Digital Banking enabling a socially responsible finance sector

Over the last years, sustainability and social responsibility have taken the center stage in business strategy. Green and social initiatives, perceived in the past as strategies that companies merely “should adopt”, have now become an absolute necessity, due to increasing consumer demands. For the banking sector, moving towards a more responsible paradigm is only possible by investing in new digital tools, that enable banks and credit unions, of any size and background, to provide a flexible and inclusive customer service, especially suitable to empower local businesses and to attract consumers that are still unbanked.

Social responsibility: banks & credit unions can lead the way

Customer expectations have changed like never before. These days, to thrive in every business, it is no longer enough to provide a high-quality product for the best price. Consumers seek long-term relationships with brands and institutions that are also socially responsible. New generations, such as Y or Z, feel that their own actions can make the world better, and want companies to follow the same path towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and socially responsible economy.

This shift in the consumer behavior stands as the perfect opportunity for financial institutions to show their potential as a leading force for social responsibility. Banks and Credit Unions have always represented a crucial role in their own communities, creating opportunities for entrepreneurs and supporting local businesses. Helping the development of their own communities was always a primary mission for local financial institutions. Now, all they are asked to do is to go a step further, by building genuine cooperation ecosystems, able to empower local SMBs and to include new and more diversified audiences, that were previously unaware of their banking possibilities.

Achieving this new paradigm will depend on the integration of new digital tools, designed to provide a customized and intuitive customer experience for each and every user. At ebankIT, we are always working with this client-first approach, creating a omnichannel platform, with its own roadmap of innovation, but also prepared to integrate with other third-party solutions.

Technology is a great enabler of financial inclusion

Technology has proven, time after time, its undeniable potential to create new opportunities and increase financial inclusion. Payments or money transfers, for example, are now smoother than ever before, allowing customers to save time and financial institutions to reduce costs on such day-to-day procedures. With the integration of new digital solutions, banking institutions have expanded their customer base, now including people that usually would not seek financial services at a physical branch. Due to a lighter cost structure, banks and credit unions are also able to lower end-users fees, contributing to the decrease of unbanked people, although the concept of banking products is evolving by the day.

At ebankIT, we understand that digital banking can be a driver to connect financial institutions with their clients’ projects and dreams and to increase financial inclusion. Using accessible digital channels, in an omnichannel approach, banks and credit unions can easily communicate with their audience, helping SMBs to smoothly grow and fulfill their true potential.

This digital revolution may seem as a great barrier, especially for smaller financial institutions. To compete on equal terms with larger banks and credit unions, local financial institutions will need to find external services and integrated solutions. ebankIT’s ready-to-use platform is an example of such a solution, enabling financial institutions to build stronger relationships with their audience, in an intuitive, flexible, and cost-effective way.

We should never forget that small businesses and individual entrepreneurs are the backbone of the economy, and we believe it is our duty to offer a solution completely adapted to them. Our omnichannel digital banking solution enables local credit unions and banks to provide the best banking features to SMBs, delivering the sophistication and the display usually available for Corporate services, but tailored to SMBs’ specificities. With this strategy, ebankIT reaffirms its longstanding commitment to promote equal opportunities and build a new banking ideal, focused on sustainability, social responsibility, and financial inclusion.