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Too many questions to answer when filling out online banking applications is a total turn-off for the 3 in 5 Filipino respondents in FICO’s 2021 Digital Banking Survey released recently.

People equate digitalization to seamless operations that is why when clients try to open accounts via mobile app or website, they lose patience when questions fewer than 10 questions, which probably cover just the basic information. The survey found that 1 in 5 tend to drop out if asked more than five questions.

“The pandemic is driving a digital-first mindset in the Philippines with 61% of consumers more likely to open an account digitally than a year ago,” said Aashish Sharma, senior director of decision management solutions for FICO in the Asia Pacific. “The number of consumers who prefer to open bank accounts digitally has grown to 41% and continues to rise, which is significant in a country with a strong branch culture.”

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FICO, a digital analytics firm, commissioned an independent research company to conduct the survey in January 2021 with 1,000 Filipino adults respondents along with 13,000 consumers around the world.

Frictionless

The survey revealed that consumer patience with account applications varied according to products. Filipinos had the highest expectations for completing applications in 10 questions or less, for Buy Now Pay Later products (65%), savings accounts (62%), and transaction accounts (60%).

FICO revealed that the figures are significantly higher than other countries in the survey. To illustrate, just 41% of UK consumers and 51% of Australian consumers expected to answer 10 questions or less when opening a transaction account.

Overall, Filipino consumers want digital experiences that reduce friction and inconvenience. They expect their main bank to know them, 69% want to prove their identity online and 26% of Filipinos say that financial institutions ask too many questions.

“Where there is friction there is an opportunity, as the quote goes,” said Sharma. “Either you solve it for your customers today, or a competitor will do it tomorrow. Consumers want banks to find answers to application questions through technology approaches such as improved identity checks, transaction history analysis, open banking, and government databases.”

Digital channels

Filipinos who open an account digitally prefer to carry out the process entirely in their chosen channel, whether it be a smartphone or a website. If customers are asked to move out of the channel to prove their identities, many of them will abandon the application, either giving up on opening an account completely or by going to a competitor. Of those who don’t immediately abandon, up to an additional 32% will delay the process.

The survey found that any disruption matters. Asking people to scan and email documents or use a separate identity portal causes almost as much application abandonment as asking them to visit branches or mail-in documents.