'Citibank Korea: putting our clients at center'

By Brendan Carney

Best in class service leaders like Alibaba, Amazon, Uber, Grab and Airbnb to name a few are redefining customer expectations. Harnessing the power of integrated, digital platforms, they offer frictionless transactions and seamless service.

The ability to manage virtually day-to-day needs from the smartphone in your hand via any number of apps ― social media, transportation, weather, ordering a pizza ― you name it ― has significantly raised the bar in what customers now expect from every interaction in the digital economy of today.

Consumers naturally now expect the same of banking ― and rightly so. And with the rapid digitization of financial services and products there have been countless new entrants to the financial services industry.

In Korea, we are hearing a lot of discussion about the changes that digital innovation will bring to banking at some point in the future. At Citibank Korea, we believe that the digital revolution in banking is not coming. We believe that the digital revolution is already here.

We are seeing a significant shift in where our customers are spending time, whether they are communicating, consuming media or buying goods and services. We are deeply focused on understanding this to ensure that as a bank we are present and relevant for them in their digital world.

At Citibank Korea, 95 percent of our customer transactions take place outside of our branches, and almost 90 percent of our customers have not visited a branch in the past 12 months. On average, our customers visit our branches less than one time per year. And even when our customers do visit a branch, it is usually not by choice. They generally visit the branch because outdated policies and processes, which do not allow certain transactions outside of the branch, force them to do so.

So what does this mean for banking moving forward? Will banking move to a fully digital model?

At Citibank Korea, we think that one part of banking is already close to 100 percent digital: basic banking transactions. These include things like account opening and closing, money transfers, payments, and balance inquiries. Banking customers today are already choosing the convenience and empowerment of digital to conduct these simple transactions.

However, some banking decisions are more complex: for example, rebalancing an investment portfolio, managing investments across different currencies, getting a small business loan, or choosing the right insurance policy. Even in a digital world, we believe that customers will continue to need bankers who can provide them advice and support in making these more complex banking decisions. So instead of a 100 percent digital world, we foresee a “digital plus bankers” world or a mix of physical and digital.

However, while bankers will continue to play a key role in providing advice and support, we think that the traditional “come to the branch between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday to Friday” model no longer works for our customers. That is why we are transforming from a traditional, branch-focused model to a customer-centric approach. These key pillars of this new customer-focused model are:

1. Best in class digital platforms that allow our clients make basic transactions in a simple, convenient, and secure manner;

2. Centralized teams of highly trained bankers available by phone, chat or video who can provide customers with all the services and support that they would normally need to visit a branch to receive; and

3. Mobile, digitally-enabled relationship managers who can provide service wherever customers choose: in one of our wealth management or lending centers, at the customer’s place of business or other convenient location, or remotely using phone and other digital tools.

Twenty years ago, operating a bank required a large branch network. That is no longer true today. While it may make sense for some banks to maintain a branch-focused strategy, we believe that we can better serve our customers with a customer-centric model that that empowers our clients and allows them to access service and support anytime, anywhere.

This is an energizing time for financial services in Korea. Advances in technology, the proliferation of fintech companies, and the launch of internet-only banks are bringing new levels of dynamism and innovation to our industry. We are excited to play our part in the evolution of the banking sector in Korea, and we look forward to finding new and better ways to serve our clients and offer them a remarkable experience for many years to come.

Brendan Carney is Consumer Banking Head at Citibank Korea. He has been serving in the job since July 2015.