Understanding the Role of QR Codes in Banking and Financial Operations: Ultimate Guide

About a decade ago, if you had told anyone that QR codes would take over the world, nobody would have believed you. It’s 2024 now and you can see QR codes plastered pretty much everywhere. From movie tickets to even your business cards, these weird-looking codes have indeed taken the world by storm.

There are so many uses for QR codes today that it is hard to even tell just how many ways you can use a QR code. And, not long ago, a YouTuber named MattKC even managed to fit an entire video game inside one.

But this blog post is not about learning about the various uses of QR codes. It’s about learning what role they play in a financial sense and how they help banks in their day-to-day financial operations.

QR Codes in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance Sector

If there’s one industry in the world that has benefited the most from all this QR code rage, it would most definitely be the banking and finance sector. With so many changes in the banking sector, thanks to all the tech adoption, lives and access to basic banking facilities are available to people even in the remotest of places.

But where exactly does “QR code” come into all this?

In the last couple of years, we have seen just how capable and versatile QR codes actually are. This is especially true in the finance sector, from sending and receiving payments to giving users access to letting people access mobile banking services and much more.

Are QR codes safe for banking and how do banks make them? 

QR codes can provide an end-to-end encryption security feature for financial institutions and their customers to carry out secure transactions. Banks use a special proprietary QR code generator that can encrypt data that cannot be decoded by any third party other than the bank itself.

DID YOU KNOW?
Banks can use PDF QR codes to store essential documents so customers or stakeholders can scan them to see their account details and transactions. With QR codes, confidential or important files such as bank statements are secure, and information is protected.

How Can QR Codes Be Used in Banking and Financial Operations

QR codes can be used in so many ways that it can be hard to count. Here are some inventive ways banks and financial institutions use QR codes in their day-to-day operations.

As you might have guessed, this one is pretty common, but the most useful one. You know, QR codes can be made pretty secure with the help of encryption, which also makes them ideal for making transactions from one person to another or between organizations.

For example, when you go to a restaurant nowadays, you can simply scan a QR code to pay the bill after you’re done with your meal. Plus, with so many financial apps also adopting QR codes into their systems, not carrying a wallet today seems like a no-brainer.

You can even buy a movie ticket online with the help of these codes too. Just scan the QR code at the end of the transaction step and pay, it’s as easy as that.

Payments are not the only thing QR codes are good at. QR codes can store encrypted information and banks can use them to let users gain access to mobile banking and logins.

These codes can give users a smooth mobile and web banking experience. You no longer need to keep changing your passwords, just scan the QR code and enter your secure 2FA key and you’re in. 

It’s not just digital marketing companies that use QR codes to promote their services, banks have gotten their hands in on that pie too. Banks can use these codes to create a more engaging and fun customer experience.

For example, you want to get a credit card from your bank. They can simply send you a QR code and all you need to do is scan it and see all the offerings they have for you.

In the past, whenever you wanted to make a large transaction on your card, your bank would just put a stop to it till you went there personally and got that approved. Well, that’s not the case anymore.

Today, when you’re making a big purchase, let’s say for example, you’re at the dealership getting a new Tesla, your bank will send you a message with a QR code attached to verify that it is really you making that transaction.

This way, you can easily fill out your KYC and AML verifications and speed up the payment process.

Accessing ATMs can be tricky and with digital transactions becoming a thing, people have mostly stopped carrying their wallets.

Banks know this and they have made getting cash from ATMs a lot easier. 

Many ATMs now give you the option to withdraw cash by scanning a QR code on the screen. And you know what? This has also made getting cash from ATMs a lot more secure. In the past, putting your credit/debit card into any ATM was like a gamble. Thieves would put card skimmers on top of the card slot in the machine.

So, whenever people needed cash in the past, they would need to pull on the card slot to see if there was a skimmer on top of the machine or not.

Now, all you need to do is scan the code and you’re in. Just put in the amount you want and go on with your day.

What are the Benefits of Using QR Codes for Banking and Financial Operations?

With so many uses, QR codes are pretty adaptable no matter where you use them. Here are some of the benefits of using QR codes for bank and financial operations:

1. Customers Get a Better Banking Experience

QR codes can be used to share any type of info or services instantly. This gives the customers a faster and more engaging experience. For example, you can scan the code on an app and get access to your account with ease.

2. Great Marketing Potential

Banks and financial operations can use QR codes in their advertisements to give potential customers an idea of what services they offer.

3. It’s Good for Making Transactions More Secure

QR codes can give all your transactions that extra punch for making transactions. While encryption can make the transactions more secure. Banks can also use it in their internal processes like hiding codes in cheques to verify their authenticity. 

It can also be used for documents.

Conclusion

QR codes have a ton of uses and can adapt to any application you can think of. From making payments to securing transactions and even sharing details for marketing, banking, and financial operations can use them in many different ways.

These codes can also be used to improve the banking experience for customers, and document verification which can pretty much change how we experience the physical banking experience forever.

---