{"id":1362,"date":"2022-10-26T03:03:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T03:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thinmoo.net\/?p=1362"},"modified":"2022-10-26T03:03:13","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T03:03:13","slug":"7-ways-touchless-technology-is-improving-financial-institutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thinmoo.net\/?p=1362","title":{"rendered":"7 ways touchless technology is improving financial institutions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Touchless technology enables users to complete transactions or perform actions with systems touch-free. It leverages optical and biometric sensing capabilities, enabling computer systems to receive instructions through user behaviour or physical movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Touchless technology helps improve and manage access to financial services and institutions in a number of ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Types of Touchless Technologies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Touchless Sensing<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Touch-free sensors can detect the presence or movement of a person or object. These are fairly common in people\u2019s lives. Everyone has experienced motion detectors at some point, when they walk through automatic doors at a mall, hotel, convenience store, or building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gesture Recognition<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This is perhaps the most common type of touchless technology out there. Simple gestures can help users control or interact with devices that can sense them. For instance, waving hand to deactivate a camera or open a door, or bodily movements in video gaming are examples of gesture recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voice Recognition<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Users can speak to devices to control or access them. A particularly popular application for this technology is to interact with personal digital assistants, such as Alexa, Google Home, Siri and Bixby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Facial Authentication and Recognition<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Facial recognition systems have played a huge role in helping increase automation and security at financial institutions and elsewhere. This technology improves on the premise of voice recognition to further improve touchless interaction. Only in this case, the user doesn\u2019t even need to speak. Beyond access control for workplaces, facial recognition systems have helped re-define the security and asset protection spaces. They enable everything from unlocking a phone to identity validation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Personal Digital Devices<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
In a more general sense, touchless technology implies that users don\u2019t have to touch any public surfaces, like elevator buttons, door handles, or shared screens. The advent of smartphones, tablets, and laptop computing has played a huge role in facilitating touch-free interactions, since users can avoid coming into contact with strangers and public surfaces. This was particularly significant at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when hygiene and sanitation took on added importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even prior to the emergence of COVID-19, retail banking in the U.S. was witnessing a dramatic shift in customer engagement. According to Deloitte, from the period 2010-2020, U.S. retail branch usage declined by 35% across all age groups and by nearly 50% among 18-24 year-olds. Digital interactions, on the other hand, saw a jump of 15%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital financial technology enhances remote access<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans who refrained from using digital financial services declined by as much as 30%. A number of them used online banking services for the first time. In fact, not only is digital financial technology helping improve remote access, but it\u2019s also a competitive differentiator. Deloitte surveys indicate that under-banked customers are three times as likely to open deposit accounts with digital-only financial providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Customer experience is the primary business driver in this new digital environment. Banks are trying to find ways to retain the personal touch across a virtual interface and win customers through compelling digital experiences. This goes beyond helping customers conduct simple payment transactions and take out loans. Banks are being challenged to provide transformative solutions for hitherto unaddressed issues. This includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Integrated financial management – Improved financial technology has made it possible to provide customers a seamless experience across web and mobile, giving them both an eagle-eye view of their finances, as well as granular spending insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Advanced security – Financial institutions and their data tend to be prime targets for hackers and cyber thieves. Digital technologies, like 2-factor authentication (2FA) and biometric authentication can help improve customer protection and account access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Financial goal-setting – By enabling goal-based segmentation of finances across various bank products, providers can empower their customers to achieve personal financial objectives. Improved technology tools, including AI financial coaches, virtual education, and customisable products and services can help deliver this facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Access Control<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Banks and other financial institutions often need heightened security solutions, given the nature of their business. They\u2019re sensitive environments that are visited by all manner of people, including staff, customers, service providers, and even dignitaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To fully safeguard cash and other assets stored there, they need robust, tailored access control systems that can guarantee security, while improving automation and convenience for everyone concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Facial authentication technology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Vitally, the system uses facial authentication, as opposed to facial recognition. This means it does not collect personal identifiable information and enrolled users can opt-in, knowing that they\u2019re consenting to verification rather than surveillance. It offers a host of applications for financial services spaces, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Vault and safety deposit box access<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Access to data centre and IDF\/MDF server rooms<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Employee access<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Employee time and attendance<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Visitor authentication<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Robust access control technology not only improves security for financial institutions, but also helps ensure compliance, build rapport with customers, and improve goodwill among stakeholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contactless Payments<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Contactless payments have been on the upswing for more than a decade. Nordic nations, such as Sweden were a largely cashless society, even before 2020. However, COVID-19 was a catalyst for widespread global adoption of this trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fear of the COVID-19 virus being transmitted via contaminated surfaces prompted millions of retail customers worldwide to switch to contactless financial technology for improved sanitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Mastercard survey found that contactless transactions grew twice as quickly as traditional payment options at retail checkouts in 2020. The same survey indicated that some 79% of its respondents had transitioned to contactless payments during this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contactless technologies allow users to pay for their purchases by hovering their device or card over compatible point-of-sale (PoS) terminals. No-touch PoS payment options include phone apps, wearables, and near field communications (NFC) cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NFC and RFID, key constituents of contactless payments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
NFC and its parent technology – radio-frequency identification (RFID) are key constituents of contactless payments. They are deployed via an integrated circuit chip and antenna embedded within credit cards and devices like smartphones and smartwatches. Using NFC, this chip can communicate with PoS terminals when the card or device is passed over them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This technology offers an improved financial and retail experience for consumers in many ways. It contributes to a heightened sense of well-being, by reducing contact and contamination. It can also make checkout a whole lot faster and improve the utility of personal digital devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Global tech firms leading the contactless revolution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Technology firms, such as Apple, Mastercard, Amazon, and PayPal are leading the contactless revolution. And it is a revolution. As many as 59% of global consumers now prefer contactless payment methods over cash. It\u2019s not hard to see contactless capability shifting from a nice-to-have to a must-have for financial institutions worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mobile Wallets<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Digital wallets are one of the most successful, if not the most successful, technology innovations for improved financial penetration among younger generations. Some 29% of Millennials are likely to open deposit accounts with providers offering digital-only solutions. One in 10 use mobile wallets for every purchase. They only need to look at the ubiquity of apps, such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay to realise this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital wallets<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital wallets are also a key driver of more democratic financial access among under-banked populations in developing countries. In many cases, these wallets are their first instance of participation in the banking and financial system. This is not surprising, given the propensity of fast-growing countries to \u2018skip\u2019 technologies, as with landlines, CDs and indeed, traditional financial instruments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The beauty of mobile wallets \u2014 the reason they\u2019re such an improvement in financial technology \u2014 is that they make peer-to-peer (P2P) payments fully touchless. Users can pay anyone from a friend to a creditor and a checkout cashier via their mobile phone, without having to resort to instruments like checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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