ABN Amro deploys financial coaches to turn silver surfers onto mobile banking

The silver surfers are on the rise, with 90% of ABN Amro's customers over the age of 65 using internet banking, although just a quarter access their accounts via mobile phones.

Last year, a higher percentage of over 65 customers used internet banking than of all private and retail clients.

Mobile banking is much less popular among the older population, with only 26% of retail clients using this service in 2017 - way below the overall uptake, which stood at 66%.

And digital channels seem to be popular with older customers, who rate mobile and online services as highly as other customers do.

The bank is now deploying financial coaches to offer extra support and assistance to older clients migrating to digital.

Nery Anderson, director, daily banking business, ABN Amro, says: "Our financial coaches also help customers for whom a switch to online banking is too big a step-change to familiarise themselves with Internet Banking and Mobile Banking.

"Our aim is to keep older people financially savvy and so keep control of their money and banking business."

Related Companies

ABN Amro

Channels

Retail banking

Keywords

Mobile & online banking

Comments: (1)

A Finextra member 31 May, 2018, 14:53

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Will this inititiave increase the 3 billion US dollar yearly abuse of the elderly?

Nice initiative but it will also increase the chances on financial abuse. Banks are not working hard enough to protect vulnerable seniors from the financial abuse of their carers.

This type of fraud has caught the full attention of many institutes and government organizations around the globe. Some have called this abuse “the crime of the 21stcentury”, but within the banking sector there are hardly any initiatives to stop this type of crime.

A carer, occasionally using the bank card of the elderly for their own purposes, or a child taking a deposit on the heritage. Due to e-banking, these days anybody in possession of the access code of a bank account can execute a transaction without any type of additional control.

International research shows that the main course of financial abuse is the transfer of the Access ID in combination with emotional dependency on the carers. In 2017, in the US alone, the damage from financial abuse was $3 billion

“There is hardly any control". Banks are hesitant to react on signals of abuse. The legal proof is difficult and might fire back on the financial institute.

With some simple steps we can prevent distress to elderly people. The internet is full of heartbreaking stories. In 70% of the cases the abuser is a close family member.

Allocating control to multiple people is the most effective way to stop financial abuse.

We have started the Silverfox project in order to provide a remedy for this serious problem. Interested to join forces?