Speaking to the Customer

China’s digital players are redefining the customer communications expectations of China’s 1.4 billion retail banking customers. In this report from Kapronasia, sponsored by GMC, we look at some of the key changes and challenges for China’s traditional finance players today.

A decade ago, going to the bank in China meant queuing for an hour and suffering what was often very poor customer service. In a retail banking market with limited competition, there was little push to do anything different. China’s Big-5 banks controlled the market and smaller upstart banks, like the Bank of Shanghai and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, were only getting started. Lack of competitive choice meant that there was little reason for customers to switch providers. If they moved to a new bank, but still received the same level of service, why should they bother changing?

Today, the industry is shifting rapidly. With online payment platforms like WeChat Pay and Alipay, digital payments are a reality for customers. Financial product distribution platforms like Lufax and CreditEase make it incredibly easy for customers to invest their money. P2P lenders are bringing new financial products and choices to the market.

In this Speaking to the Customer report published by Kapronasia and sponsored by GMC Software, we will take a look at the historical developments in China’s banking industry and chart how we got to where we are today. We will then discuss how these new players are disrupting the market by providing better customer experiences and communication. Finally, we will discuss the lessons that traditional financial service providers can learn from today’s industry transformation, point out some key factors of success, and highlight what actions firms need to take in their businesses now in order to be ready for the future. We hope you find this report as interesting to read as it was for us to research.

Clients of Kapronasia’s Asia Financial Advisory Service can download this report. For more information on this report or any other of our reports, please email us research@kapronasia.com.