Digital Trust: Paving the Way for Digital Transformation in the Banking Sector

So, in short, digital trust solutions allow banks to meet their clients' requirements and provide a convenient digital banking experience while keeping their data secure and maintaining their trust. 

Wait, I think we just jumped to the conclusion. Allow us to go back to explain how we got here.

If we ask people around us about the last time they visited a bank branch to open an account, transfer money, or make a deposit, they probably won't remember and point to their phones indicating they have all their needs met with a simple click. 

Banks are among many organizations and businesses that decided to adopt digital transformation strategies to keep up with this technology-controlled era ruled by remote interactions and convenience. 

But to achieve digital transformation and maintain satisfying customer experiences, banks must account for many aspects and employ the appropriate digital solutions to cover them. Building digital trust is one of the pillars of digital transformation.

The Significance of Digital Transformation in Banking  

To digitally transform is to modify business procedures to meet the requirements of the new reality, which is done through incorporating digital technologies in all business areas, including business models, the way services are delivered, channels used to communicate with customers, and data processing.

While some banks were behind in the digital transformation field, the Covid-19 outbreak came as an alarm, opening their eyes to the significant competitive advantage they are missing that allows them to serve their client's whenever and wherever.

For banks, digital transformation is applicable in many areas, including internal processes and online banking. We will focus on online banking, which allows banks to offer their brick-and-mortar branch services through digital channels, e.g. mobile applications.

Clients are no longer looking for old-time banking; they want swift responses and convenience. And this is where digital transformation plays its role in this customer-centric industry. 

Through digital transformation, clients can bank on their own terms. They are offered 24/7 access to services and have their needs met in the blink of an eye. The around-the-clock availability of services establishes the bank's reliability and increases loyalty. 

If a bank fails to offer that kind of convenience, it is most likely to lose clients to competitors.

With Digital Transformation Comes Risk

As remote interactions accelerated, data security and fraud attacks became a concern. The increase in digital banking popularity was accompanied by a rise in attempted fraud rates exceeding the numbers witnessed with traditional branch banking. 

Now, clients expect their banks to understand them as individuals and foresee their needs without compromising their data security. Banks need to have the confidence that whoever is on the other end of the transaction is who they are pretending to be.

This takes us to the statement we made earlier in this article; "Building digital trust is one of the pillars of digital transformation". With the right digital trust solutions, banks can process data efficiently, increasing productivity, reducing human error, eliminating fraud risks, and creating trusted relationships with clients.

So what's digital trust and how does it achieve this for banks?

Digital Trust Meaning

To build digital trust is to gain clients' confidence in the organization's ability to provide seamless digital processes while maintaining data privacy and security.

It is about obtaining profound knowledge of clients and building a solid connection with them that showcases the organization's ability to detect any suspicious activities that are unusual for a particular client and establish reliability and trustworthiness to assure them they will receive the digital products and services they are seeking in a safe environment.

How Digital Trust Solutions Support Digital Transformation in the Banking Sector

The lack of digital trust is a hurdle for digital transformation. Clients will not be willing to utilize banks' digital services if they do not believe in their ability to safeguard their financial data and protect them against fraudulent actions.

Digital trust solutions, including digital onboarding and digital authentication and verification, enable banks to level up their Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure. They help them grant their clients the benefit of initiating a relationship with the bank and accessing their accounts anywhere in the world to do transactions, with the guarantee that their banks can verify their identity and authenticate their documents, e.g., IDs, within minutes while keeping their sensitive data secured. 

With that, banks will provide a fully digitized experience and build and maintain customer loyalty and ensure they are the go-to recommendation for those searching for reliable digital banking options. 

In addition, digital trust presents an excellent opportunity for banks to expand their market and outcome the location barrier. It also reduces onboarding costs while delivering more efficient results and reducing human error, that's common in traditional onboarding processes.

We Build Trust and Pave the Way to Digital Transformation

Realizing the significant role digital trust plays in achieving digital transformation, EDC provides banks and different financial institutions with onboarding, identification and authentication solutions, including eID verification, to help them provide a seamless digital experience. We deliver a simplified onboarding and authentication process by allowing our clients to scan the Emirates ID, capture the information and authenticate them online with the Federal Authority for Identification and Citizenship (ICA) database within minutes.