Many changes have occurred within the banking sector in the last couple of years. Perhaps the most noteworthy is consumers’ increasing preference for online banking services over traditional brick-and-mortar banking. Thanks to the wide availability of online banking portals and mobile banking apps, more Filipinos are turning to digital channels to fulfill their everyday banking needs.
But given the wealth of options available from multiple banking providers, customers are likely to experience choice fatigue. Among the many banks that offer digital banking services, which one is truly the best? What qualities can serve as guarantees for pleasant and hassle-free digital banking experiences?
If this is currently your dilemma, and if you’re having a hard time choosing one banking provider among the many out there, here’s a briefer on why you should think carefully about your choice and what qualities you should look for in online banking service. This info should help you settle on a provider for online bank account opening, credit, and debit card services, financing and loan programs, and more.
Why Does Your Choice of Online Banking Provider Matter?
When looking at your options for a reliable online banking provider, one thing you’ll notice is that no two online banking programs are exactly alike. Once you do your research about the online services that each bank offers, you’ll see important differences in their rates, the variety of products they have available, and the extensiveness of their system. Such differences will play a key part in your overall experience with online banking.
At best, your online banking service will make it much easier for you to manage your financial needs. Using it may also save you a lot of time, as well as a lot of money that you may otherwise spend traveling to a physical bank branch. At worst, however, the banking service can cause you headaches, make it harder to settle your everyday bills and payments, and even make you regret shifting to online banking.
How can you be sure that your online banking experience will veer to the positive side instead of the negative side? Part of the answer lies in being extra thorough about your choice of provider, and not just settling on the first online banking program that’s advertised to you.
The Top 7 Qualities You Should Look for in Your Online Banking Provider
That said, there are seven qualities that you should expect your online banking provider to demonstrate to you. These virtues are good indicators of an online banking program that you’ll be satisfied with in the long run.
Accessibility
The first quality that you should look for in your online banking service is accessibility. The bank’s core products and services should be widely available across multiple online channels, like through a website, a mobile app, and software plugins that link the bank’s service to other apps like e-wallets. If all of these are readily accessible, you won’t need to leave your home as often or spend a long time waiting in line at a physical bank branch just to complete important banking transactions.
You should also be able to rely on your bank for round-the-clock service online, with minimal errors or downtime. After all, if you’re going to be using the service for day-to-day needs like settling bills or shopping for essential goods, you’ll want it to be functional as often as possible. If you can trust the bank to be accessed through its online channels, that’s a good reason to open an account with them—and you should consider doing so right away.
Ease of Use
Next, look for proof that the bank’s online system is easy to use. Does it have a clean, simple, and attractive online banking interface that isn’t hard to get used to? Does it take only a few minutes at a time to complete a transaction, using processes that are easily repeatable next time?
If it’s a breeze to navigate through the bank’s online system from your account enrollment onwards, consider it a green flag. That’s a good sign that the bank’s digital banking processes have been thought through, and that they’re being implemented with their customers’ best interests in mind.
Incorporation of the Latest Banking Technologies
Now that more people are turning to online banking solutions for their financial needs, banking providers have to answer that demand by innovating their technologies. Their systems should eventually become faster, more efficient, and more resilient to stresses like increasing volumes of online banking customers.
Do you see your banking provider as a forward thinker as far as tech is concerned? Can you see them only improving their digital services over time? Knowing that you and your fellow consumers will become more reliant on technologies like digital banking, the answer should be a resounding yes. You should be confident about your online banking service’s ability to keep up in the digital age.
A Wide Range of Digital Offerings
Another thing you should expect from your banking provider is a large menu of banking services and products, all of which you can access through their online system. Some of the most important offerings that you should see on the bank’s online platforms include the following:
- The ability to open online savings and checking accounts, which you can check online and transfer money at anytime
- Credit and debit card services that can you manage and pay for while you’re online
- Loan programs whose monthly payments you can settle through the bank’s official website or app, or through one of the bank’s partners channels
- The ability to settle a variety of online bill payments thanks to the bank’s wide network of partner billers
The more you can do through your bank’s online system, the higher the likelihood that you’ll enjoy your experience of online banking. Make it a point to look for a bank that can serve as a “one-stop shop” for multiple banking needs.
Commitment to Privacy and Security
Though online banking has largely been welcomed as an innovation, some customers who are used to over-the-counter banking have concerns about their privacy and security. Such concerns are warranted given how widespread cybercrime and financial crime have become. It’s just right to demand that your banking provider is doing everything it can to keep your data and financial resources from falling into the wrong hands.
Your online banking provider should be transparent about the security features it uses to safeguard your account. They should also issue reminders about how to strengthen the security of your online account, as well as regular warnings about new modus operandi used by phishers and scammers. A bank that can ensure the safety and privacy of its customers through its online security system is worth signing up with.
The Ability to Provide Customers with Personalized Digital Banking Experiences
The ideal online banking program is one that can resonate with a variety of customers. It should offer online banking experiences that seem tailor-fit for whoever will access them—whether their customer is a parent, young professional, company employee, or aspiring homeowner or vehicle owner.
On your part, look for a program whose online products and services can help you achieve your goals at your current life stage. Whether you’ll use your online account to pay your household bills, manage your income, or pay off a mortgage for your dream home, find out how your banking provider can customize the experience for you.
Warm and Accommodating Customer Service
Those who are new to online banking may get the impression that their bank’s customer service will work differently from behind a screen. Indeed, sometimes it’s easy to doubt whether a customer request will be accommodated because the online medium seems more detached. But an excellent banking provider will be able to translate their warmth and readiness to serve their customers through their digital channels. They should be able to combine the efficiency and flexibility of digital channels with the human ability to engage customers and help them solve their problems.
Is your banking provider reachable through multiple channels, like via email or messenger? Does their system employ advanced technologies, like webchats and chatbots, to settle simple concerns quickly and efficiently? Can you rely on their human staff to sort out advanced banking problems with you in a way that eases your worries? If you have satisfactory answers to these questions, then you can trust your online banking provider to implement a high standard of customer care.
Online Account Opening with Robinsons Bank: Meeting Your Banking Needs for the Future
For a banking provider that can demonstrate these qualities and deliver an online banking experience that will serve your modern-day needs, choose Robinsons Bank. After more than two decades in the Philippines’ banking industry, we’ve come to know the value of innovation in serving our customers, and we’re determined to put the best banking technologies to good use through our RBank digital channels.
Check out Robinsons Bank’s menu of banking products and services and see how these have been adapted for the era of online banking. Choose Robinsons Bank as your online banking provider and open an RBank online account now!