At the end of 2021, a European bank was considering the purchase of a bank in Uzbekistan. Our role was to give top management an understanding of the bank's competitive position and changes that would help to achieve leading positions and become key for customer transactions.
The research covered the bank under consideration for purchase in Uzbekistan, the mobile applications of seven competing banks, and two major non-bank payment services in the country. Additionally, we examined mobile applications of some banks operating in CIS countries.
Relying solely on the local market is insufficient to make a mobile application a digital market leader.
As a result of the research, we compiled a ranking. It showed the competitive position of the mobile application of the bank under consideration for purchase and priorities for development. In addition to the overall assessment of the application, we calculated separate assessments for different customer tasks.
The ranking demonstrates the level of local leaders, while recommendations and best practices show how to improve this level of user experience. In the research report, we offered a set of recommendations for each task block and highlighted what requires special attention.
Are you looking to understand and improve your bank's competitive position in Uzbekistan? At Markswebb, we specialize in comprehensive market analysis and strategic recommendations to help your bank achieve leading positions in the market. Please, read Mobile Banking Rank Uzbekistan 2024 for unique insights.
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Main challenge was to provide the top management of the "European bank" with a structured and detailed understanding of their competitive position in the market. Based on this assessment, we offered a practically applicable set of recommendations, breaking down the target position into a series of product changes.
Objective assessment helps identify the direction for the service and team to achieve business goals. This approach is more structured than filling the backlog with user wishes, immediate business needs, or the subjective vision of top management. A coordinate system allows for proper task prioritization: different elements of a mobile bank have their weight and clear value.
To achieve the goal, we created a composite user persona, listed all the tasks that arise around the banking product (debit card), and explored the available solutions in the country for these tasks.
Each opportunity was transformed into a functional criterion, with the most significant and comprehensive ones identified. We formulated usability criteria based on expert understanding of the UX issues people face in fintech services. Each criterion was weighted according to how frequently the problem occurs and how critical it is for the user.
The research on mobile banks in Uzbekistan was based on the Markswebb Mobile Banking Rank 2021 system for evaluating mobile banks for individuals.
Through interviews with residents of Uzbekistan, we understood how the local fintech market differs. This allowed us to correctly prioritize and adapt the assessment system for user experience in mobile applications. We accounted for infrastructural features, replaced service providers with local ones, and excluded advanced features absent from the market, as they do not differentiate mobile banks.
To become a digital leader in Uzbekistan's remote banking market, a bank needs to maximize capabilities for payments, transfers, and other daily financial management tasks.
As a result of the project, the bank's top management received a detailed overview of the market, a rating that demonstrates the distribution of power in the market, and a list of priorities for turning the mobile bank into the main payment and transfer tool for customers.
To become a digital leader in the mobile banking market in Uzbekistan, maximum opportunities for payments, transfers, and other daily financial management tasks are required.
The bank on which our client planned to develop their transactional business had no advantages over competitors in any user task. The comparable level of user experience is in transfers between card numbers and their own accounts, payment of utility bills, as well as payment templates and scheduled operations.
For the mobile banking product and team, we conducted a detailed analysis of the application based on user tasks. We reflected on the competitive landscape in the rankings, described the advantages of leaders, and identified gaps to high level digital experience in the mobile banking app.
The main drawbacks of the application were the lack of online applications for issuing new cards on the bank's website and mobile bank, a complex registration process and the first login to the app. There are also problems with navigation, transaction history, displaying cards and other products, transfers to phone numbers and abroad, payments, currency exchange, finding ATMs and branches, and customer support.
We have suggested practices from the Uzbekistan market that will help to approach the leaders of the local market, and solutions from banks in other countries for digital market leadership.
We understand customers' needs and tasks, deeply immerse ourselves in the subject area, and can choose and correctly use different methods for collecting and analyzing data to gain maximum insights.
This case study demonstrates a strategic and comprehensive approach to evaluating and enhancing a bank's competitive position in the market. By partnering with Markswebb, the client gained valuable insights, practical recommendations, and a clear path to achieving digital market leadership in Uzbekistan.
Every year we conduct up to 15 studies of digital services. These are industry benchmarks that reflect the state of the market and trends.
