The end of the road for internet banking

There is an ongoing debate if bank branches will survive. Yes they will! Branches will survive in response to customers’ expectation and experience. The classic bank model will be more expensive for customers to transact though; perhaps 5 free visits and the 6th will cost.

The crystal ball shows the days of internet banking are numbered. The death knell is sounded by the power of technology that is converging multiple functionalities into a single device.

A typical device will have all required functionality that are fast unifying.  WiFi is ubiquitous. The devices are affordable. The word 'smart' in smart phones devices will translate into tablet computer, contact less credit / debit cards, Audio / Video device, digital keys, identity cards, transit cards, shopping cards, travel cards etc., (etc., = stretch your imagination) and of course the phone.  The banks will innovate to keep pace with technology and provide unified experience front end that will be device agnostic. The concept of impulsive banking and financial planning  with ‘cool analysis will be the forte for banks. There will be little difference between electronic banking and mobile banking. The convergence will be ‘mobility’ banking.  The consumer preferences will shift driven by adaption to technology. This will drive the exponential growth of mobility devices.  The apps will grow alongside.

There is no business case for separate internet banking. Internet is a channel and computer is a device that helps me bank. When I can do all these on a mobility device and the experience is unified, I care little if the service I use is called electronic banking or mobility banking.  This on the other hand makes a huge difference to a bank in their IT budget and channel complexity strategy.

Let me step back a bit and talk about security in a smart device. A smart device to be really smart will have to work with bio metric security else it is much harder to control lost devices. If the chip technology merges with bio technology an intelligent chip embedded in the inside of index finger will contain multiple information pieces and a device will only be a tool. In such a scenario one can use any smart device to bank. A lost device will not have a serious impact.