Clearly, banking is an essential part of our daily lives. Banks made efforts to encourage the use of electronic banking (e-banking) system to cope with recently rapid-developing lifestyle, but some segments do not show interests or even do not own saving accounts in the bank. How should banks view this to improve their products and services?
In fact, only 25% of the upper-income earners in Indonesia use e-banking services. They admit that, ease for balance-checking and transfer, accessible anytime and anywhere, are part of the reasons why they feel the benefits of this e-banking technology. But, still, there are more people who do not use e-banking because they think the system is too difficult, so they prefer going to the bank or ATM, or simply do not have time to register for these e-banking services.
On the other sides, respondents from lower-income earners, in fact, do not have bank accounts. Beyond question, they might feel the little income earned might just be used to support their daily lives, and not have any money left to keep in the bank. That’s why some of them prefer to keep it at home, or in a form of rotating savings (arisan) in their community.
These respondents, although they do not have bank accounts, comprehend brand awareness of BRI as the most popular bank (61%), followed by BCA and Bank Mandiri respectively. So why do they still hesitate to open the bank accounts?
Most people in this segment do not own a vehicle, or only own one for all family members, so finding time to go to the bank and far distance from bank become problems for them. Besides, the information about the bank services might not be sufficient or easily understood, so they find it a bit complicated to use. If these obstacles are taken away, such as: bank location closer to home, banking system proven safe and secure, and sufficient information given regarding banking services, there is still a chance to make 70% of the them open the bank accounts.
In conclusion, there are still some gaps to work on and areas to develop by the banks to maximize the use banking products and services: both reinforce the use of e-banking in middle-up segment and change the mindset to go to the bank for middle-down segment. For more information or full research service, contact our team in BOI Research Services.
