2018 will be defined by a renewed impetus to find routes to differentiation and create novel or unique customer experiences across channels.

1. Sample
10 Things Banks Should be
Doing in 2018
Insight Series Report
December 2017

2. Financial intelligence | informa2
Introduction
The digital banking agenda is relentless. Banks, irrespective of
geography, are constantly having to refine their approach to
ensure they are meeting the expectations of tech-savvy
customers and remain relevant for their customers.
At a global level, the propositions of leading brands remain
varied, in terms of breadth of functionality and quality of
experience. There is convergence in some areas, in-app
payment journeys being one, but there are clearly some
brands finding ways to differentiate their offerings.
2018 will be defined by a renewed impetus to find routes to differentiation and create novel or unique customer
experiences across channels. In Europe this impetus comes from major regulatory change in the form of PSD2, which
provides a mandate for open banking, and GDPR, which demands create control of data for customers. Banks elsewhere,
including in North America and APAC, may not see regulation driving change, but in key ways will be facing the same
crucial questions: how can we use customer data to help them be better off? How can we use APIs or AI to create
genuinely value-adding tools and services? Indeed, the future of retail banking is all about data; how its used, and how it
is controlled.
SAMPLE REPORT

3. Financial intelligence | informa3
The 10 Things: It’s Not All About Servicing…
Mapa has identified 10 crucial things banks should be doing or exploring in 2018 …to discover what they all are you will
need to access the full report.
New-to-brand Experience
1
2
3 Offer in-app applications to new
customers
Mobile App
4
5
Create payment journeys
beyond the app
6
Online Banking
7
Open Banking/using APIs
8 Retail: Offer Aggregation
9
Data & ID Management
10
SAMPLE REPORT

4. Financial intelligence | informa4
3. Offer in-app applications to new customers
In-app applications for current/checking accounts remain almost exclusively the territory of neo-banks. In part this
reflects the conventional wisdom that customers are unlikely to download an app to apply for a product and that a
good, mobile optimised journey, is adequate. However, Mapa would argue that in-app journey’s have two massive
benefits:
1) They allow for slick ID verification
2) They force the customer to engage with the app
One of the most common questions Mapa gets asked is how
do we get customer to switch to mobile and how do we make
setting-up and registering for mobile banking as easy-as-
possible?
Now there are things you can do to make setting-up mobile
easy and many brands simply issue login credentials, but
could you not do more to the customer engage with mobile
early on?
Monzo (UK), which launched its current account this year, captures
documents in app and allows customers to activate their card.
SAMPLE REPORT

5. Financial intelligence | informa5
4. Create payment journeys beyond the app
Payment journeys in banking apps have become fairly standardised, but payments are a key service for customers and it
is therefore key that banks look to enhance what they can offer in the space. This is why there has been a great deal of
movement in creating payment tools outside of main banking apps – especially in the form of keyboard integrations
(Royal Bank of Canada (CA) and ICICI (IN), shown below) and connections to Siri (right). It is Mapa’s view that the former
is more likely to take-off in the short-term as the use cases for customers are easier to identify – it puts payment services
into a channel where the customer is.
Banks should be exploring where they can
deliver payment journeys for their
customers. It is key to remember this is a
space where banks will be challenged by
big tech players, like Paypal, Apple and
Facebook. Failure to get in the channels
where customers are, could mean loosing
engagement and, potentially, revenues
from P2P and PoS payments.
SAMPLE REPORT

6. Financial intelligence | informa6
8. Retail: Account Aggregation
API powered account aggregation will have a transformative effect on banking, although it may take longer to become
commonplace than the architects of PSD2 may have hoped, and will certainly take longer to materialise in non-EU markets.
However, Mapa believes that it will become a key part of the bank of the future in any geography – it’s a question of if, not
when. The first provider to offer this kind of journey is Staring Bank (UK), that has an public API, and Yolt (UK) a third-party
aggregator.
As shown here, users
simply select Starling
from a list of providers,
which opens the app.
Users use touch ID to
login and authorise the
connection. The account
is then linked to Yolt.
This is the future.
SAMPLE REPORT

7. Financial intelligence | informa7
Insight Series
Reports 2017

8. Financial intelligence | informa8
1. Digital help and support
Banks are exploring now ways of providing customer support in digital channels. This report
will look at the use of AI, video and other innovative ways of helping customers complete
online journeys.
2. PFM
Personal Finance Management tools are increasingly being integrated into mobile and desktop
banking propositions. Meanwhile, banks are facing competition from solutions providers with
the capabilities to aggregate and offer a complete overview of customers’ finances. The PFM
Insight Series report will look at solutions from banks and beyond.
3. Understanding the impact of PSDII
The purpose of PSDII is to increase security and competition in the payments market, but its
implications will affect the whole of financial services. How will opening up APIs affect banks?
How will it affect consumers? And, what opportunities will present themselves to players in the
market? These are questions that this report will investigate.
4. ID and verification
Digital application forms are becoming slicker, making it easier than ever for new customers to
apply for an account. But all too often initially smooth application journeys can be rendered
time consuming and unwieldy by the need for paper-based ID and verification processes. This
report investigates how the advent of digital verification can onboard customers in record
time.
5. Digital SME banking
The SME banking space has plenty of opportunities to improve. From a digital perspective, it’s
far behind the offerings of retail banking. Many providers are failing to meet the needs of their
SME customers and there is a general focus on offering business capital, rather than exploring
more client-need led approach. What can banks do to better serve business customers?
6. Effective selling on mobile
Smartphone users spend a lot of time on their phones so it is not surprising that banks are
looking for opportunities to tap into unmet customer needs by highlighting other products and
services. This report will look at the different strategies in play, and how banks engage new
and existing customers on mobile. Are there lessons to be learned from outside the banking
industry?
7. Security and authentication
Apple’s rollout of TouchID marked the start of something big. Some were hoping that
biometrics would be the death of the PIN – and it still might be – but for now, it seems that
biometrics typically adds another option to the ID and verification process. We explore how
banks are working to find a balance between security and convenience for customers
accessing their accounts and making payments.
8. Ten digital trends to embrace for 2018
By evaluating the digital banking developments over the past year, our analysts will highlight
the ten most important trends that bankers should embrace in 2018.
Mapa Insight Series Reports 2017

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