The biggest opportunity for Financial Institutions today is getting their product into Google, Amazon, and Facebook’s customer experiences.

72% of millennials would rather bank with Google, Facebook or Amazon than their existing financial institution. You have to wonder how long it will be before these tech giants launch their own financial products.  Financial institutions already receive over 50% of their web visits from clients who pull their information onto other platforms; customers want their financial information everywhere, not just on their financial institution’s website.

Financial institutions have their own apps, but few are capturing eyeballs like the tech giants do. I encourage any financial executive to try the “Battery Usage” test: on your iPhone  => settings =>battery => scroll down and look at which apps drained your battery for the last 24 hours & 7 days.  We have yet to find anyone with a Financial Institution in the top 5.

Over the next 3 weeks, we will explore the potential of Financial Institutions bringing their customer journey into the experience of Google, Amazon and Facebook.  In each of these cases, we will discuss how these three companies can serve as safe, secure, trusted platforms for Financial Institutions to engage with their customers, breaking free of from click-based advertising to action-based engagement.  These social platforms continue to do what they do best, increase engagement, while the Financial Institutions reap the benefits for their clients.

PS:  We’ve covered WeChat as an operating system here – we look west to learn the best practices, customer trends and applicability for the US market.