Traditional Scottish banks are caught in the app trap - ​Anna Meikle

Take a walk through any Scottish town and you’ll probably notice a stalwart of the high-street is missing: the trusty bank branch. Over half of the country’s bank branches have closed since 2015, leaving many customers reliant on remote services. This isn’t just in rural areas. In Edinburgh South West, 85 per cent of branches have gone.

Digital services have become the preferred method for managing money with mobile now being the primary choice of device and interaction point for most customers. Mobile has become the orchestrator of the banking experience, rather than an aspect of an omni-channel experience. Yet many banks are caught in a vicious app trap. Banking has become transactional, and many of us have lost the sense of the relationship that once existed. As Mike Abbott, Global Banking Lead for Accenture, says: “Mobile apps are functionally complete but emotionally devoid.” With branches dwindling, it's vital that Scotland's banks rebuild this relationship through their mobile apps.

And this competition is fiercer than ever. The past decade has seen the rapid rise of neobanks, which have left traditional banks scrabbling to modernise. Neobanks have built their entire business app-first, winning over customers with a more seamless and intuitive experience.

​More than half of Scotland’s bank branches have closed since 2015 (Picture: stock.adobe.com)

So how do traditional banks compete? We at Accenture believe they should f ocus on three things:

1. Re-build customer experience App first. When transitioning services to mobile, many traditional banks have simply digitised existing services, transferring decades of processing issues and creating a clumsy app experience. Banks must rethink their app experience from the ground up. Customers are demanding digital offerings that are simple by design, and relevant & intimate in experience

1. Harness data to better understand customers. Customers expect their bank to know them and personalise offers. This needs to be done carefully. What customers want is balance. Done wrong, personalisation can feel intrusive or like aggressive sales. Done well, it enables truly transformational customer experiences

1. Bring the conversation back. Brands that resonate with today’s customers exhibit traits that most banks lack. They are dynamic and stand for something. Tools like Generative AI can help to achieve this, moving from a graphical static app to a flowing and evolving conversation. Having more empathetic and meaningful conversations with customers will help banks increase satisfaction and retention.

Anna Meikle, Accenture Scotland Song Co-lead (Picture: John Need)

Of course, this won’t be an easy feat to pull off. Many banks are reliant on old clunky systems that make it hard to tailor the app experience, solve problems, and sell smartly. But it is imperative for banks to prioritise transitioning away from this if they want to stay in the competition. And, perhaps most importantly, they must make sure that those who still rely on in-person services continue have access to them and actively help support their journey to digital banking.

Faced with fewer in-person touchpoints and the digital disruptors eating into customer share, Scotland’s banks must act. Escape the app trap and they could rebuild the relationship we once had with banking.

Anna Meikle, Accenture Scotland Song Co-lead