Old world banks Moven on
A major international bank will fold through customer atrophy, Alex Sion, managing director of US challenger bank brand Moven, predicted at an industry conference yesterday."A giant will fall - a global financial enterprise… [will just] plain goes out of business," he said."[And] it will not be a capital markets' scandal but customer atrophy that does it."After extensive publicity over the last few years, on the industry conference circuit, Moven is at last gradually opening its metaphorical doors to customers, following a soft launch to staff and family earlier this year. Moven uses the balance sheet of Bancorp Bank to hold deposits, but Moven alone is responsible for its idiosyncratic service promise, which emphasises personal responsibility and digital engagement.Sion said he saw Moven as being "far removed from a traditional bank" and hoped that customers might see it as "a money management service with no bank name."In contrarian spirit, Sion distanced himself from the long-standing prediction of a Moven co-founder, the Australian industry evangelist Brett King, that the bank branch is dying."Branches will make a serious comeback," Sion said."The best digital marketing strategy can only lead to five per cent conversion, tops. The worst sales people in wealth management will convert at 30 per cent."Sion was speaking at IQPC's Digital Financial Services conference in Sydney.