Hands up who’d have believed a few years ago that you’d be able to buy a new home using just your fingerprint, selfie and a smartphone?
Fast forward to today where paperless mortgages are now pretty much the norm as is doing mundane life chores like the weekly food shop from the comfort of your cosy armchair or ordering those new shoes you just have to have with the click of a button.
And then of course you want to show off those awesome shiny shoes, so what do you do? Take to social media of course to Facebook Message WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat your friends a pic and just wait for the compliments to roll in….
Now imagine a world where through the powers of instant messaging you can do so much more than just communicate with family and friends. Well that reality is growing closer. Today in China and South East Asia, WeChat is a so-called ‘super app’ which has evolved from being a run of the mill social network. It’s where people turn to book a taxi, order food, make a doctors appointment, or even find a date. It’s like having your very own personal assistant right there in your pocket. It’s fair to say it is a hit with one billion monthly active users - that’s 902 million users every day. So what can we learn from this in the complex world of banking? Well you won’t be surprised to find out we’re on the case!
Last year we launched the NatWest Pay pilot which saw non-Personal customers make a payment to a merchant (Carphone Warehouse on this occasion) using our award-winning mobile banking app.
SendMoney closely followed. Aimed at our Corporate customers, it bypasses the clunky cheque route by using the faster payment system, not only saving valuable time, but also offering a secure, easier and simpler payment method - that’s got to be better than typing in your long card details right?
But what has this got to do with social media? Well the good news just keeps coming as these pilots have allowed us to develop a number of know-hows that we can potentially re-use within social channels to allow us to offer a range of different payments between customers, their contacts and businesses.
So watch this space as we continue to look at how social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram are using the power of personalised ads to offer users the option to buy now from their chosen merchant without ever having to leave the app.
Back to our vision. In the not too distant future our customers will be able to access a seamless social banking experience to make transactions without having to plough through multiple websites or apps and input their card details. Simple!