Intelligent automation in banking: spotting and helping vulnerable customers

Vulnerable people intersect every area of society, but face the greatest and most consequential difficulties when interacting with the finance and banking institutions.

New normal

• 18% of the UK population is 65 years of age and older. Due to COVID-19, many banks have had to close their branches, meaning people who may not have access to online banking, are digitally illiterate or are isolating due to health concerns during this time cannot access banking services like they used to in person.

• Due to the current pandemic, people with mental health problems may find themselves overwhelmed, and in turn may overlook bill payments. 46% of people in financial difficulty can also experience mental health problems.

• Due to COVID-19, many people have experienced job losses and may be struggling to cope with paying for essential bills.

Assisting vulnerable customers

Not all financial institutions are currently taking measures to provide better services for vulnerable customers.

This comprehensive ebook explains the definition of vulnerability and its different forms, why it's unwise/commercially costly for banks and financial institutions to ignore vulnerable customers, and why intelligent decision automation is the game changer we all need.

Guidance on how to assist vulnerable customers from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and other international financial institutions is still very broad. Until now, there have been limited incentives for firms to better service vulnerable customers—so the topic has been very poorly defined/understood. 

Mitigating vulnerability

But, with COVID-19, most banks may well find that many (if not most) of their customers will now fall into the category of financially vulnerable. This means understanding and mitigating vulnerability is no longer an option. 

We are the first/only automation firm to cover the topic in-depth and build actual automation products to deal with the problem—in association with leading experts, EY, and the Royal College of Art.

Challenges addressed:

• The lack of understanding of how to define and identify vulnerability
• How to identify and mitigate the costs of vulnerable customers to banks
• How to identify a suitable technology that can handle the complexity and dynamism of the concept of vulnerability

This eBook explains:

• The definition of vulnerability and its different forms—including transient vulnerability
• An illustration of how Rainbird, EY and RCA are tackling the problem of vulnerability
• How intelligent automation can help banks identify and support vulnerable customers