to be left behind?

The Impact of Mobile Banking

Mobile banking is now part and parcel of the core banking strategy of most financial institutions and is no longer considered an alternative channel. Today almost 97 per cent of mobile phone users in the UAE own smart devices. The extraordinary level of smartphone penetration has ensured that more and more customers in the UAE conduct their everyday banking transactions via their phones. According to the Digital Banking Adoption in MENA 2016 survey by Arabnet — that plotted users from all over the GCC region — Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt showed the highest rates of adoption of digital banking platforms, at 60 per cent, 52 per cent and 46 per cent respectively.

Industry reports also suggest that a large number of people now prefer to pay their bills via mobile apps. The UAE attracts a large talent pool from across the globe — young, digitally-connected citizens whose spending, banking and investment habits have undergone a paradigm shift. This generation uses smartphones to book nearly everything — from taxis to hotel rooms to foreign holidays.

At fully automated branches, customers can initiate a video chat with their bank’s call centre agents through a virtual teller machine. Some banks have developed a social media branch that lets customer check their accounts, pay their utility bills and transfer money between current bank accounts. Webchat services now allow customers to chat with agents and get their queries resolved in real-time. Other facilities such as video-based interactive teller machines, mobile queuing ticket systems for branch visits, and scanning of cheques via phones — are some of the smart ways that banks currently offer a seamless and convenient experience to customers.

Today’s young, affluent customers are not only looking for smart banking services, but rather for ethical investment products that will go a long way in ensuring returns as well as contribute to the holistic development of the community at large. In this aspect, modern Islamic banks have an advantage over traditional institutions — as they combine innovative Shari’a-compliant products with the convenience of banking operations in an ultra-digital era. As with every other service and sector today, the rapid advances of technology are set to leapfrog banking into yet uncharted domains in the imminent future. Being early adopters of disruptive technology will go a long way to ensuring that banks seamlessly manage this change and stay relevant and efficient in this exciting new phase of development.

Q:

Where are you most likely to find this article?

• 1
  An economics magazine
• 2
  A technology magazine
• 3
  A technology journal
• 4
  A science journal
• 5
  Either 1 or 2