The future of video banking
The pandemic-powered boost to video banking applications will likely have legs, many feel. Two-way video is seen as a complement to text chat and chatbots. It fills a need for a convenient 'branchless' option for complex, high-touch interactions where visual human contact is helpful.
The pandemic sharply increased the number of video banking interactions among financial institutions with the technology in place.
Before the outbreak, a handful of banks and credit unions were running a video banking platform. But after Covid-19 shuttered branches and choked off in-person visits, financial institutions around the world were desperate for digital alternatives to replace in-person interactions.
Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, says the massive shift from brick-and-mortar to digital banking channels will help spur more widespread adoption of video banking platforms.
“The way branches are used has changed dramatically in the last decade, that will continue to change in the next decade,” McBride notes. “Fewer and fewer transactions are taking place in the branch. Video makes it possible for the bank to go to the customer instead of requiring customers to travel to a branch.”
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