UI-D Gadget
A wearable that scans a fingerprint to generate a security code, with RFID for branches and ATMs, built around analytic, social and integrated banking.
- Top 100Deutsche Bank Future Banking, World's Top 100 semifinalist
- designboomFeatured
- 25 usersInterviewed for the research
What could the future personal banking service be?
UI-D keeps the customer at the centre and builds the banking experience around them. Each person gets a Unique Identification Device, and the bank uses it to help them understand and manage their money.
I made it with Aparna Gokhale for the Deutsche Bank Future Banking competition in 2014. The brief asked for smart ideas, gadgets or services that support customers and surprise them in a positive way.
From one model for all to a bank around you
Present banking is bank oriented: one model that fits all. Future banking is user centric, and analytical, social and integrated.
What people told us about money
Show the processResearch
We interviewed 25 people. They asked how much they earn and whether it is real, how much goes on fixed payments, and how much is left to shop.
Three ways the gadget helps
Pick one.
Analytical banking
The bank analyses how you spend and splits your income into monthly, daily and occasional patterns. It notes and categorises expenses, anticipates budgets, reminds you of fixed payments and notifies you when you cross a limit.
Social banking
Sensors read the RFID gadget when you enter an ATM or a branch, and the bank greets you by name before you introduce yourself. The deck argues that a unique identity builds trust.
Integrated banking
The gadget works as a lifestyle accessory with RFID, and as a security number generator. The code appears only after you scan your fingerprint, so it needs you to generate it.
What the gadget says
A shopping limit crossed, an unauthorised transaction, a bill 75 percent reached, and the account balance.
Three decisions that shaped it
What we chose, and what each choice cost.
A bank that adapts to you
- What we chose
- Income pre-segregated by your own spending pattern, with a notice when you reach your average limit.
- What it cost
- The bank has to see your spending to help you, which raises the question of who sees it and why.
A code that needs your fingerprint
- What we chose
- A security number generated on the gadget by scanning your fingerprint, instead of a one-time code sent to a phone or computer.
- What it cost
- People carry one more device, in return for a second layer that only they can unlock.
Make the gadget part of daily life
- What we chose
- A lifestyle accessory that works like a smart watch and can connect to a smartphone.
- What it cost
- It has to be something people want to wear, not only something the bank wants them to use.
What I took from it
What this taught me about agents
In 2014 this was a bank that acts as your adviser, planner and manager. The line on the slide was: if you want to manage somebody, manage yourself.
- The system analyses and advises, but the sensitive step still needs you: the code only appears when your fingerprint is scanned.
- That is the same question I work on now: what an agent may do alone, and what must wait for a person.