Zooming in on Open Finance platforms

Arizent’s recent analysis of The State of Digital Banking 2022 shows that legacy financial institutions aren’t equipped to compete with neobanks in the digital future. With the majority of customers championing online digital platforms, banks and financial institutions need to overcome the first hurdle of digitization. 

SMB customers value pricing transparency, efficiency and simple UX/UI digital-first banks provide compared to their current banks. These factors are important for existing banks and financial institutions to consider when upgrading outdated core banking platforms in an effort to retain business customers.  

Traditional lines of credit or loans were invented to fund business ventures and operations. The current loan process from application to approval is a typically slow function – not ideal for SMBs who need cash on hand quickly.  

Only 10% of financial institutions have a configurable digital experience that enables a mix of consumer and business functionality and the ability to create a digital experience that aligns with each target with full mobile functionality.  

Deploying a single or separate digital platform creates a disconnected experience for platform users and the potential for missed sales opportunities. Banks can host a range of advisory and lending services through Single Sign On (SSO) software to interlink different products and services into one login. This creates a more connected customer experience, providing banks the opportunity to upsell or cross-sell financial products. 

Reducing friction in the customer onboarding process will enable faster data collection, personalization of products and elevated engagement through payment initiation, deposits and more. Banks can strengthen their relationship with their business customers by unifying financial management and banking into one business banking experience. 

Fintech providers, like 9Spokes, bridge the gap between banks and small businesses. Through services similar to 9Spokes Track, banks can offer a business banking engagement platform powered by open data. Use customer business data to provide a deeper understanding of banking and cash flow with visualizations of key financial metrics and highlight important trends and patterns to alert users of ways to enhance business performance. Track provides consented access to real-time performance insights for relationship managers.