In Europe, interactions between banks and retail customers are increasingly shifting towards direct channels. Between 2000 and 2010 contacts through branches decreased from 70% to 30% of the total, those through telephone channels increased from 5% to 12% and those through digital channels from 4% to 28%. According to some analyses, in 2015 the number of interactions made at the counter could drop to 5% of the total, while the set of contacts via telephone and digitally could reach 68% of the total.
In Italy, among the direct channels through which banks offer services to their customers, internet banking is the most widespread, with over 18 million "enabled" accounts and 12 million active accounts. The app and mobile site platforms alone, at the beginning of 2012, had over 2 million active mobile banking users on smartphones in Italy, a value three times that of the previous year. However, mobile banking in Italy is less widespread than in other countries: 22% of Italians use mobile banking services, compared to 51% of Chinese, 42% of Koreans, 38% of Americans, 33% of Russians, 28% of Brazilians and British.
In terms of services offered, in addition to activities of a dispositional and informative nature, banks make other services available to their customers to an increasing extent. 93% of Italian banks allow their customers to request checkbooks, followed by the possibility of applying for prepaid cards (77%), traditional credit cards (77%) and other loans (75%); the possibility of online sales of non-banking products is less widespread (50%).
The importance of developing mobile banking arises from the current trends in the mobile sector. By 2015, more smartphones than PCs are expected on the market and over the same time horizon, a prevalence of internet navigation on the move is expected over those from PCs. The significant transformation in the relationship between bank and retail customer requires financial institutions to adapt their organizational model to efficiently integrate operations on digital channels with traditional ones.
Attachments: Focus no. 21 – 10 June 2013.pdf
