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It could be argued Santander is more of a fintech than many fintechs out there?

My bank does not have search functionality on the mobile app. On the internet portal you can search but only in 3 month chunks!

This is because behind the scenes everything is still running on an IBM mainframe and because the mobile app is a generic product from a vendor.

I imagine most large banks have similar issues, mind you making any changes when you are processing millions of transactions a day must be pretty terrifying...

Yet there are banks that have solved these issues...

How do you reconcile helping your customers to make savings with the need of banks to make a profit? For example banks offer savings accounts with good rates of interest that revert to a standard (i.e. very low in the current interest rate environment) rate after a period of time.

This is done to capture new customers and reduce churn, but also works for the banks because customers either don't realise the rate on their account is being reduced or they cannot be bothered to transfer their money to a new account.

If we create an AI assistant shouldn

If you have a phone and have loaded a bank App then why not just use a contactless ATM with your phone, avoids the hassle of entering eight-digit access codes plus pin number. Otherwise scanning a QR code so long as it works seems to generate less friction even if it seems old school to some..

On the other hand I have cash in my wallet that has sat there for weeks, not because my spendthrift ways have changed but because it is easier to pay with a phone or a contactless card...

If you have a small business account in the UK then you will be charged for transactions with cash being the most expensive followed by cheques and electronic payments being the cheapest, so there is a financial incentive.

I agree processing cheques must be expensive for banks, but they cannot make the decision to scrap them that is a political matter that seems to raise merry hell evey time it is mooted.

As to why some Financial Institutions continue to pay by cheque your guess is as good as mine, some of them are probably not hooked up to the internet or don't have computers yet.

There are some areas where cheques remain in use, surprisingly some financial institutions still pay divedends and even repay capital using cheques in the post. You cannot use digital banking with executors accounts in the UK. Combine this with the closure of branches plus ever increasing road traffic means plenty of hours wasted driving across town to deposit cheques.

Lots of single traders and small businesses use cheques, they will say things like internet banking is too complicated or they have security concerns. The more switched on ones include their bank details on invoices (sent via email) so that you can pay directly and they avoid having to pay fees.

Each country is stuck in its own particular rut, surprisingly the US which is generally behind the curve has allowed digital cheques for years, why has it taken so long in the UK? Countries in Africa such as Kenya have shown you can pretty much skip banks and go direct from a cashless society to mobily payments. Perhaps someone can comment here on the relative cost of cheques, digital or otherwise, vs the cost of digital payments. We know handling cash has a cost and presumably cheque processing also has a higher cost compared to purely digital transactions?

The number and value of notes in circulation has not quite doubled in the last 12 years, and if you look at the numbers it is £20 and £50 pound notes that have increased most in both value and in number. Why? Because banks like stuffing ATMs with £20 pound notes to reduce the number of times they have to be refilled (in spite of the fact the £20 pound note is unpopular with vendors who more often ask whether the customer has any smaller notes) and the £50 pound note is used by criminals and those with something to hide. I have only seen one once or twice when selling a car. I think cash use will gradually fade away as it seems to be doing in places like Finland. Maybe the £50 pound note should be declared null and void to flush out the tax evaders and drug smugglers?

There is a cost to handling cash that presumably is not being passed on to merchants hence they prefer cash over digital payments?

The other benefit of digitalisation is providing banking services to the unbanked sectors of the population?

The Lloyds mobile app now uses the iPhone touch Id so no need for passwords, you can set-up new recipeints and to make payments directly. They also do not need notification when you go abroad, they send a text alert if your card is used abroad but do not block it, this works fine for me.