On International Youth Day, Gift the Young Better Banking

September 19, 2022

Supriya Sridhar Sathnur

ON INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY, GIFT THE YOUNG BETTER BANKING

The U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are aimed at spreading inclusive prosperity in every country in the world, without harming the planet. They envisage change across a broad spectrum of indicators, ranging from health, education, and employment to social welfare and climate change. Youth have a major role to play in creating this future, particularly in combating social problems such as ageism, a message that was reinforced during the International Youth Day celebrations last month.

CATCH ‘EM YOUNG

With 1.2 billion people between the ages of 15 to 24, the youth already make up about one-sixth (16 percent) of the global population. They will continue to grow in number to touch 1.3 billion by the end of this decade. As young people progressively enter the workforce, banks should endeavour to bring them within the ambit of formal financial services early in their careers. Unfortunately, despite efforts, nearly half of the people in the 15-24 age group worldwide are still underbanked.

For banks, the challenge is bigger than merely expanding reach; it is about meeting the high expectations of the most informed, connected, and demanding customers in history. These customers are overwhelmingly digital-first, doing everything from shopping and meeting people to researching products and finding information, online.

CATCH ‘EM YOUNG

Banking cannot be an exception. Not just that, as a secondary service, it needs to be so seamlessly embedded within the digital lives of youth as to be almost invisible. This generation also needs support and guidance in making the right financial decisions, be it setting up the right goals at the right time or having the right means to achieve these goals available in digital engagements.

Banks can plan the role of a trustedadvisor in enabling the customers to achieve their goals, removing friction points in their digital engagements, and empowering their staff /relationship managers with insights into the customer’s history and preferences.
Overall, banks need to provide seamless omnichannel convenience, availability, speed, and transparency to be able to be trusted partners to this segment.

FINACLE HELPS THE YOUNG BANK BETTER

Infosys Finacle realizes this and is innovating a host of digital banking solutions that client banks can direct at their young customers. Banks in more than a hundred countries are leveraging these solutions to build highly personalized, relevant products at scale; design seamless customer journeys on all types of channels; and provide frictionless and contextual experiences throughout the customer relationship lifecycle. A few examples are featured below:

Emirates NBD encourages savings goals: To help their millennial customers save better, Emirates NBD is using the Finacle Digital Banking Suite to offer some smart and simple savings options. Liv., its lifestyle digital bank, has a Goal Account facility that allows customers to use smart rules to set personalized savings targets, such as how much to save, at what frequency, etc.
A leading bank in the U.S. helps U.K. savers: In western markets with typically low-interest rates, building savings is a big problem. So, when a leading U.S. financial brand decided to expand into the U.K. market, it approached Finacle for help with addressing the needs of customers who were quite disillusioned with savings. Many customers had not opened a savings account because of the complexity involved.

The bank decided to introduce its digital bank to help pick up the savings market. A unique online savings account offering an attractive interest rate starting not only encouraged savers but was so transparent that they could “see” how their savings would progress over time. It was also very accessible to the young U.K. population – anyone over

CRAFTING DELIGHTFUL ENGAGEMENTS FOR YOUNG CUSTOMERS

As banks target the customers of the future, Finacle supports them with solutions enabling continuous innovation at scale, singly, or in partnership with their ecosystems. It also provides keen insights into the youth market, so banks can serve them better. The rich capabilities of Infosys Finacle position it as a great partner for banks to target various customer segments.