Security Bank is one of the cross-cultural banking projects I have worked on at Aleph-labs. Security Bank Corporation (SBC) is a universal bank in the Philippines. It was established on June 18, 1951 as Security Bank and Trust Company and was the first private and Filipino-controlled bank of the post-World War II period. The goal of the SBC project was to enhance the app experience for Filipinos, who have been hesitant to embrace digital banking.
All-in-all, the project was unique to me as it was a new territory for me as I have not worked in the Filipino market before. This made it a learning experience for me as I had to familiarize myself with the Filipino market and understand the cultural, social and economic factors that were affecting the adoption of digital banking.
Project Overview
Project Goals
To improve the app experience for Filipinos in order to increase their trust in digital banking.
To increase the adoption rate of the SBC mobile app among Filipinos.
To gather insights to improve the app and provide better service in the future.
Team Members
Basil Cha, Justin Lye Zhi Hao, Meghla Mehnaz Rose (me), Muhammad Hafizuddin, and Tyler James Rooney
My Responsibilities
Perform landscape analysis of the current mobile banking experiences in Philippines.
Conduct desk research on the current trends in terms of the target users’ goals, visions, and frustrations.
Develop user personas and connect them to the landscape analysis.
Conduct and moderate user interviews and analyse and synthesise the data collected.
Strategise the findings into concepts.
Landscape Analysis
A Deeper Understanding of Filipino Banking
As the Filipino market was a space, we were not as familiar with, we conducted desk research to gain a deeper understanding of the Filipino market. This involved gathering and analyzing data from various sources such as government reports, industry publications, and market research studies.
Furthermore, we looked into online resources such as social media and news articles to gather insights into the latest trends and consumer behaviours in the Philippines. Through this research, we were able to gain a comprehensive understanding of the market and identify key opportunities and challenges.
Next, we conducted stakeholder and user interviews in order to gain a better understanding of Security Bank in the Philippines. We reached out to a variety of stakeholders, including current and potential customers, employees, and industry experts to gather their perspectives and feedback on the bank's products and services. Additionally, we conducted user interviews to gain insight into customer experiences and pain points. Through these interviews, I was able to gather valuable information about the bank's strengths and weaknesses, as well as identify areas for improvement and opportunities for growth.
The stakeholder and user interviews helped to further synthesise the user personas and make them more concise and related to SBC.
A workshop was conducted with stakeholders to identify the value propositions for each of the personas. The workshop brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to collaborate and brainstorm potential value propositions for each persona. Through interactive exercises and group discussions, the workshop participants were able to identify key pain points and needs for each persona, and develop value propositions that effectively address them.
We were able to identify a wide range of issues and opportunities by developing "How Might We"s. These HMW statements served as a springboard for us to generate a wide range of design concepts and solutions. We used the HMW statements to guide our ideation and prototyping processes and ensure that the design concepts addressed the identified challenges and opportunities effectively.
AHA Moments…
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Seeing through the interviews that users want a seamless experience across different channels, whether that's online, mobile, or in-branch and that they value the flexibility of digital banking.
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Realising that there is a high demand for digital-first banking services, such as mobile banking, online account management and digital payments.
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Discovering that even though digital acceleration has been slow in Philippines, customers are open to personalized and relevant digital banking services and offers.