First National Bank has labelled social media banking as a passing fad but the bank has affirmed that it’s attempting to keep ahead of the technological curve.<\/p>\n
Absa recently launched ChatBanking via Twitter as part of the Barclays-owned group\u2019s drive to lead the local banking innovation space.<\/p>\n
However, FNB said that innovation for its own sake was not part of their strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t put all of your capacity to invest with things that are fads, but you must fiddle with fads. It creates the spunk \u2013 a bit of inspiration. For example: Smoke banking. We could invest in smoke banking – what is smoke banking? I don\u2019t know, but who knows what that\u2019s going to be?\u201d FNB chief executive Jacques Celliers told Fin24.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is interesting is when you look at Twitter banking, or social media banking is: Have you set yourself up right so you can respond very fast?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Core deliverables<\/strong><\/p>\n Absa has launched an Apple Watch application and a pilot biometric ATM programme in a bid to demonstrate its technological prowess.<\/p>\n Celliers said that digital banking should focus on core deliverables that make a difference to customers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you need to do is you need to figure out where you put your resources and how respond appropriately to the changing games to stay relevant to your market.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you want to do is to say: \u2018Fiddle with things, but don\u2019t let is consume you\u2019,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n FNB has 1.6 million online banking customers and two million banking application users conducting five million transactions per month.<\/p>\n The bank has also engaged in an expansion of its eBucks rewards programme where it will pay out cash rather than airtime for qualifying accounts.<\/p>\n Biometrics, Bitcoin<\/strong><\/p>\n FNB has also paid its staff R42m in prizes for customer-focused innovations since 2004.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes you don\u2019t have to be first \u2013 you can wait a bit. If it does become a real thing that builds and consumers love it, then we must be able to respond quickly,\u201d said Celliers.<\/p>\n He cited the bank\u2019s foray into account verification by biometrics as an example of innovation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on biometrics for 25 years, but it\u2019s never quite there yet, except for what home affairs has given us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo we need an ATM yet? We\u2019ve got the concepts; they\u2019re all working, but have we rolled it out infrastructure wide \u2013 we think it\u2019s not quite there yet and obviously it costs money to roll out infrastructure,\u201d Celliers added.<\/p>\n He also said that the bank was investigating Bitcoin cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n \u201cBlockchain is working, the concepts at the back are working. It\u2019s just whether you switch it on, can it run at scale. You can\u2019t consume all of you resources on all of these thousands of things.\u201d<\/p>\n Celliers said that the bank was concerned about whether consumers would have the trust appetite for new technologies and said that FNB was focused on basic issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we must do is always come back and say: How long are people standing in the branch? How long do I take to get a credit card application? Where\u2019s my statement? Do the ATMs work? Don\u2019t forget that stuff. We must watch out that we don\u2019t get caught out with a few things and then we\u2019re not real.\u201d<\/p>\n