Social Media Week London

This is a Guest Blog by Deborah Copeland, Head of Online PR for Brass Agency.

Courage, collaboration with regulators, and putting the customer at the heart, were seen as the key drivers to establish a future for social media in financial services at this weeks’ panel debate.  Held as part of Social Media Week London, the ‘Social future for banking’ debate was organised by online bank, first direct.

The panel, featuring representatives from HSBC, first direct, RSA, Money Supermarket, MSN Money, AOL and Finextra discussed the opportunities and challenges of embracing social media by the financial services sector.

Regulation, compliance and quality legal advice were seen as key factors which perhaps restrained the wider adoption of social media in the industry.  However, the panel were hopeful that by working closely with the regulators , as well as having the courage to test and learn from social activity, the industry could take a lead in shaping  the future for customer communication – for current customers and, perhaps more importantly, for future banking generations.

Everyone agreed that social media presents a big opportunity for the financial services industry, in terms of enhancing  customer service, building trust, communicating the brand essence and in some cases, generating leads.  Many banks are beginning to ‘dip their toe in the water’ but the consensus was that significant challenges are still in the way.

David Lever, head of service and complaints, UK Commercial Banking, HSBC, said: “In a business context our customers tell us that they want HSBC bank to be more accessible to them, more proactive with them, they want us to understand their businesses and they want us to solve their problems.  We can do all of those very quickly and efficiently through social media.

“The challenge in our industry is to have the courage to take that step.  Social media is very much about putting the control in the hands of the customer, which in such a heavily regulated environment isn’t without its challenges.”

Roberto Hortal, head of eBusiness at RSA, commented: “We have a real opportunity not to be the last ones to adopt this.  Financial services tends to be quite happy to take the follow-up position but I hope we can get together and find a way forward because the next time an opportunity like this comes along is probably a long way off.

“I have been close to ditching social media projects myself and they have turned out to be very successful, not only in driving engagement but in driving sales cost effectively.  I’d urge everyone to be brave enough to say, ‘go ahead and test it’.”

Natalie Cowen, head of brand and communication at first direct, said: “There is a tremendous will for banks to improve their communication using social media and we can see the benefits that it will bring to our business and our customers.  We now need to find the way to make this happen and that process has to involve the decision makers, regulators and legal advisors so that the entire industry is well informed and working together to make the most of this unprecedented media shift.”

The debate is the launch of a series of future discussions on the issues surrounding social media in financial services.

The panellists for ‘A social future for banking’ were:

• Elizabeth Lumley, special projects editor at Finextra
• Simon Ward, senior editor, MSN Money
• Natalie Cowen, head of brand and communications, first direct
• David Lever, head of service and complaints, UK Commercial Banking, HSBC
• Clare Francis, editor, Moneysupermarket
• Tom Flack, managing editor, Finance, AOL
• Roberto Hortal, head of eBusiness, RSA

Video of the debate: The Future of Social Banking – First Direct Panel Discussion