A recent survey by analytics software firm FICO has revealed that three in five (60%) banks in Asia Pacific have yet to offer a full digital account opening process for new customers, despite recent reports that nearly 9 in 10 financial institutions in the region embarked on digital transformation. Full Digital Account Opening – Challenges The region’s changing regulations (28%) and the need to create digital know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) (21%) solutions were cited as the two key challenges for APAC banks looking to acquire new customers online. “In Asia, the identification processes used for services such as e-government, banking or telecommunications evolved independently of each other, leading to a fragmented approach with inconsistent levels of security,” said Dan McConaghy, president of FICO in Asia Pacific. “Open banking and regulations like Europe’s PSD2 are now bringing regulatory rigor to bear on the issue and forcing banks to comply to certain... [Read More]

In this series, I discussed how digital transformation is reshaping the origination processes and improving the customer experience. The previous two blogs have looked at how automated systems can be used to drive new business growth, and how it can sustain current customers by improving the customer experience. For the final installment in the series, I want to discuss how analytics can transform the offer determination and decision accuracy process. Utilizing Analytics to Streamline Offer Determination Prescriptive analytics can be used to evaluate all possible offer combinations and identify which ones will maximize target performance metrics while adhering to organizational constraints. Doing so can lead to more flexible offers for consumers and increased sales for dealers, without compromising risk or compliance standards. For example, we all know that a trip to the car dealership can be tedious and anxiety-inducing. However, auto finance providers are looking to make it easier for... [Read More]

The findings of FICO’s second annual global survey on consumers’ automotive finance experience revealed two very different consumer markets in Australia and New Zealand. The antipodes diverged this year as Australian consumers warmed to taking out more loans in the dealer channel, while New Zealanders showed a strong preference for online lending. (FICO’s independent research surveyed 2,000 adult consumers across nine countries including the US, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Spain, and the UK. Respondents were between the ages of 18-64 who acquired a loan on a new or used vehicle within the last 3 years.) Car Finance Research – Australian findings: 35 percent of Australian consumers plan to find their next auto loan at a dealer, up by 14 percent year over year. This preference demonstrated the largest and only gain over last year’s survey, with the online channel showing a 7 percent decline and visiting a... [Read More]

Here we are. My third and final post in the series on promotional deposit offers. If you’ve followed along this far, you may be saying, “Sure, that all sounds great, but it’s idealistic and pie in the sky. It can’t actually be implemented, delivered, and measured.” Realists (and skeptics) of the world unite. In this post, we’ll get detailed, real, and dive into the practitioners overarching question: “HOW?” How can anyone deliver on the vision and reap the benefits shared in our previous posts? Here’s the reality: deposit accounts reside within a “core system” that provides account features, such as balance, interest accrual, and account properties. These systems (even in modern systems) only manage accounts and cannot serve as a flexible pricing engine. So, how can banks use multiple levers to build sophisticated, intelligent pricing strategies with entrenched (and often inflexible) core systems? The answer—a price execution platform. How does... [Read More]