Opinion: Banking technologies bring safer, more convenient solutions

Jeff Scott

When it comes to exciting developments in technology, your first thought might not be banking.

That’s understandable. After all, banking apps have been around for a while now – what’s terribly exciting about that?

Quite a bit, actually.

I think the bottom line is that we all use tech, but we want it to be safe and simple, with all our solutions in one place. Sure, I could download an app for each of my credit cards, financial institutions and subscription management services. Yes, I can spend however long it takes to toggle back and forth among them to manage funds, schedule payments and vigilantly protect my credit score.

But with the right banking app, I can have all that information and expertise in one place.

At their best and most efficient, banking apps can centralize a user’s access to information from many sources, meaning I can simply log in and stay put until all my financial tasks for the day are complete. I can check bank account balances, schedule credit card payments, view my credit scores and even monitor whether my personal information has appeared on the dark web, all in a single app.

This scenario requires technologies to use something called open APIs – pathways known as application programming interfaces for different software solutions to talk to each other that make all that helpful centralization possible. In the aggregate, you could think of them like Instacart shoppers, running from store to store to pick up all the different items you ordered through one app.

In today’s world, this is a service banks should provide. Around half of all banking customers are mobile-dominant, according to a survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the American Bankers Association, meaning they prefer using their devices instead of entering a bank building to apply for loans, open accounts or request solutions. Mobile banking is necessary to serve these customers where they are.

I can say this with a fair amount of certainty because we hear from end users of our mobile banking app all the time about the challenges they face and the solutions they’d like to see. That’s exciting to me, because it means banking technologies are facilitating open communication between decision-makers at the bank leadership level and the people we’re here to serve.

Tech allows us to provide the solutions we might otherwise not even know we needed to the people who need them most.

When technology solves a problem, it makes life easier. That said, technology can also be a double-edged sword, and, like a sword, it should be used with skill and care.

Of course, there are numerous safety protocols built into banking technologies, such as those that protect you at the transaction and login levels by asking, “Is this really you?” and flagging potentially fraudulent activity when it occurs away from your home geography.

But when it comes to security, people are always the first line of defense against fraudsters.

We should enable multifactor authentication, choose strong passwords and practice good internet hygiene to help our technology keep us safe.

One of the best ways to be your own first line of defense is to add your debit card to the digital wallet on your phone and use Apple Pay or Google Pay when you make a purchase in a store, at the gas pump, or anywhere else you might otherwise swipe your debit card.

These technologies “tokenize” your digital payment, meaning no information about you is being shared. Using this method of payment drastically minimizes the chance of fraud, making these transactions much more secure than swiping – or even tapping – your physical debit card. In fact, they’re one of the safest ways to make a purchase.

Safer, more convenient solutions like these drive value to our customers. And to me, that’s something to get excited about.

Jeff Scott is a senior executive vice president and chief banking operations office for OakStar Bank. He can be reached at jscott@oakstarbank.com.