Memo to bank management: Make it easy for your customers or risk losing them

These days, banks are understandably focused on processes, regulations and organisational structure but they need to also pay attention to the changing needs of customers.

Competitors are providing simplified mobile-friendly interfaces that aggregate services from banks or third parties and help the bank’s customers to visualise their finances in rich, engaging ways.

In China, for example, payment options ranging from AliPay to Fenqile, a micro-loan site that literally means “happy instalments”, and Qufenqi, an electronics retailer that lets buyers pay in monthly instalments, are transforming how consumers pay for products.

Bank management needs to remember that whoever owns the interface ultimately owns the customer. Accenture research shows that globally there are millennials (ages 18-34) who don’t even have banks on their radar. The disparity between what customers want and what banks offer is increasingly apparent, as the new breed of financial players are entering the market with simple experiences that are mobile, intuitive and even fun.

That means the new battleground is about re-engaging customers.

How can management do this?

Start by changing how you think and talk about money. Accenture/Fjord research shows that people think about money in four distinct ways; they want to manage it, track it, get it and spend it. And banks need to address customers in these four simple ways too. They need to help customers manage, track, accrue and spend. They need to keep it simple.