Physical branches desired, but rarely used | Page 2 | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

CAD said

Sorry, but I do NOT have 'everything' on my phone nor plan to have it. Phone is just that - phone. But this is NO way of payment for me. NEVER!

With all payment info I already have on my Android phone, and considering electronic IDs are coming, losing it could be as devastating as losing wallet.

Except, my smartphone is PIN protected. It is also fingerprint protected. My wallet is not.
With Android 15 which is right around the corner my smartphone will get "Protection theft lock." If unlocked smartphone is pulled from my hand, it'll lock itself. My wallet will still not.

As I am closer to retirement that to Gen Z age, my plan is the following: I'll keep smartphone with me with payment and IDs info. I'll keep wallet with all physical cards (ID/credit/debit) at secure place, not on me.
If my smartphone is stolen, I can restore my IDs and cards on new smartphone. Much easier and faster than getting new driver's, health, credit, debit, SIN, loyalty cards after wallet is lost or stolen.

We have tickets to a play in a local theatre in September. I had the option of storing those in Google Wallet on my phone and they now reside there. I, however, must now not forget to take my phone to the event.

That all said, I still find it more convenient to use Tap-n-Go with my credit card than to use Google Wallet for credit card purchases and almost always defer to that method.

@Alexandre

This is all nice and dandy as long as there is electricity and Google is not off-line.
I do not tryst ANY cloud system and will resist to put ANY of my personal data on a cloud as long as possible.
I refuse to be forced to carry 'smart phone' in order to have drivers license , OHIP, whatnot stored there. Do not care of phone's security features.
You did mention upcoming Android OS. That means you HAVE TO BUY new phone. It is like WTF??? I am forced to have latest and greatest in phones in order to exist??
Not bloody likely!
I am sure you will be happy when Google or any other tech company starts implanting chips into your body.
Then there will be no more need for any cards, documents, etc.
Imagine 'your' bright future: you get into grocery store, grab whatever you like, just walk out of the store, no need to tap or slide any cards. 'Smart' scanner will scan you to the bone marrow, charge your account for everything you put into your pockets, bags, etc. and provide comprehensive report how good all that junk you bough is for your health. I say junk as there most (all) food will be GMO. Not to worry, there will be NO paper - you will hear pleasant voice telling you balance, calories, fat, protein, etc. inside your head and it will be reported to SuperOHIP to increase your health coverage fee as 50% of purchase will increase risk of getting at least 4-5 new illnesses.
I hope you will enjoy the future.

Very good point... money is much easier to spend when it is just numbers on a screen and a tap.

Thats probably why banks and retailers are moving us in that direction.

Somehow I think post #26 has gone on an unprovoked rant? Alexandre, I think, was simply saying what she has done/will do, to go as digital as she can. I see nothing in her posts that suggest everyone is going to have to go close to 100% digital if they do not want too.

That said, more and more of what we do on a transaction basis will be geared towards digital offerings and those that do not move in that direction may be inconvenienced with manual, or limited, processes. Access to ATMs and physical branches are two such examples that will most likely become more scarce over time requiring people to travel greater differences to access those services.

[Hint: So will gas stations 20--30 years from now when most road transport may be electric or hydrogen]. It is simply Econ101.

As I said earlier, I still find it easier to pull out a credit card for 'Tap' but a few friends/family of mine are comfortable with using their Wallets on their smart watches. I doubt very much I will go that far any time soon, but I will use Google Wallet off my smartphone from time to time.

CAD said
@Alexandre

I refuse to be forced to carry 'smart phone' in order to have drivers license , OHIP, whatnot stored there. Do not care of phone's security features.

You missed one point, which is important. Your wallet is not password protected. You lose it - whoever has your wallet will have full access to its contents.

Not so with smartphone.

You did mention upcoming Android OS. That means you HAVE TO BUY new phone.

It will be free upgrade to my smartphone.

I am sure you will be happy when Google or any other tech company starts implanting chips into your body.
Then there will be no more need for any cards, documents, etc.

I think it will be facial and fingerprint recognition. In China you can already pay for a ride on public transportation by letting them scan your face. In the US they experiment with payment at stores by fingerprint scanner.

Imagine 'your' bright future: you get into store, grab whatever you like, just walk out of the store, no need to tap or slide any cards.

According to YouTube videos, that already happens in America quite often, especially in big cities.

Sarcasm about our neighbors to the South aside, now that I made an audit of what I have in my wallet, I switched to skinnier wallet. The one that can keep just four cards and one-two paper bills.
The one I had before was quite fat, with many compartments for cards and even tiny compartment for coins.

I can't get rid of my wallet yet, but the trend is clear. As well as with ABMs - keeping them idle will become as unsustainable for FIs as keeping idle payphones became unsustainable for telecom providers.

smayer97 said
consider if government decides to target you because you are not being a good enough citizen, according to their standard... how much easier it is to cut you off...  

Not in any way easier. In fact, same as now.

Unless you can explain how having electronic copy of government ID card on smartphone with ID card itself in safe deposit box at the bank gives the government more powers to target citizen.

This is very specific topic: having electronic copies of ID cards, transit passes, loyalty cards, etc. on smartphone, thus eliminating need for a wallet, for visiting FI branches and for ABMs.

Don't make it into the all encompassing topic of government surveillance and targeting its citizens.

The facts still are that physical branches AND ATMs will continue to reduce in quantity as usage continues to drop. There is a tipping point where institutional cost to have them far outweighs the value proposition (keeping customers) of having them. Which was the original thesis of this thread.

People will automate (digitize) to the degree they are comfortable with, or to the degree the inconvenience to do otherwise becomes problematic. None of us are going to stop this train and it is only a matter of how, what and when we make the change, or die off first.

Added: There is no particular reason why FIs could not get together and collectively fund a no-fee ATM that serves multiple institutions. It would save them money to have one collective ATM than 5 FIs having 5 ATMs. I think that might happen someday but who knows when? Or ATMS could eventually vanish if we truly become cashless (unlikely).

The point really is that physical branches and ATMs are on the decline and we will make changes in our habits accordingly.

Having EQ refund ABM fees is a huge benefit to their debit card, which keeps it in my wallet in case I need cash and am nowhere near my bank's network. However I often wonder if this will just be a limited time offer... their bean counters must gasp at the amount of fees they have to pay out to the ABM operators, and at some point will someone in the corner office kibosh these refunds?

Alexandre said
Not in any way easier. In fact, same as now.

Unless you can explain how having electronic copy of government ID card on smartphone with ID card itself in safe deposit box at the bank gives the government more powers to target citizen....

Not. All I will say is study the Chinese Social Credit Score system and the level of control the government has over its citizens, all based on the centralized digitization of data, IDs, etc.

Add to that the fascination that Trudeau, or any other Canadian politician, has for their level of control and... :-\