How I want my bank to use technology
I have recently been looking for a bank or multiple institutes that work together such that handling money is seemless for then on-tech savvy individual (the common man, if I am allowed to use this term), rather than make it feel complex and with resistance built into the workflows.
Here are my thoughts on what I would like to see. Please comment if you agree or otherwise.
I want my bank to accept one document for identifying me. Be it Aadhaar, PAN, or any other that works. Make it quick and brief. Don’t make me give you the same set of documents every year. If I make changes in the details on the document, just take it from there instead of asking me to go to every company and doing the same.
Once I have signed up, my bank, as the times show, pushes me to use Internet banking or Mobile banking.
I want the app to be secure. But I also want it to be seemless. When I log in from my latest generation flag ship smart phone, allow me to use the fingerprint reader to authenticate, rather than asking for a password. Make it a breeze for me to come in to the app, and get out of it.
Specially for mobile apps, even if I have to set the password, integrate with password managers (like LastPass, 1Password), so that I can have secure ones rather than the frequently used ones, so that I can remember it. We should use our brain space to remember things that matter in our lives, and not some passwords for some sites.
When I go to the ATM to draw cash, for which there is no need, instead of asking me for a pre configured PIN, send me an OTP, or better still, if I have the app installed, send me a number that I can read and enter. You know something even better, show me a QR code on the ATM that I can read from my fingerprint enabled mobile app, that I can read to confirm that it’s me and just vend the money. Isn’t that more secure than remembering a preconfigured 4 digit number that no one changes, or has one of the few popular numbers in their lives configured there, easy to guess.
The QR code or the App based number as a password is a good thing even for the netbanking to do.
Better still, just prompt me, “Do you want to allow this transaction“, and ask me to validate using the security on my phone.
When I want to invest money, the MF that I want to invest in, should take the money using netbanking. And when I redeem, just bring it back to the same place. Use the same document I submitted to the bank so that when I change address on it, they get all of them too.
MF should allow me to change bank details online instead of having to send multiple documents in paper form. If you really want to just validate by accepting a blank cancelled cheque, why not take a photo from the phone using your app. Will paper be faster and cheaper than that ?
My demat should be seemlessly integrated with my bank account, so that any transactions should show up there, and any sale be auto credited. My trading account should not require me to transfer fund anywhere.
My bank account and my credit card should be all the wallets I need to keep funds in. I should be able to send money to a friend, or request for money using a given method that is like an email address, not the 40 different digits that I need to copy and type today, where it is so easy to make a mistake. My bank app should enable me to make all kinds of payments, rather than having different wallet apps. After the request for payment is received, I should be able to pay using whatever mode The person requesting the money should not have to know where to request from, upfront. All e-commerce portals should be able to request money using that platform. And so should all the bills i need to pay. If it shows up in one place, I will remember to pay.
All of these modes should enable me working with multiple banks, credit cards and other institutions that I don’t know of.
If you know of any set of companies that work seamlessly, do send me information, on the private channel, since we don’t want to end up advertising for them without being paid for it.
