Customer service

Banks should rethink even existing services, such as the branch experience, said top executives at the Oracle Industry Connect conference.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday asked for public input on the way it receives and processes complaints from consumers in what the agency said was a preliminary step toward making improvements.

It's not enough to say you provide excellent service. You have to define what it is in a concrete, measurable way to live up to that promise. Take these steps to do just that.

While the banking industry is divided on the use of conversational technology, the San Francisco company believes chatbots can make it easier for customers to discuss their finances.

Voice authentication software has improved call center service at Virginia Credit Union and shortened call times by nearly 25 percent.

A startup called Spring Labs has launched a blockchain network with the goal of getting lenders and data providers to share data to help verify customers' identity.

There are ways to provide a better consumer experience, even when institutions are looking to settle up on unpaid accounts.

With smaller screen sizes and increased levels of distractions ranging from a text or a notification, pitfalls in the checkout process can result in more abandoned carts than successful transactions, writes Andre Lyver, director of engineering for financial services at Shopify.

AxiomGo is being offered to customers seeking alternatives to prepaid cards and traditional checking accounts.

Payment data can also reveal insights for companies to foster better relationships with customers and vendors or suppliers, writes Matt Clark, president and COO of Corcentric.

Manual means of dispute management are inefficient and growing untenable in the current security and compliance environment, writes Brad Johnson, director of solutions consulting at Centrix Solutions.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a request for information Thursday on the bureau’s public reporting of consumer complaints, which has long vexed the financial services industry.

An omnichannel payment platform offers customers a unified shopping experience across whichever channel they decide to make a purchase, whether via point-of-sale in-store, online, mobile or even telephone, writes Nick Aceto, senior vice president of technology for CardConnect.

Given the rapid pace of change across the industry, it’s wise for banks to focus on improving customer service rather than chasing the strategies of their rivals.

Scores of customers have been unable to use digital channels to access accounts for more than a week, and many have taken to social media to voice their displeasure with TD’s response to the outage. The lesson for other banks: Test new platforms, and test them again, before making them live.

How do you eliminate "pain points" in the banking experience, increase wallet share and improve loyalty? Companies like Ally, USAA and Bank of the West are believers in tracking the customer journey to find the answers.

Consumers are more than willing to share retail payment information, geolocations, as well as Uber, OpenTable, Facebook, and Twitter information. However, they have high expectations for what they receive in return, writes Lisa Woodley, vice president of FSI customer experience for NTT Data Services.

There are a number of tactics and solutions organizations can employ to shut down the favored methods of fraudsters, including the use of bots and device compromise, writes Michael Lynch, chief strategy officer at InAuth.

The move comes at a time when banks are becoming more aggressive in acquiring or investing in financial technology companies.

Capital One became the latest bank to feel customers' online wrath last week after reports that some customers were being charged twice for debit card activity. But it was hardly alone.