Starlord: WHERE is NEO BANK? Iron Man: I will do you one better, WHAT is NEO BANK? Drax: I will do you one better: WHY is NEO BANK?
Let’s begin with the obvious.
With everything going digital, people are relying more and more on technology and applications on their phones to get their daily errands done. Simplicity of use is one of the USPs every company is putting dibs on. With that being established, getting anything done today requires a money transaction, and thanks to UPI, Indians are rejoicing with the freedom to go fully digital without worrying about carrying enough cash, carrying and swiping their debit cards, finding an ATM machine for places that don’t accept cards, and the likes.
Now, with this heavy dependency on multiple well designed digital products (along with UPI apps)–for food, intracity courier, splitting bills, booking commute, stocks and so on–it is only normal to expect similar reliance on our banking apps for handling our money. Ah! but wait, that is the breeding ground of all digital pain.
And we don’t want pain, we want Importance. Always.
We as consumers are so used to companies fighting for us and giving us mind-blowing options with cutting-edge experiences by investing in design and tech for almost everything we do daily; that opening and interacting with any traditional bank’s phone banking app is like suddenly getting a big blow in the face. Suddenly, we don’t feel important and cared enough for. Suddenly interaction/ user experience is not the priority. In fact, our numerous complaints on google play store, app store, Reddit, Quora, Facebook, and several other user forums are not feared by any bank. They just couldn’t care less.
WHY GOD WHY?
And this makes me wonder, WHY? A very genuine question if you ask me!
After some digging and discussions, the conclusion comes to this: Banks have several other more important things to take care of than a phone banking app. For them, just having an app alone should be enough for the users to be thankful for, and expecting anything more than that is just them being irrational.
Well, obviously this isn’t the policy banks follow, but it sure feels like so; and after learning about their daily struggles to keep the bank with people’s money afloat, you kind of don’t want to blame them anymore.
But, having said and understood all of that, the problem still remains. And we can no longer wait for banks to someday start investing their time and resources in making seamless phone banking expereinces for us.
So, what do we do?
ENTER - NEO BANKS. Our new super hero.
Neo banks are specifically designed to be customer centered. They provide one of the most seamless and delightful processes of opening a bank account within minutes. Our tech savvy crowd that is so habituated to delightful user experience no longer has to deal with dreadful experiences of seemingly never-ending processes of opening and operating a traditional bank account.
The Kryptonite
Super indeed, but even neo banks have thier own ‘Kryptonite’. First, these 100% digital banks are not fully regulated by RBI (yet). They need to be associated with an existing traditional bank to function. For example, Jupiter is associated with Federal Bank, Fi Money with ICICI Bank, and FamPay with IDFC Bank.
Second; because neo banks are not 100% regulated like traditional banks, services apart from saving and handling money are not an option. You can open your account, save your money and even use it to transact, but you cannot apply for a loan, invest in mutual funds, get insurance, line of credit, etc. However, some neo banks are now entering the insurance and mutual funds space, and maybe in the future RBI might even allow them to operate 100% independently just like any other bank today. Just maybe!
So, what does the future look like?
That's Neo Banks talking
If there is anything I have learned about the world in the past couple of years, is that there is no certainty of anything. Even the most exceptional inventions fail to succeed or out live the test of time. Genius is just one ingredient in the success recipe. There are too many variables involved that determine the future of anything. However, despite the law of uncertainty, going by our past banking experiences, seeing the growth in the use of digital products in our daily lives, and examining the current response to neo banks, it is probably safe to say that this new contemporary banking model is here to stay.
So, if you ask me ‘Why do Neo Banks exist?'. My answer (as a designer) would boil down to one word: Experience.
P.S. Now I am not saying that business growth, tapping the untapped market of users, and several other legitimate reasons for the existence of neo banks don’t exist, they do, of course; but well, from the POV of an experience designer, this was my take on neo banks.
The End.
Comments