Over the past decade, the number of people using mobile phones and apps has grown exponentially. However, the number of people that continue not to have a regular bank account, the unbanked, continues to globally average 50%, with many living in rural areas. This statistic alone is an opportunity for traditional banking to investigate and invest.
Traditionally, community banks centre around communities. They are a necessary foundation to their part constituencies; statistically, 94% of banks in the United States are Community Banks, even though they account for 10% of total bank deposits. However, their customer base is usually intergenerational, creating committed community relationships.
This familiarity gives community banks an advantageous opportunity to target the unbanked, presenting possibilities to encourage, to woo, millions of the underbanked to become banked. Many unbanked live paycheck-to-paycheck, while the banks’ indifference and impersonality dissuade others. Intensified globalization has additionally affected this widening socio-economic gap between the banked and the unbanked. Contemporary and constructive change is needed to ensure that opportunity to bank this percentile.
Whether community banks present traditional bricks-and-mortar services to the unbanked or whether they promote their own or affiliated mobile banking apps, community banks are at a juncture that could be boom or bust in these uncertain times. Youtap offers digitized solutions to these issues. Their digital banking platforms cater to the rising usage of smartphones and digitization, attracting and enhancing the customer’s experiences. Community banks, you have been (fore)-warned.
