Good morning all.
Thank you to Professor Joyce O’Connor and the team at Block W and the IoB for inviting me to speak this morning on this hugely important topic of Digital and Financial Inclusion.
Promoting financial inclusion and accessibility for consumers is an essential indicator of a sector that is serious about doing the best for its customers and wider society and both of these topics are intrinsically linked with the related topic of financial literacy.
Given the ever increasing importance of digital sales channels and products within the financial services sector, it is clear that promoting digital inclusion and literacy is a fundamental subset of overall financial inclusion and literacy.
Increasing financial inclusion and overall levels of financial literacy for all customer groups is a key area of focus for the IBCB and our member retail banks (AIB, BOI and PTSB) and indeed the wider financial services sector in Ireland – much has been achieved in recent times through the work of dedicated customer teams and investment in enhanced websites, branch fitouts/accessible ATMs etc. within retail banks and indeed across the wider sector – and I’m sure we will hear more about that from the panel later. But there clearly remains much more to do.
So what is the best way of moving forward ? I’d like to share a few thoughts on this based on our experience in the IBCB :
As with all customer focussed initiatives, we need to ask for, listen to and act on what customers are telling us. This seems obvious, but in my experience you can never do enough of it and this approach, when working well, gleans insights that can otherwise be missed and also builds significant engagement and enhanced relationships – which is a win-win for us all.
A few examples of how I have seen this working in practice with four different customer groups:
Roundtables with Inclusion Ireland – participants included customers with a range of different intellectual disabilities across a range of ages – the resounding message coming from these sessions was that the majority of these customers want to engage primarily digitally with their banks but they have had issues at times with aspects of the webpages/screens when on-line: examples given were font colour, text or images moving or flashing across the screen, use of unnecessarily complicated language, limited time allowed to input approval codes etc.
Of those who were less inclined to engage digitally – a key reason given was concerns over frauds and scams.
All bank participants came away with actions to address this feedback – some very simple, some more complex but all of which will aid financial inclusion and empowerment for this customer group. The customers were made aware of a range of ‘how to guides’ available and training opportunities offered across the country in branches, as well as the protections and supports in place for fraud/scams.
Roundtable with Age Action and other groups representing older customers:
This cohort of customers are less inclined to engage digitally generally, though some again prefer this channel ! (and the numbers are growing !) This group are generally looking for the alternatives – which are generally in place to digital engagement, to be more available and to operate better – examples included phone lines with reasonable wait times and not too many ‘hand-offs’, ability to speak to someone in branches, privacy when discussing their affairs, access to cash, concerns with fraud and scams and they are also looking for support and guidance regarding management of their future financial affairs – Enduring Power of Attorney etc.
Again all parties came away from these sessions understanding the day to day issues better, with customers feeling more informed of the protections that are in place for them and the supports available and the banks understanding more about the needs of these customers in order to enhance financial inclusion.
Providing training for customers wary of digital is essential in building confidence and inclusion – there is also an element of safeguarding here, as many bank customers delegate digital engagement to a third party and this can increase the risk of financial abuse – Safeguarding Ireland highlights that unfortunately 80% of financial abuse is carried out by someone known to the victim.
Roundtable with survivors of domestic abuse:
Concerns of this group related to the impact of coercive control on access to financial services – including concerns over inability to access services due to lack of ID, lack of independent means, creditworthiness impacted by debt being taken out in their name – often without permission/awareness.
The session helped raised awareness among this customer group of the basic bank account service, of the willingness of banks to be flexible in relation to ID&V, of the service offered by the Central Bank’s central credit register to note on a credit record where there may have been an issue of coercive control and also highlighted to bank staff the issues that these customers often experience.
Round table with youth group
(generally those who have left formal 2nd level education early and may be living in care or availing of the services of a Youth Worker due to various vulnerabilities such as living circumstances/addictions etc.)
The issue here is with an exceptionally digitally literate group but with very poor levels of financial literacy around products such as buy now pay later and associated interest rates on late payments, the consequences in later life of having a poor credit rating and the risks of money muling. The source of information on financial products is not usually the regulated FS provided but via influencers clearly not subject to compliance requirements applicable to the regulated sector.
So what have all of these engagement sessions in common ? They have yielded opportunities to enhance financial literacy and inclusion through the lens of experience of very different customer groups. The feedback has worked both ways – with the customer group learning and the providers learning how things could work better.
While we in the IBCB have not been focussing specifically on the gender aspect of financial inclusion, something which is clearly a focus for Block W and we will likely hear more about from the panel shortly, it is clear from all the data that levels of financial literacy of women are generally behind that of men – initiatives to tackle this are underway by a range of organisations across the country and its something that we all need to continue to focus on.
Which brings me on to the overall national approach to financial inclusion and literacy, essential building blocks for overall national financial resilience. Most of the organisations in this room have been playing our own role in improving financial literacy through various initiatives run by individual banks, the BPFI, the IBCB, the CCPC, the CBI and various government agencies. However, when we have discussed this issue collectively over the years, there has been largely universal agreement that overall progress could be enhanced through reduced duplication of effort and better coordination and leadership. In this context, I would like to praise the Department of Finance in taking the lead two years ago to develop the National Financial Literacy Strategy. This is an excellent framework for the future and we are all looking forward to actively contributing to seeing this translated into concrete initiatives which will be of wide benefit to all.
Thank you again for invitation to open this morning’s session, I am very much looking forward to the panel discussion where these issues and others will be explored in more detail. Thank you .
