In the last 15 years, at least 40 financial services brands have disappeared from the high street as mergers and acquisitions in the sector have swallowed up and rebranded many well know banking names. As a result, banks and financial organisations face a myriad of historical data problems, along with the challenges due to legacy technology and fragmented customer data.
Gretel, the online hub to reconnect people with their lost accounts says that financial companies need work in 2022 to increase customers’ engagement with their bank and pension provider as well as any financial accounts that may have been forgotten about over the years. Gretel estimates that nearly 20 million people in the UK have become disconnected from financial services products and are sitting on dormant or unclaimed money with a collective value of over £50 billion.
Duncan Stevens, CEO, Gretel “Fintechs have been solving legacy financial services problems, particularly when it comes to payments, banking and investing, creating solutions that benefit both the customer and the business. Yet, the industry on the whole is slow on the uptake and not yet making it a priority as many still languish in old, outdated systems that don’t help to remedy many of the issues the industry faces.
“In 2022, we’d hope to see the financial services industry working collaboratively to deliver solutions to those who need it most and support vulnerable customers in particular.”
This year, the FCA has firmly put vulnerable customers at the forefront of planning for financial companies. In the years ahead it will be crucial for financial institutions to use this lens of vulnerability to assess how they can support these customers. Financial inclusion also becomes a priority to ensure consumers don’t lose track of their money again.
Duncan Stevens continues “For Gretel that means giving customers a single, centralised, place for them to seek out lost money. This would be the ultimate evolution for customer reconnection, rather than each firm individually providing this self-service functionality. It will empower customers to resolve multiple problems through a single channel, saving them time, inconvenience and stress – factors which often contribute to customers putting off the act of reconnecting.
“Traditional financial providers and fintechs working together will achieve the best outcomes for customers in 2022.”
Gretel will use intelligent technology to look for customers forgotten financial accounts, finding where they might have left money and then helps them reclaim it, find out more at www.gretel.co.uk.
