It is becoming increasingly important for large financial institutions like Finland’s Nordea to develop their own mobile banking propositions, as the challenge from new fintech companies steadily grows.
Customer demand is evolving towards the convenience and simplicity of digital, with technology able to create efficiencies and personalisation that has previously been beyond the scope of the major banks.
Nordea Mobile is the response from the Nordic region’s largest financial services group, which has been involved in banking activity in the region for around 200 years in one iteration or another, witnessing the evolution of both the industry and the demands of the customers its serves.
With features such as instant card blocking, biometric security and simple bill payments, Nordea Mobile has been built with many of the features that have come to be expected from tech-savvy, mobile banking users.
Here we take a closer look at Nordea’s answer to the digital challenge, as it looks to engage in modern ways with its 9.3 million personal banking customers across Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Nordea Mobile is the digital transformation project of the Nordic region’s biggest bank
As the biggest bank serving the Nordic region, Nordea faces a big task in developing modernised products and services that will appeal to the full range of its customer base – the institution has more than nine million personal banking customers and close to 600,000 corporate customers.
It is also in control of significant resources – posting €9bn (£8.02bn) in operating income and €551.4bn (£491.2bn) in total assets at the last check in 2018 – meaning that it has significant resources at its disposal to direct into its online and digital development.
The bank still maintains its more traditional network of physical branches across the Nordic area, staffed by more than 28,000 employees, but as demand for in-person services diminishes, more and more emphasis is being placed on its mobile offering.
Nordea Mobile includes a range of digital features
For most modern digital banking services, personalisation is a key component of how mobile products are designed.
Nordea Mobile’s approach to this has been to allow users to customise their own home screen in the mobile app to prioritise the features they most readily wish to use at the tap of a finger.
Security is also tailored to the individual through the use of biometrics, with customers able to use facial or fingerprint recognition to gain access to their confidential financial data.
Users who have either lost their payment card or had it stolen are able to block it via the Nordea app.
This feature saves the hassle of having to ring customer services in such an event, and means that if a card has simply been misplaced and later found it can be unlocked for use again without the need for a new card to be issued and sent out.
The app also presents an aggregated overview of each of the user’s accounts – whether current, savings or investment – to give better visibility and control over personal finances.
Bills can be paid by scanning a barcode, and customer service queries can be submitted in the form of text message chat or remote video meetings.
To incentivise users to choose its digital-first proposition, Nordea Mobile began offering discounts on the monthly fees for its other banking services to people using the mobile app, beginning from last year .
These could include mortgage services for those looking to finance a new home or wealth management advice for people with significant savings.
