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Technology has transformed the finance industry. It’s had such an enormous impact that financial tech (fintech) is now a widely recognized and growing sector on its own. AI and mobile apps get much of the attention in this space, but augmented reality (AR) deserves recognition, too.
AR is still in its early stages in terms of usage — 35% of U.S. adults say they use it. However, it’s becoming increasingly common as people rely more on their phones and the underlying technology improves. Here are five ways that AR is changing the banking sector as it grows.
1. Enhanced Remote Services
It’s hard to think of an area of fintech more impactful than mobile banking. Just 29% of Americans today prefer to bank in person. The rest would rather use an app or website, and AR ties in nicely with this trend.
While remote services are convenient, they lack the human connection you get in an in-person visit. AR can fill the gap by enabling engaging videoconferences. You can talk with a financial adviser over video as virtual elements highlight spending trends, stock data or other important information.
AR combines the convenience of digital dashboards and interactive elements with the clarity of face-to-face communication. As a result, remote finances become a better replacement for in-person alternatives, saving you time and gas money.
2. Improved Visualization
Similarly, AR can make it easier to understand complex topics. Illustrations like graphs and charts are helpful when getting a handle on your finances, and AR makes them engaging and accessible.
Fintech company NF Innova makes an AR app showing animated bar graphs of your spending after scanning your card. That way, you can see your broader financial trends just by holding your card in front of your phone. Removing the time it’d take to log into a banking app and sort through menus means you can make smarter purchasing decisions faster.
3. Engaging Financial Education
Because AR makes information easier to process, it’s an ideal financial literacy tool. Interactive visuals help you understand your finances in a way that makes the most sense to you.
AR’s gamified elements are most helpful for younger audiences. Awareness of economic issues is the biggest part of financial literacy for Gen Z, but it can be hard to learn about these things without living through them. AR visuals make it easier by offering an interesting way to look into things like budgeting and saving for retirement.
Any lesson is good, but learning that feels like Pokémon Go is more impactful than education that feels like a classroom. Consequently, AR in banking can help young people avoid common financial pitfalls later in life.
4. Increased Accessibility
Many AR applications are also more accessible than the older way of doing things. Just as facial recognition makes banking logins easier for people with disabilities, AR consultations can replace in-person visits that would be challenging for some customers. Similarly, automatically seeing important data by scanning something with your phone camera removes the need to type on a touch screen.
Real-time subtitles are another way AR makes things accessible. You can use in-camera translation apps to interpret banking signs or ATMs in other countries where you don’t speak the language. Alternatively, immigrants to the U.S. can use them to set up domestic accounts before they have a firm grasp of English — helping them get settled sooner.
5. Faster Support
Some banks use AR to streamline customer service. U.S. Bank offers an AR app that gives directions to nearby branches and ATMs. You can look through your phone’s camera to see where these locations are as well as information like their operating hours. Using AR instead of Googling what’s around you saves time.
Similar solutions could pull up data about costs and fees when pointing a camera at something you’re considering buying or a sign advertising certain services. Whatever the specifics, AR removes much of the friction of looking something up.
AR Makes Banking More Consumer-Friendly Than Ever
In the past, finance has been a challenging industry for many people, especially younger customers with less experience. AR is one of the many technologies that make it easier to understand and control.
These five use cases are just some ways this tech could transform mobile banking. As AR advances, new possibilities will appear, driving fintech forward.
Devin Partida is Editor-in-Chief at ReHack Magazine and editorial contributor at AR Insider. See her work here and follow her @rehackmagazine.
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