As Ross McEwan (Chief Executive of RBS since October 2013) sets out to cut 1 billion pounds of cost this year, this post sheds light on how digital channels are likely to support this plan. The plan involves removal of duplication and complexity by rationalising functions currently duplicated across divisions.
With the backdrop of these plans, and the context of the UK launch of Paym last week, Charmaine Oak (CO) caught up with Terry Cordeiro (TC), Head of Mobile, RBS, to understand how his vision plays out in terms of mobile banking and payments. He shares with us his expert insights into the UK payments market, and how he hopes to create a seamless consumer interface that hides implementation details and simply solves the consumer needs.
But first there is the imperative to sort out the systems behind recent high-profile outages. RBS reportedly plans to reduce technology platforms by over 50%, slashing the number of core banking systems from 50 to 10 and the number of payment systems from 80 to 10.
CO: Terry, what services do RBS/NatWest customers currently enjoy with respect to mobile banking and payments services?
TC: Our mobile app supports a range of everyday banking needs including statement history for the last 90 days across all accounts, payments and transfer services. Our award-winning NatWest and RBS GetCash service has evolved from an emergency cash service to much more casual, every-day use, “money for treats without your wallet”.
SMS services have been around for a while, and can sometimes be taken for granted, yet we find increasing numbers of our customers signing up for these. From their use as alerts and notifications regarding payments, they have evolved into ways in which we can help our customers save money, by reminding them about upcoming thresholds beyond which they may incur penalty charges.
CO: How about contactless payments? Do you plan a follow-up on your TouchPay trial of 2012-2013 that allowed consumers to pay for £20 or less from their current accounts?
TC: The TouchPay trial proved to be a useful learning exercise for us. Customers told us they want more than just going from paying with plastic to paying with mobile. We’re currently in the process of designing that “something extra” experience which will incentivise customers to overcome the inertia of changing their habit of paying with a card. This could include location awareness, loyalty points and incentives that come from the new data points such services can provide.
CO: What about domestic transfers? Why is RBS not in the first tranche of banks supporting Paym?
TC: We’ve supported payment to mobile phone number for the last 12 months, via our Pay your contacts service and it has been incredibly successful. This is a P2P service that runs on our internal systems for on-us payments, and leverages Visa Europe Personal Payment services for payments to anyone holding a valid UK to Visa card and UK mobile number. We expect to first manage some of the rationalisation projects, recently announced by Ross McEwan, before we implement Paym later this year.
CO: Talking about rationalisation, it seems UK customers are now spoilt for choice with respect to mobile payment services. Your own bank services have now been joined by those from the schemes, and now interoperable services such as Paym and Zapp, not to mention operator based services from Weve and individual mobile operators. Don’t you think there is a danger of confusing the consumer into an “analysis paralysis” almost?
TC: That is exactly where we come in. Our goal is to simplify the experience for the consumer – just give them increasingly easier ways to pay. As the alternatives become available they just provide more options for the 2.5 million to 3 million UK consumers who currently use our mobile banking services. It’s great that these new services are helping to increase the awareness of new ways to pay.
CO: Terry, thanks so much for sharing your vision and these insights with us. I wish you the very best in taking your strategy forward, and hope to learn more about it as it evolves further.
