Image is everything with ABN Amro’s new webcam advisory service
ABN Amro hasn’t lost face with the unveiling of Beeldbankieren (image banking), a service that lets clients book a personal video banking appointment with one of its advisors.
Hoe gaat het?
According to the Dutch bank, a third of all advisory meetings already take place through video banking (“as much as 61% for mortgage advice”).
ABN Amro says people prefer to arrange their banking business when it suits them, for example, by mobile phone or by changing their mortgage conditions online.
The banking sector is “rapidly digitalising, and personal visits to branches have been tailing off for years”.
ABN Amro’s personal banking director Klaas Ariaans says: “When it comes to financial matters, people still want that element of personal contact. With Beeldbankieren, our clients can be having a webcam meeting with one of our advisors within 24 hours of booking the appointment.”
Clients can use the service to book an online video banking appointment with an advisor to discuss their mortgage, pension or investment plans. Or simply to ask them for advice on general money matters.
The bank says over a thousand clients book a webcam appointment each week.
Ariaans adds that its “ultimate aim is to make all our advisors ‘Beeldbankier’-proof, increasing the number of webcam appointments from 1,200 at present to 3,000 by the end of the year”.
Last week, ABN Amro reported a net profit of €595 million for Q1 2018 due to cost savings through its IT overhaul. The bank is in the midst of a tech revamp and revealed some recent developments.
