Though Indian banks have been improving their performance in digital maturity score compared to the global average, they need to ‘rise further’ to become Digital Champions, according to Deloitte India’s survey-based report -- Digital Banking Maturity (DBM).
The survey covered 304 banks in 41 countries and judged the banks’ performance based on 1,208 digital banking functionalities spanning six customer journeys throughout the retail customer lifecycle – ranging from information gathering, account opening, customer onboarding, day-to-day banking, expanding relationships and ending relationships, if needed.
Based on the performance outcomes, the top 10% performers were recognised as Digital champions, followed by Digital smart followers, Digital adopters, and Digital latecomers.
None of the Indian banks could make it to the list of Digital champions, but they made it to the list of Digital Smart Followers and Digital Adopters.
The report says Indian banks could improve their performance in four key areas -- personal finance management, non-banking and value-added services, account aggregation, and product management – to be able to break into the league of Digital Champions.
Personal finance management: This includes features such as categorisation of transactions, spending limits by category, cash flow projections, and financial feeds. Twenty-five percent of Indian banks have apps with the goal setting functionality. This feature is also offered by 57 percent of Digital champions.
Beyond banking: This includes personalised non-banking offers and value-added services (such as offering tickets for cinema and theatre) based on customer preferences. Indian banks have enhanced their apps with additional features, such as hotel, flight, and train bookings, etc. This is an area where Indian banks can continually innovate, i.e. expand/ refine their offerings to include services such as automotive and real estate marketplaces, company registration, etc.
Ecosystem and account aggregation: This entails aggregating account information from other banks and facilitating spending aggregation across multiple accounts (subject to customer consent). Banks have acknowledged the importance of open banking in enabling the financial services ecosystem.
Account and product management: Banks may provide functionalities related to the personalisation of products and channels based on customer needs and requirements. For example, display of the carbon footprint of the account, carbon calculator, and changing overdraft limits.