There are fewer bank outlets, which affects geometry
Statistics show that as of the end of June this year, compared with the end of 2019, the total number of outlets of the six state-owned banks has decreased by 1,343.
At the same time, with the support of financial technology, banks' online wealth management business has grown rapidly, which undoubtedly has a huge impact on residents' wealth management-will online wealth management really replace offline businesses?
“If it weren’t for business, I really didn’t notice that a bank branch near the company had closed business.” Jin Ling, a “post-90s” who works in Xicheng District, Beijing, told the Economic Daily reporter. Nowadays, almost all of his financial business is through mobile banking, even purchases Wealth management products are also selected on the mobile app.
In fact, there are not a few people who have the same feelings as Jin Ling.
On the one hand, the bank’s offline outlets are shrinking-as of the end of June this year, the total number of outlets of the six state-owned banks has decreased by 1,343 compared to the end of 2019; on the other side is the rapid growth of bank online wealth management business supported by financial technology .
Will online financial management completely replace offline business?
More efficient resource allocation
In the eyes of many industry insiders, the rapid development of online wealth management business has become the general trend.
“The development of financial technology has an impact on both the capital and asset sides.” Zeng Gang, deputy director of the National Finance and Development Laboratory, said that from the capital side, with the increase in data acquisition, banking institutions can more accurately assess the “long tail” "Customers provide differentiated and intelligent investment advisory services.
From the asset side, the use of financial technology can help improve the bank’s asset allocation capabilities, that is, make asset-side investments more in line with liabilities-side preferences and achieve more effective asset allocation.
"This is the space that financial technology can achieve in wealth management in the future."
Not only that, Zeng Gang said that when using financial technology to serve "long-tail" customers, banks can enhance risk line management and better achieve wealth portfolio risk management.
In fact, the development of online wealth management business is closely related to the needs of financial consumers.
A staff member of the Retail Finance Department of Bank of Hangzhou told reporters, “The offline customer reach model is basically based on hall marketing. Generally, the main service is to promote customer sales. After the customer leaves the branch, the wealth management manager cannot find the customer, and the customer is unwilling. Coming to the outlets for a little thing, it is prone to service faults."
He said that the essence of bank wealth business is to provide customers with financial services, and a large part of its irreplaceability comes from "after-sales" services for customers, including product operation disclosure, investment allocation recommendations, reminders of purchases and redemptions, etc.
According to the staff of Bank of Hangzhou, the necessity of after-sales service is gradually increasing, especially under the trend of overall net worth of wealth management products.
Continuous professional financial services are the core competitiveness of the bank's wealth business asset management under the new regulations.
However, offline wealth services have shortcomings in channels and reach capabilities.
Relatively speaking, platform-based online financial services have the natural service advantage attribute of "customers can find financial managers at any time, and financial managers can contact customers at any time", and provide financial managers with continuous "wealth advisory" financial services development. Prerequisites.
Not only that, industry experts said that online wealth management business also makes it possible for customers to centralize operations, allowing professional wealth management services to achieve the inclusive sinking of customer groups; standardized platform-based online service channels also effectively ensure the appropriate wealth services Compliance and compliance.
In addition, analyzing the online channels of multiple banks reveals that online channels broaden the geographical boundaries and timeliness of business processing, and can effectively increase the coverage of bank services.
Offline services are more diverse
"There are two main differences between online and offline wealth management, one is user habits, and the other is product type." Zeng Gang said, "From the perspective of user habits, some people are accustomed to online, and some people are accustomed to offline. Different types of needs require banks to provide different service channels; in terms of product types, the online and offline purchases of ordinary standardized products are the same. This is because they are oriented to "long-tail" customers and the amount is relatively small. In this case, online channels are more suitable."
Zeng Gang further stated, “For'long tail' customers, it is actually more convenient and faster to handle business online, and the time of purchase and redemption is more flexible. But for larger, more differentiated and customized Wealth management products, such as the non-standardized products of private banks, are more suitable for offline development."
In other words, in terms of wealth management, both online and offline channels are very important in the future.
Not only that, the reporter visited a number of commercial banks and found that, in addition to actively expanding online services, some banks have actually implemented a systematic transformation of offline services.
In other words, the bank branch is still that branch, but the content has changed.
Taking the Postal Savings Bank as an example, the reporter saw at the You'an Nanqiao Sub-branch of the Beijing Branch of the Postal Savings Bank that through the upgrade of equipment in recent years, the functions of the equipment in the bank outlets are now very rich, and 80% of the business can be handled on the self-service machine , Greatly reducing the pressure on the counter.
A wealth management manager of the branch told reporters that whether it is to open an account, open a mobile banking, or purchase wealth management, foreign currency purchase and settlement, etc., all businesses can be handled on the self-service machine.
“Also, in the past, change was not available on self-service machines, but many elderly customers have a strong demand for change. At present, change can also be taken on self-service machines, and many people are also willing to use self-service machines.” said a financial manager.
The manpower released by the self-service machine has also been fully utilized.
"It has the advantages of professionalism and temperature, and plays an indispensable role." The person in charge of the relevant department of Postal Savings Bank said that in terms of offline services, through the professional participation of financial managers, it can provide customers with more professional and personalized Asset allocation and wealth planning; at the same time, through face-to-face communication with wealth management managers, customers can feel rich and safer comprehensive services.
Statistics show that as of the end of June this year, PSBC has 33.53 million VIP customers, 2.845 million wealth customers, and high-end customers are growing rapidly.
"We have established a team of professional wealth management managers to reach customers with a wide range of products to meet their increasingly complex investment needs. Nearly 40,000 outlets cover 99% of the counties (cities) in my country, and we can provide hierarchical differences through financial managers. The customized service model provides customers with a warm and safe service experience.” said the relevant person in charge of Postal Savings Bank.
Reasonable choice is the key
For many financial consumers, what is more concerned is how to better choose online or offline wealth management services for different groups?
In this regard, industry insiders said that financial consumers should reasonably choose their online or offline service methods based on their own risk tolerance, investment preferences and experience.
"For complex and personalized financial needs, we can use the professional capabilities of dedicated wealth managers to carry out asset allocation and provide differentiated and customized financial and non-financial services; for basic and standardized needs, we can choose online channels to strengthen information Reach, improve customer coverage, optimize customer service experience and efficiency." said the relevant person in charge of Postal Savings Bank.
It is worth noting that the person in charge of the Postal Savings Bank suggested that financial consumers should first choose wealth management services from formal professional institutions, regardless of whether they are online or offline, and pay attention to verifying whether the institution has business qualifications; secondly, through the official online line of formal financial institutions Purchase products through sales channels; again, you should also pay attention to choosing regular practitioners to obtain professional services, and you should pay attention to verifying the financial qualifications of sales service personnel.
For banking institutions, the staff of the Retail Finance Department of Bank of Hangzhou said, “The core of wealth services is to make customers trust and rest assured. The choice of online or offline channels should be based on the personal wishes of customers.” In his view, As a service provider, the core mission of the bank is to provide online services of the same or higher quality to those customers who recognize online channels and have a high degree of acceptance, and provide customers with a "seeing the screen" user experience; and For customers who prefer offline channels, they should also respect their choices and intentions. Instead of simply diverting all customers online, they should provide customers with acceptable, convenient and reliable professional financial services.
Economic Daily · China Economic Net reporter Qian Qingni