Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) O39 , on May 3, announced that will be expanding its Digital Silvers programme to equip another 2,000 seniors with digital banking skills.
The programme is aimed to help the bank’s elderly customers aged 60 years and above to learn how to bank and pay digitally, as well as learn about scams.
The expansion comes as the bank is “well on [its] way” of achieving its initial target of upskilling 400 elderly customers from September 2022 to June 2023.
To meet its new target, OCBC will increase the frequency of its one-on-one training workshops from twice a month to three times a week. The workshops will take place at all 30 of OCBC’s personal banking branches islandwide – up from 10 branches in 2022.
The programme’s curriculum has also been updated, including a segment on fixed deposits given the increased demand on the back of higher interest rates. During the workshops, participants will learn how to make fixed deposit placements digitally as an alternative to making their placements at physical branches. The workshops currently cover topics such as checking one’s account balance online or making PayNow transfers.
According to OCBC, just over 20% of fixed deposit placements by elderly customers aged 60 years and above were done digitally. This is in contrast to the 55% of digital placements made by the bank’s customers who were under 60 years of age.
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Based on feedback from its customers who have already participated in the workshops in 2022, OCBC says the bank has made sure that there are enough staff and volunteers to cater to their elderly customers’ needs.
Customers can sign up for the workshops at OCBC’s dedicated website or at the bank’s branches.
“The expanded OCBC Digital Silvers programme is our way of ensuring that everyone can keep up with the digital push. Every branch will run at least one workshop every two months. This means that the elderly living near these branches have ample chances to participate – if they cannot make the date for one, they can go to their next nearest branch or wait a few more weeks for the workshop to return to their branch of choice. Customers can also come in for refreshers to reinforce their learning or learn more complicated digital banking functions,” says Sunny Quek, OCBC Bank’s head of global consumer financial services.
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“Such programmes demonstrate the importance and relevance of the physical branch even as digital banking becomes the new normal. The branch continues to be a space for complex conversations about wealth, but it is also an avenue to serve the community and ensure that no one gets left behind in the journey to acquire these lifelong digital skills,” he adds.
As at 1.28pm, shares in OCBC are trading 8 cents lower or 0.63% down at $12.58.
