In the olden days, banks were used to deposit and withdraw banknotes. Then ATMs came into the picture with debit and credit cards, and electronic payments soon followed, eliminating the need to visit ATMs or even carry cash.
With the banking industry being one of the primary sectors getting affected by every wave of digitalization, what if the next change around the corner is the introduction of metaverse technology in banking?
Imagine virtually entering a bank branch and taking the help of customer rep avatars to enter the vault and digitally deposit or take out money. Imagine being given the option to pay with dollars in your savings account or a digital currency issued by the bank or even through tokens from a digital wallet like Ethereum. All of these far-fetched theories hold the potential to come true at the back of banking in the metaverse.
When someone asks us what is metaverse in banking, we answer with we look at Metaverse as a new paradigm that is powered by a culmination of multiple next-gen technologies. Technologies that are a combination of decentralized and immersive tech stack. While decentralized technologies like NFT, DLT, and Web3 offer a resilient infrastructure and secure exchange approach, immersive technologies like AR/VR creates an enhanced virtual experience.
At the time of writing this article, the banking industry has entered the fourth phase of evolution, with NFTs and cryptos coming to the forefront. At the same time, a handful of banking institutions have entered the fifth – the metaverse stage.
The benefits of metaverse in banking
Banking in the metaverse comes with a range of benefits for the traditional industry. Benefits that don’t just impact customer experience but also open up new financing models.
Elevation of existing functionalities in 3D
Enabling 3D employee and customer experiences will open banks to elevated offerings where they are able to connect with a new target audience and establish their prominence. To summarize, here are the benefits of using 3D for banks.
- Metaverse banking: Offer customers the ability to view their balance, pay the bills, and make transfers through AR/VR platforms.
- Employee experiences: Deliver an immersive learning experience through simulated customer scenarios and onboarding remote workers with a feeling of community.
Multi-faceted customer engagement
Banking in the metaverse gives institutions the opportunity to relook at how they interact with their customers and what they can do to deliver empathetic service through avatars. The experience-focused answer to how metaverse will affect financial services is two-fold:
- Personalized connect: In the metaverse, banks can give high-touch service to the customers by giving them a virtual look into the portfolio and expense revenue, having virtual financial planning sessions, and making well-strategized product recommendations.
- Brand extension: Banks can extend their physical experience in the virtual world by mimicking events like ATMs cash withdrawals, branch placement and layout, and more. This would help customers feel connected with the bank.
Invent new products
Banking in the metaverse comes with numerous opportunities to tap the space with innovative banking products like –
- Digital payments
- Digital assets like NFTs and cryptocurrency
- Digital twin
What this results in is – a) Creating a sense of connectivity between physical and virtual banks and b) Opening new sources of revenue for banks.
So here were the three critical metaverse benefits in banking. But from a bank’s perspective, entering the space can be very challenging. After all, it takes them towards complete virtualization – an area which is massively unexplored. Now while it has been comparatively easier on finance in metaverse, banking institutions require planning and milestone wise goals to approach metaverse technology in banking.
Learn more at: https://appinventiv.com/blog/metaverse-in-banking/
