New banking trends arising after the pandemic

The changes brought upon in every country in the world by the COVID-19 pandemic go beyond what people can see at first sight. In order to tame the effects of the virus, countries around the world imposed different preventive actions that would leave their mark for a longer time than governments and citizens could measure at the time. Long lockdowns that did not have an end date caused anxiety among the population, and also, changed the fabric of societies around the world in terms of economy, social interactions, education, and even issues related to the environment. Although all of the changes were deep and significant, only one will be mentioned now related to economic changes. Among these changes it was possible to notice new spending tendencies, new trends regarding saving and consuming habits and also, although not as easy to see, new banking trends in the country. The pandemic left these institutions dealing with the harsh task to stay afloat, with very active marketing departments hoping to hold customers in.

Priorities changed during the worst times during lockdowns. Many people lost their jobs, many others changed the way in which they used to work, moving into the home-office way for good. Many changes seemed temporary, but were actually here to stay. Individuals were trying to make ends meet, and this led to them taking decisions. Many households decided to ask for a personal loan to pay off debts. However, many decided to incur into debt with their relatives, or close friends, and not in a formal institution like a bank. Owing money to a family member, in an informal way, may have many benefits like no interest rate, and the comfort of not having to meet a deadline for payments. This led to a decline in the number of people who had set up a bank account or would like to set up a new  bank account in the future. To respond to this situation, banks had to get hold of new marketing techniques that would attract new clients and encourage old clients to keep their accounts.

Among some of the problems banks had to face is the novel preference of customers to use online services, also accelerated as a consequence of being locked at home for such a long time. Customers now use, for example, social media, like Facebook or Instagram to look for information about the goods and commodities they need. As a result, expanding marketing techniques offer now data on social media due to the fact that people spend most of their time online. All over the world, people of all ages rely on information and advertisements shown on social media, which can be used as a resource to promote banking activities, and South Africa is not an exception. Another new tendency is to offer personalized online attention and make the relationships held between the bank and the clients closer than before, or at least provide the feeling of it. In that way, banks promote how well they work and how good the options they offer are.

All in all, marketing techniques relating to banking promotion have been used to prevent consumers from closing their accounts or avoiding using their services. All this has come to pass as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world more than two years ago, but still brings consequences to the population. In the same way that the economic system suffered changes, the banking system did so in turn. South Africa has not been an exception to this rule, and it is important to keep ourselves informed in order to make the best decisions according to our needs.