NEO BANK – RISE OF THE INVISIBLE BANK

 By Mrs.S.Johnsi

A digital-only bank provides banking facilities exclusively through digital platforms, such as mobile, tablets, and the Internet. These digital banks offer services using electronic documentation and automated processes. Technology changes the way with which cash and cheques are deposited and payments and money transfers are carried out in these banks. So, digital banks have emerged as an influential choice for the young generation. The top two digital banks and the key features is discussed in this article.

 1.   MONZO BANK

Monzo is an online bank in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Tom Blomfield, Jonas Huckestein, Jason Bates, Paul Rippon and Gary Dolman in 2015. It originally operated with a mobile app and a pre paid debit card. From 2017 the bank started to offer deposit accounts. By providing excellent customer service Monzo differentiates it with all other banks and has reached 40,00,000 customers. The key features of Monzo bank are:

1.    Easy account opening process

Account opening was considered as a time consuming job in the traditional banking system. Monzo made the account opening process simple and easy. The customers instead of going to the bank and disclosing the address proof and other details they can merely download the app and set up an online account. Later, the customers will receive a Monzo card with a welcoming message.

 2.    Monzo Labs

Monzo introduced a new feature called “Monzo Labs” where the customers can access to the new features of Monzo and give feedback. This feature ensures that the existing customers are given first preference to use the new features introduced by Monzo and also the bank gets the feedback from them and accordingly the product offers can be revamped.

 3.    No physical branches

There are no physical branches but the customers can clarify their queries using the help tab in the mobile. If required the customers can contact the employees and clarify their doubts.

 4.    Secured Payments

Whenever the customer uses the Monzo account to make any payments they have to enter the pin or use their fingerprint or face, thereby the payments are secured.

 Monzo is a regulated bank and the money deposited by the customers is protected upto £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). FSCS is the fund created by the government to protect people’s money. In 2018, the Monzo customers average deposit stood at £142 and the average deposit has increased to £359 in 2019. An increase in the average deposits shows that the customers trust has increased with the digital banking system.

 2. CHIME

Chime is a neo-online banking service in the United States of America. It is founded by Ryan King and Chris Britt in the year 2013. The key features of Chime are:

 1.      Banking App

Chime made mobile banking easy with its modern banking app which could track all the spending and savings of its customers. The app works on all smart phone mobile devices and the customers can transfer money, send and deposit cheques and pay bills.

 2.      Always know the account balance

The banking app sends daily bank account balance notifications and instant transaction alerts anytime the customer use their debit card. So the customers are aware of  the bank balance anytime.

 3.      Banking Security

Whenever the customer lose the debit card, the card can be disabled with a single swipe on the mobile app. Instant transaction alerts will help the customer to trace the debit card usage by others.

 4.      Deposit Cheques

Mobile cheque deposit helps the customers to deposit the cheques from any place. The snap of the cheque taken with the mobile banking app is enough to deposit the amount in the customer’s account.

 5.      Fee-free mobile payments

Pay Friends feature in the app allows the customers to send fee-free mobile payments to friends or family when they open an account with Chime

 Digital banking is not only simple and convenient but it also offers superior customer experience. Virtual high speed banking services and low transaction fee made the digital only banks an attractive option to the customers. Digital only banks also face few challenges like security concerns, no physical branch and low scalability. Maintaining customer relationship is a herculean task for the digital bank since there is no human touch due to the absence of physical bank branch. Digital banks also face the risk of scalability compared to the traditional banks. The digital banking is a better choice compared to the traditional banking system when these concerns are addressed by the banks.


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