Six self-service banking trends to watch
Consumers’ preference for self-service continues to explode, and credit unions have responded accordingly. With nearly three million ATMs across the globe, financial institutions are leveraging the self-service channel to extend their branch footprints, enhance functionality, improve the member experience and ultimately expand financial access.
Properly prioritizing and investing in this channel will be critical for credit unions to grow and succeed. The following trends should be kept top of mind as financial institutions develop strategies and plans for the future of self-service banking.
Branches will evolve into member relationship centers.
As routine transactions continue to shift to self-service, credit unions will increasingly prioritize making the branch environment a space conducive to strengthening member relationships and effectively cross-selling relevant products and services. This will include changes in the interior design, such as more comfortable seating areas and the introduction of more gathering spots, like coffee bars. This ambience will encourage members to stay longer and engage with employees, prompting more comprehensive financial discussions, such as around borrowing and investments.
Where an ATM is located will be as important as what it can do.
The physical location of ATMs will become more important in the coming years. A convenient location can help institutions compete for affluent members in the developed world. For example, ATMs placed within locations consumers already live, work or shop are more likely to drive traffic and transactions.
Location of self-service devices is also critical to expanding financial inclusion. Incorporating ATMs into areas that lack physical branches can help the constituents of those communities access cash and other critical financial services.
ATM network management will become universally outsourced.
As technology becomes increasingly complex, more credit unions will look to outsource partial or complete management of their ATM estates to proven service networks and/or ATM utility networks. This transfers the burden of maintenance, troubleshooting, compliance and hardware/software updates to a trusted partner, boosting efficiencies, saving time and reducing costs in the long run. Expect this outsource model to resemble utilities that provide standardized ACH, credit card processing and fraud prevention services.
The integration of payments and other open banking systems will become commonplace.
As globalization of payments persists, credit unions will have to adapt to remain relevant and compete. This will require interoperability technologies to facilitate the seamless exchange of data between diverse global payment systems. Such a feat will require collaboration; a single entity cannot accomplish it alone. Although these initiatives will require some time and effort on the front end, they will ultimately help credit union increase efficiencies, expand service accessibility, ensure compliance and drive innovation.
Consumer choice will multiply.
Advancing technology will bring an influx of new self-service access options like cardless access, bridging the gap between digital and physical touchpoints to give members more choices than e...