As the age of technology continuously progresses, banking has slowly become more personal, so much so that it can be done from the palms of your hand. The number of bank branches around the world has increasingly been disappearing by the hundreds, and the thing is, people don’t realize! Sadly, when it comes to long queues at the bank as compared to being done on a mobile phone, people are far more inclined to the latter. Institutions are now better off focussing their resources on the creation of a more comprehensive mobile application that boast of strong security measures than securing a prime bank location. Ironic as it may be that the lost in social connectivity in such an industry that started off from the trust and interaction with another, the future of banking merely at the base of the iceberg.
The results are astounding. More than one-third of bank users are more likely to proceed with mobile transactions with their phones than make a visit to the banks, and the small percentage of people who choose not to are mostly the elderly. Of course, banks in Singapore are quick to jump on the bandwagon, with banks such as DBS, OCBC and Citibank constantly updating their applications to provide a safer and more comprehensible user experience. This without doubt, entails more software updates which may be annoying to the user, but is a necessary evil that will only continue and get more frequent as the technology progresses.
With the increased reliance on IT, it further fuels the current demand in the IT sector in Singapore, not just because of the need for the improving of applications, but because of security. Fraud has long been prevalent in banking but with internet banking comes an increased risk that is only likely to keep increasing as the years go by. Back in October 2015, The Dridex virus stole up to 20 million pounds from various bank accounts in the United Kingdom. Singapore may have yet to be a target for these online bank frauds, but it would only be a matter of time before these blackhat hackers start attempting to disrupt the peaceful flow in our country. Most Singaporeans however, remain unconcern about the technical aspects to security, mostly because of technical jargon that exists in IT security sector. This is all the more a cause for concern as the number of internet banking users will only rise as the years go by.
Expectedly, with the decreased reliance on bank tellers, it only means one thing: a slow sunset industry where retail and service staff are slowly declining over the years. But one thing is for sure, that wouldn’t be anytime soon. The huge aging population in Singapore still relies on the services of such banks and basic services such as the opening of bank accounts and other unique services still require the assistance of a service staff. Perhaps in the foreseeable future banking apps will further improve the services they provide, but as of now, the banks are here to stay.