The financial services sector has a huge opportunity to better understand each applicant and customer today. The rise of data, and requisite analytical and technological power, provide new sophisticated opportunities to understand each person – and identify the risks posed to them based on their circumstances. New data, for example Rental data, offers an asset to understand the large proposition of society who today rent versus buy. In addition, bank account transaction data (open banking) brings behavioural trends into the forefront. Team this with valuable insight from economic forecasts and you can better predict, and better decide on the most appropriate products and services for everyone.
New services such as the opportunity to offer personal finance management tools to consumers can help them regain control. For example, by bringing in short term savings data and longer term assets such as pension funds alongside income and outgoings, the consumer themselves can better understand where change is advantageous and decide upon steps they can make. Research we commissioned across our consumer panel, shows how this is a universal need across all demographic segments. Every respondent we interviewed (of 2,000 UK consumers), stated their dissatisfaction with their current choice of financial products – particularly current accounts and loans. They also state how their efforts are focussed into being more financially secure, and a widespread desire to have more certainty over their finances, including their near term and longer term financial futures.
Allowing people to go to one place to view everything to do with their money, would also make good business sense; as customers become more engaged, they tend to save and invest more. It also delivers the much-needed value exchange between a business and a customer.
“Today’s opportunity is everyone. Whether that be those applying for credit, or those who are maintaining their everyday lives. From credit consumption to pensions and savings, there is an opportunity to maximise the power of data to power new opportunities that transform lives “
Today it is a behavioural divide, not a generational one
Today it is not so much about a generational divide, but a behavioural one. Society are changing in habits. Segmenting of customers is still powerful, but the advent of new levels of sophistication across analytical capability, such as being able to understand segments of wealth, or vulnerability, offer advanced insight that makes decisions much more accurate and inclusive. More importantly, the opportunity to understand an individual’s actual behaviours and tailor services based on them. Finally, today there is the opportunity to identify the comfort levels of a person’s affordability, as well as reduce the time taken to offer, and remove the need to manually underwrite completely.
In short, there is an opportunity today – brought by partnering with the right organisation – that can provide systemic change for everyone.
Data has the power to transform lives. Advanced analytics has the power to make the complex simple. Together, these can address the biggest social challenges, address the savings and protections gaps, make people’s money go further.
