A new breed of financial technology (or fintech) companies are adding value to how we do banking. This includes structuring of accounts, portfolio management, mortgages, car loans, person-to-person payments, and of course money remittance. In the past ten years there has been a rush of capital and talent into startups to reinvent banking services altogether.  

What Has Changed In The Financial Industry For NRIs In The USA?

The fintech revolution in the last decade has changed all aspects of financial services including remittance and banking services provided by traditional, challenger, and neo banks. This revolution is ongoing and new fintech companies continue to mushroom every few days. In this cut-throat environment, only the new companies that provide a solid value proposition for their customer, including but not limited to ease-of-use and a value for money (ROI), succeed.

NRIs in the USA know that relatives back home sometimes have to deal with unpredictable expenses including medical emergencies, motorcycle breakdowns, and demands from friends who need financial help. Now there is more choice for NRIs to use multiple apps to send remittance to people back home who don’t have a conventional digital financial footprint.

Influence Of The Start-Ups

Start-ups are known for their innovation and the primary reason that startups join the hyper-competitive financial market is solely based on: “What and how is the competition doing the same thing differently?” 

All startups spend sizable efforts, time, and money to grab the attention of the customers. New fintech players are attempting to disrupt the existing financial order in global markets. They are constantly competing to introduce innovative solutions to be the primary focus of their customers. 

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New fintech startups are providing innovative infrastructure for NRIs to send remittance at competitive prices. Many are developing flexible products tailored to the lives of people in the USA as well as a secondary role in bringing approximately 2 billion consumers outside the USA into the digital world by creating more banking infrastructure for their specific needs. 

Fintech companies are innovating to make the financial world more accessible through a single streamlined interface online for creating payments or banking options to both NRIs and family at home. To succeed in this environment, fintech players are evolving business models that tap into new sources of data on users, often giving customers tools that encourage them to expand their digital lives.

So Who Is Winning?

The days are gone when people will bank with a financial institute just because it has a brand name or has a branch at the corner of their street. The only way to win your customer is to have a great product, a reliable service, and have the ability to remain in front of customers (both existing customers and new potential customers).

Let’s come back to the NRIs context again. When we last spoke to a few banks and well- known financial institutes targeting NRIs about their marketing strategy and success, this was the most common response:

“We are a known bank/institute with X billions backing; we are spending so much of money in marketing, but not getting the due response”

In our experience, some of the most common reasons for a lack of success in marketing and targeting NRIs are:

• Money is being spent at the wrong place
• The world has changed but their marketing strategies / agencies / methods have not

What Is Attracting The Modern Age US-Based NRI?

The innovative fintech startups are not just impacting lending, but transforming every aspect of the traditional banking model. Fintech startups are more attentive to customer frustrations and are more nimble at serving the rise of the digital centric consumer. 

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The new evolution in banking includes combining technology, customer-centricity, and experimenting with new business models such as NRIs who have a need for streamlined services. Innovative fintech companies are wise to innovate on UX, underwriting, and even risk-based pricing to reach a new, brand loyal customer. 

Digitization Is Changing Customer Expectations 

As customer expectations are growing exponentially due to digitization–they want fast, convenient, and reliable services at their fingertips specially without making a call. Banking should be as easy as tapping a button on a mobile phone and making an Uber car appear.

As such, digital savvy NRI customers want meaningful and precise information delivered in a timely manner which enables them to trust their service provider. This naturally educates them and gives them the confidence to use the product. 

Fintech startups and traditional banks should focus on customer adoption

Digital technology, despite its seeming ubiquity, has only begun to penetrate banking and Fintech industries. As it continues to advance, the implications for revenues, profits, and opportunities will be dramatic. Bold, tightly integrated digital strategies will be the biggest differentiator between companies that win and the biggest payouts will go to those that initiate digital disruptions. Fast-followers with operational excellence and superior customer relationships will not be far behind.

Modern culture is playing a big role in adoption of digital platforms. Customer now have:

• Shorter attention span
• They will try a new service provider if the offer is promising
• Do not mind spending extra to get convenience and peace-of-mind
• Are open to more digital information such as digital ads than ever before
• They don’t want to call or give out phone numbers, preferring solutions at tap of a button
• Prefer text messages over a phone call
• Want full control of their services
• Interested in tracking and seeing the status of any service associated with them
• Not interested in reading print newspaper or magazine
• Spend more time on Internet or internet enabled devices (both at work or for personal reasons) than the number of hours they sleep. Typically 10-12 hours a day

Bold Strategies Win

Digitization is upending business models. If your company can address all or most of the changing customer expectations, it will certainly have higher chances to expand your business. 

For the already established banks that have only partly been affected to date, the risk to your ecosystem is real. Many different things need to be “redone” or methods need to be changed end-to-end. Structuring your digital reinvention will include all arenas such as: products, operations, technology, marketing, and digital services.

To keep this in the right perspective, you should focus specifically on marketing for NRIs in America:

“Remain in front of your customers Digitally so customers can click and reach you, remember they don’t want to CALL.”

Innovate The Financial Customer Journey

Financial services industry–your key competition is with fintech startups. This can be resolved by establishing modern ways to market your products. Identify your strengths and educate your customers about those. Your strength can be the array of services you provide, which startups may not have. Among many different ways to handle this, the most proven and longterm as well as effective method is educating your customers digitally.

Let us help you achieve this at FrontAd Media Inc.