Back to Aei4eiA's Research Snippets- Experts' Forum 2018

​Mr. Anil Thusoo

Head, Mobile distribution, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank

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Mr. Anil is currently the Head of Mobile distribution at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank where he has recently transformed the whole Mobile banking division with future customer experience in mind.

He has more than 10 years of banking experience with expertise in leading various banking divisions. 

Mr. Anil has a masters of Applied Finance from Adelaide University.  Anil is an avid photographer and traveller. He was born in Kashmir,  India and migrated to Australia in early 2000’s.

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those by the contributors alone and do not represent the views of any other organisation, the forum moderator or that of Aei4eiA.

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Customer Centricity

The Name Of The Game

Broadly speaking, banking industry like all other industries is changing and moving towards customer centricity rather than what suits the business.
  
In order to provide a fantastic and seamless experience to the customers, major changes are constantly occurring within 
a. Technology (particularly customer interaction and solutions)
b. Compliance
c. Regulation and
d. Workforce. 

A lot of trends in modern world are universal in nature. However in the Australian context, the speed at which our regulatory environment is evolving is significant. This puts pressure on both short term and long-term planning for our industry.  Another significant trend in Australia is that research shows Gen Y will form 50% of workforce within the next 3-5 years. This has mounted significant pressure on traditional banking systems, increasing the need to adapt at a very fast pace in order to be relevant to future generations. 

There are a few issues and challenges that our industry is currently grappling with- 
a. There are significant regulatory discussions and changes happening around lending standards, commission payments and certain practices.
b. Fintechs have made it easy for non-banking companies to jump into the finance market. Currently, they are targeting the easy parts around small credit facilities. This is cutting margins and putting a lot of pressure on the profitability of banks in general. It is only a matter of time before theses technology giants enter the most complex banking products and that’s when in my opinion, we might see some big finance companies fall victim to it.  

This is however a fantastic time to be a customer. Historically, there has never been so much focus on genuine customer centricity as today. Every product, service or offering is being designed to create the best customer interaction and to generate brand loyalty. This provides a variety of opportunity for customers to make an informed and beneficial decision at a place and time of their choice. That could be their home or a park, in person or through Artificial Intelligence (AI). 
 
In my opinion, we in Australia are early adaptors of change. Be it regulatory, or technology. Our industry is heavily invested in innovating or partnering with Fintech’s to look at how to provide the best experience to our consumers. Technology giants have already built a few pieces of banking infrastructure (eg. Apple pay) and they are just waiting for the most opportune time. The ball is in our court to stay ahead in this game. Any organisation that lags in agility or resists change will potentially become the first victim. Is that you?