BANK 3.0 BOOK REVIEW
By Tom St. Dennis
Bank 3.0-Why Banking is no longer somewhere you go but something you do, by Brett King.
Whether they are admitting it or not, you can be sure that this is a book that every one of your financial institution competitors is reading if they are any competition at all. Of course, margin compression, increased regulation and demand for higher profits are just some of the challenges facing all banking professionals today. In Bank 3.0, King concisely addresses another challenge that makes all the others pale in comparison-the dreaded technological challenge of mobile banking and loss of customers to non-bank competitors if bankers don't address the consumer's call for greater access through this channel.
King begins this exhaustively researched tome by reflecting on the crisis of credibility that the banking industry has had to cope with as a result of the recent global financial crisis. He then painstakingly documents the more urgent issue that is building on top of this loss of credibility which he calls the loss of modality-the breakdown of a bank's traditional consumer interface, commonly known as the branch and/or customer service centers. For anyone who has had to use their lunch hour to drive to a branch only to stand in line to be serviced by a less than confidence-inspiring CSR, or waited on hold to talk to "Susan" from India, you know what he's getting at. He ends in his typically brusque style by reminding bankers:
As bankers you've been more inclined in the recent decade to become the problem, thinking that banking is unique, special and requires hurdles or qualifications before a customer is allowed to avail themselves of your products and network. This friction will kill your collective industry unless you get back to the core of what banking should be about-helping and serving those customers that are your lifeblood. The shift in consumer behavior is speeding up like never before. It's time to get on board, or get out of the way. (p. 387)
Those of you who have served in executive management, as a board member and/or in a regulatory capacity have definitely heard this type of bold assertion-that everything will change with the advent of the internet, leaving your franchise gutted, unless you get on board quickly. You've certainly been told by many reputable and perhaps not so reputable sources that you and your vaunted franchise will soon be left behind with nothing but expensive and empty branch facilities. However, King presents some impressive facts that undeniably support the shift toward new banking channels, especially mobile, that make those haunting claims now seem like a more possible reality. He also does an excellent job of demonstrating an international perspective on how consumers and bank customers are migrating toward mobile and how this trend not only suits customer behaviors better than traditional brick and mortar channels but can also function to better address their real needs. Perhaps his most impressive set of research relates to non-banking firms that are opening up inroads to what have been traditionally seen as branch banking customers. This section of his book should even rattle the most staid of Credit Union and/or Community Bankers who have always relied on the "loyalty" of their hometown customers.
Thus King has offered the banking industry an excellent service by carefully documenting how the loss of credibility and trust in the banking industry due to the global financial crisis and the rapid increase in the functionality of technology, combined with aggressive non-bank competitors entering the traditional space of bankers, is a real threat to their hallowed turf. His insights regarding the evolution of what constitutes relevant marketing strategies as well as the commoditization of the banker's traditional control over "money" which is rapidly evolving from something physical to a more ethereal element should make every CEO, board and of course regulator, wonder what and how they are going to adapt to this new world of banking and evolving customer expectations.
If you are serious about positioning your institution for the future and just can't figure out how to cost-justify your institution's physical branch platform anymore, you need to take a hard look at this book. If nothing else, you will get a glimpse at what is behind that light at the end of the tunnel that in reality is the train of progress coming to derail your time-worn beliefs.
Tom St. Dennis
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Best Practices Demand Change...
Forward looking at the industry....but really re-states what is and has been completely obvious to most in the industry. Great specifics on how to deploy Bank 3.0 within the marketing/customer service/PR space. I will recommend this to all my contacts in the industry, and to anyone else dealing with internet/mobile related enterprises, which is...... everyone !
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Top reviews from other countries
Francisco Espinosa
Interesante, un poco repetitivo.
Reviewed in Mexico on February 14, 2020Cliente Amazon
Great intro for the new age of banking
Reviewed in Brazil on February 5, 2016
RT
A must read for everyone working in the financial industry
Reviewed in Germany on June 10, 2014