If you have ever pondered what key elements make up a successful digital banking transformation, then stop what you’re doing right now and pay attention. We stumbled across the holy digital grail, and we’re more than happy to share our findings with you!
Before proceeding any further, it’s important you have an idea who Jim Marous is. Jim is the owner and CEO of the Digital Banking Report. He also happens to be an accomplished author—supplying his knowledge and profound learnings on all matters related to digital banking. Recently, he and his team produced the 2020 Digital Lending and Account Opening Review. Within the Review, Marous proclaims, “The key to successful digital banking transformation will be the ability to support transactions and engagement seamlessly, across platforms, with the fewest number of steps. Ease of use is the new digital differentiator.”
Marous’ statement ought to resonate profoundly with financial institutions everywhere. An over-arching problem many financial institutions are facing today is outdated manual processes, which will no longer support modern digital lending. In order to remain competitive, it’s important to realize digital lending and account opening transformation needs to happen as soon as possible. Legacy banking organizations must replicate what non-traditional fintech lenders have been able to do for years. This may require internal innovation, partnering with fintech firms, and/or purchasing the proper capabilities.
Advanced Digital Lending & Account Opening Functionality
Performing a deeper dive into the 2020 Review, we learn advanced digital functionality increased substantially in 2020, with twelve notorious items rising to the top. Because of the early COVID shutdown, eSignatures and eDocuments easily lead the way to the top spots. Let’s look at the complete list of all twelve items that help streamline the digital process:
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- eSignature
- Digital document uploads
- Online chat
- Integrated cross selling
- Under one-minute decisioning
- OCR prefill
- Auto-funding (disbursement)
- Auto-booking
- GPS location
- Profile from social media
- eNotary
- Profile from mobile address book
In a separate Q&A session, we learned having universal application functionality also ranks favorably high for FI’s and their customers. Over 70% of respondents stated that they either had (or were adding) this feature within 24 months to make it easier for members/customer to apply for any type of loan or open an account digitally.
One particular item of importance on the list—placed squarely in the middle—is information pre-fill (in any form). This practice is a standard in the digital marketplace, especially with companies like Amazon and PayPal. The Review points out that your members or customers don’t need to be completing long forms; rather, they simply need to be able to verify the information that an FI provides in the pre-fill.
With regard to the twelve items listed above, we can go on and on. However, we’re offering a complimentary download of the 2020 Digital Lending and Account Opening Review to members of the financial community. This way you can get a first-hand experience on everything The Review provides, including ways you can better prepare to address eSignatures, digital document uploads, online chat, integrated cross selling, and more! You’ll also gain access to the following:
- Feedback on 29 key questions, covering a spectrum of vital issues for digital account opening and lending based on survey responses from over 400 credit unions and banks.
- A comparison of answers from 2019 survey participants to those given in 2020 to highlight key trends and strategy changes. It also includes insightful articles that complement the research.
The Review publication normally lists for $495 on the Digital Banking Report website. However, as this year’s sponsor of the publication, MeridianLink is distributing free copies of the ‘Review’ for a limited time. To request your complimentary copy, a financial institution representative must complete the form via this link, or by utilizing the following URL: https://www.meridianlink.com/lp/digital-lending-review
Also, be sure to mark your calendars! MeridianLink is also offering a free webinar highlighting ways you can enhance your digital experience. It all begins on November 4, 2020. “Take Your Digital Experience to a Whole New Level” features a variety of optional products and services any FI can add into their digital strategy to enhance the lending and account opening process. Application Portal, MeridianLink’s digital gateway solution will be used to demo the various solutions which include auto-funding personal loans and credit cards, co-browsing video chat support and creating a custom URL for your application. To register, use this link or copy/paste the following link into your favorite browser: https://www.meridianlink.com/webinars/lp-2020-4q-mlwebinars
