Month: April 2020

As the impact of COVID-19 has accelerated, banks and credit unions have been encouraging people to use alternative options outside of going into their local branch. Since mid-March, most financial institutions have been consistently providing information and educating customers through remote channels. Many have also increased their remote support options to help with day-to-day banking transactions and offering fee waivers and, in some cases, deferred payments for credit cards, mortgages and auto loans.

In addition to this accelerated digital adaptation, financial institutions have quickly adapted to a new reality of many employees working from home, which will inevitability lead to branch network consolidation.

To this point, the primary focus of banks and credit unions has been on ensuring that immediate client needs have been addressed. As these fundamental needs are met, institutions will need to help customers understand these new trends in banking.

As COVID-19 impacts the global economy and infiltrates every business across every industry, financial services companies present some of the most unique challenges. The banking industry must now adapt to a remote employee and consumer base, pushing the role of ‘banker’ into a purely digital experience. This extreme experience has given several insights on how consumers interact with banks, and what banks need to be doing in order to help customers during this time of remote living.

The biggest issue is that people will not have access to financial service branches. Banks should begin to operate under the assumption that there will be no branches open, and customers may be sequestered for an extended period of time — a wakeup call for why banks need to be digitally enabled.