“The computer says no” – An amusing take on how compliance and customer service in financial services has moved on

What if your local pub treated its customers like an old-fashioned financial institution? Times most certainly are changing for the better as technology and sophistication moves on, led largely by our highly advanced FX industry.

The processes which involve customer acceptance, customer service and compliance, all matters which are critical to the business operations of all electronic and online financial services businesses of today, are becoming increasingly technologically advanced.

Indeed, today’s compliance systems are becoming more of a science than a procedure, with specialist companies having been established in order to smooth out every process from risk management to the examination of customer documents, to ensuring that banks and brokerages provide seamless service to their clients who are receiving services from traditional banking to cutting-edge trading environments which can generate profit on currency pairs and other instruments ranging from metals to stock within fractions of a second.

In Britain, one of the epicenters of FinTech development, and a region which takes compliance very seriously, the marriage of customer experience with regulatory compliance is paramount. The demand for these two facets to be better integrated comes from three angles – not only do the regulatory authorities expect it, but financial services companies are now paying ever-increasing salaries and day rates to skilled compliance personnel to ensure keeping pace with technological change, and customers are so sophisticated nowadays that, well, they simply will not stand for tardy service or outmoded methods.

The FX industry can credit itself with being right at the very forefront of advancement, many innovations from which eventually trickle down into banking – some particular examples being the development of device neutral, real-time mobile platforms, the multi million dollar adaptation of Bitcoin’s Blockchain database technology for the automation of ledger and back office functions in banks, and the cloud-based borderless transfer systems which can send funds across the world via liquidity aggregators with millimetric precision on pricing.

In the traditional spirit of good, old fashioned British social observational humor, Tandem Bank has generated a video, lampooning old-school service methodology, covering compliance, customer engagement and general service in its traditional format – and highlighting the banality of the stereotypical passe corporate procedure of those who have not kept up with the times, if it were part of corporate culture in another favorite British industry sector – the pub!