financial literacy & advice
timely advice for better financial outcomes
At Scotiabank Digital Factory, I co-authored a 72-page strategy report exploring how digital banking could help customers make better financial decisions.
Our hypothesis was that financial advice should be inherent in the banking experience, not something customers have to seek out. By embedding guidance into everyday interactions, we believed the bank could strengthen financial literacy while becoming a more active partner in customers’ financial wellbeing.
The work became a cornerstone of Scotiabank’s “Bank of Advice” strategy, was presented across the organization—including at the annual Global Leadership Summit—and ultimately led to the creation of a dedicated Advice design team under my leadership.
Role: Team lead, UX, design strategy, research
Understanding the financial literacy problem
DEsk research & User interviews
Our research revealed a disconnect between the amount of financial information available to customers and their ability to confidently act on it.
Customers described the financial landscape as confusing and fragmented. They wanted trustworthy information, but more importantly, they wanted enough context to understand their options and make informed decisions.
From information to timely advice
Our research led to a key strategic shift: rather than adding more financial education, Scotiabank could help customers by delivering relevant, actionable advice within the moments they were already making financial decisions.
We proposed repositioning the bank from one of many sources of financial information to a trusted layer between customers and an increasingly complex financial landscape.
Creating a framework for financial needs
To determine where advice could have the greatest impact, we created a framework that organized financial needs from basic money management through security, planning, and long-term growth.
We chose to begin with “survival” needs, the everyday behaviours around money in and money out, where small interventions could have an immediate impact on a customer's financial health.
preventing attrition with overdraft protection
Based in the above hypothesis our main case study was creating overdraft protection interventions in order to help customers manage their money and mitigate attrition. A win-win situation for bank and customer.
The customer journey
Using customer journeys as a guide to the banking experience we proposed interventions where they would be most useful.
digital money management proposals
Allowing the user to opt-in to overdraft protection at multiple points in their experience brings Advice to the user when and where it is most useful. It also serves the bank by lowering attrition rates.
creation of the advice team
Based on the success of the report an ‘Advice’ team was created under my lead to work on projects in the banking advice category.
The group I led consisted of 3 UX designers and 2 writers. We worked on; Help Centre, Scotiabank Advice Centre, Mobile Search, Digital Money Management, and Chatbot.
Advice team roadmap proposal.