At this point in its history, the banking and financial sector is at a crossroads. Filipinos now embrace online payment options more than ever while banks continue leveraging technology to ensure seamless transactions. Digital payment methods, for instance, rose to 30.3 percent in 2021, a 10 percent increase from 2020, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
This steady increase in digital payment goes to the BSP’s goal of achieving 50 percent digital transactions by 2023. However, some Filipinos prefer over-the-counter transactions, especially for other banking services. This is not surprising since online transactions, whether retail payments or traditional banking services like deposits or money transfers, can be impersonal for apparent reasons. The challenge now is how to make the overall banking experience more purpose-led to entice more people to avail of this financial service.
While it’s easy to think that achieving maximum profit has always been the goal of not just the financial sector but all businesses, this hasn’t always been the case. It might be surprising to some, but the first banks have made it a goal to create harmony between their customers and their investors.
However, this purpose-led way of doing business has slowly transformed over the years, especially with some economists believing that banking and financial institutions’ responsibility is to generate profit for themselves and their stakeholders. But as we head further into an uncertain future, it is now apparent that this mindset is no longer relevant.