Financial transactions grew by 40% in Q1: OCBC

Customer usage of digital banking services increased.

The total amount of financial transactions jumped 40% YoY in Q1, whilst the total number of financial transactions rose 20%, according to OCBC Bank. Checking balances and account overview, funds transfers, credit card bill payments were seen as the top transactions made during the period.

OCBC noted that the usage of digital services spiked, with 30% of current and savings accounts (CASA) acquired purely digitally, getting a 14% increase in April compared to January. Digital auto and home loans introduced earlier this year are also showing significant uptake.

In addition, unit trust purchase jumped by 150% or 2.5x QoQ as well as usage in Robo-Invest service with 60%. Blue Chip Investment Plan (BCIP) also rose by 10% in the same period.

Online spending such as online supermarket spending doubled, whilst video & music subscription and food delivery both expanded by 50%. Online gaming services also grew by 25%.

However, despite the significant increase in these categories, overall online card spending fell by 10% YoY as spending on the travel industry and airlines dipped.

ATM transactions also dropped by 20% MoM in March compared to January and February, whilst QR code withdrawals increased by 20% MoM in March as more customers adopt QR code cash withdrawal feature.

Digital ambassadors, financial consultants, contact centre agents, and online/mobile banking digital guides are provided to assist customers in making the switch to digital transactions. Seniors became the fastest growing segment with a 20% YoY increase, whilst other segments increased on an average of 7% YoY.

Meanwhile, initiatives such as time deposit placement and instructions, digital/tele-advisory, and low-cost remittances were also added to boost digital adoption. The bank also expedited the Chinese language option on the mobile banking app.

A special webpage and social media outreach is also done to help customers as branch footfall reduced by 60% YoY in April.