Banking
PEOPLE TIME: THE HIDDEN BENEFIT TO DIGITAL BANKING
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on January 6, 2015
3 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on January 6, 2015
3 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
By John Davis, MD of BCSG
Digital is a hot topic in financial services right now. Every bank that we’ve talked to across Europe, North America and Australia is passionate about the idea of moving online. And this resonates with what key thought leaders have noted too, as we’ve seen in McKinsey’s recent report ‘The rise of the digital bank’, for example.
In our experience, nearly every bank views the journey towards digitization in a similar way. Reviewing how other industries have done it, like travel, then making every customer transaction available online. In the case of banks, that might be mortgage calculators, application forms, product comparisons tools and so on. Typically, we then see one of two things happening:
It’s therefore refreshing to see the McKinsey report bring valuable focus and pragmatism to this topical area. In response to the problems we’ve seen above, the report suggests that banks do the following:
John Davis
For me, however, the most interesting point in McKinsey’s piece is around making the most of the time that’s freed up for frontline staff, after customer activity has been taken online. We see small business owners crying out for the guidance, support and tools they need to run their businesses more efficiently and effectively. The extra time staff will gain could be used to address these needs and make solutions a reality rather than an unrealised promise.
And don’t be under any illusion that banks aren’t aware of this fact. In a conversation with a Small Business banking MD of one such enterprise, I discovered that he’s actively adding up the time that frontline staff will have (and how it can be used), once online account opening is delivered.
That’s what is so exciting about digitalisation. It’s the chance to improve the quality and breadth of services offered to small business customers, both through offline and digital channels.
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