What is an Intelligent Bank?

I keep thinking about what an Intelligent Bank means. What is an Intelligent Bank?

Well, strip it back to basics. An Intelligent Bank is a bank that is so embedded and intimate with my digital finance that it can predict what I should do, could do and can do next. It knows when I’m being stupid with money. It know when I’m being good with money. And it knows when to predict what I should be doing with my money.

That last bit is the key: what should you be doing next?

My favourite example, and have used this a few times, is Monzo telling me that I should buy a season ticket for the subway. Reason? They analysed that I was paying a full ticket price daily and didn’t have the savings to buy a season ticket, so they offer me a season ticket that saves  and yet, at the same time, it’s a loan.

So, I was thinking about these things and thinking about other examples.

How avbout a bank that – through my transaction records – realised I am about to move house, and tells me about all the things I need to know about the house move. How about a bank that – through my transaction records – realised that I wasn’t saving enough towards my pension, and offered me a way to manage this. How about a bank that– through my transaction records – predicted I would be wanting to book a holiday in January, because that’s what I always do in January, and offered me the vacation.

On this last point, I’ll expand further.

My family go on a winter vacation to Dubai regularly. My bank know this. They have all the transactions on record. So, why doesn’t my bank tell me in August that there’s a great deal for an all-in package holiday to Dubai in January. Why? Because the bank can’t be bothered.

The thing is that we will get to the stage where analytics and AI work out our lifestyle, activities and interests automatically. It will just be a few years away.

The bank sees that you often book theatre tickets, and so it alerts you to upcoming theatre experiences; the bank sees that you regularly buy bottles of wine, and so it signs you up to their wine club; the banks tracks that you usually shop at ABC grocers, and tells you that you can pre-order from home for ABC.

You get the idea, and it’s nothing new. A long time ago, I was working with a bank who predicted when customers might be moving house based upon their transaction behaviours. The analysis looked at their transactions and worked out how often they were travelling from A to B to C. Based upon that analysis, they would recommend a home making service that included everything from contents moving to mortgage to  new schools – as they know you have two kids – to local services from gardening to house cleaning.

The challenge in all of the above is how much do you want your bank knowing about you? Should a bank be intelligent or just leave you alone? It is a choice you make and yes, it is your choice. How do you feel?