Craig Herd, a proposition analyst at Royal London, presented his proposal for the Young Banker of the Year competition. He shared his personal experience of supporting his grandfather who had dementia, highlighting the challenges faced in dealing with banks and the lack of adequate support for customers with dementia. “Currently in the UK there’s 950 ,000 people living with dementia that’s set to increase to 1 .6 million by 2050. 80% of carers think that banks they’ve been more supportive in helping customers with dementia and only one in five banks has a specific policy to support customers with dementia which just isn’t sufficient” Craig noted.
He proposed the concept of Dementia Safe, a holistic package of support features designed to assist customers with dementia in managing their finances. The features are divided into two levels: Level 1 includes existing features like visibility and awareness, as well as new features like IVR bypass, dedicated call agents trained by Dementia UK, and AI-enhanced financial crime monitoring. Level 2 introduces the ‘Champions’ concept, where a nominated friend or family member can support the customer with finances using a linked card, app, and two-factor authentication for large transactions. The benefits of Dementia Safe include a world-class customer journey, scalability for other conditions, improved industry reputation, and alignment with responsible banking principles. Craig emphasized the importance of providing better support for customers with dementia and maintaining their financial independence for as long as possible.