Behavioural science seeks to understand the underlying factors that influence judgements and decision-making. These can relate to the individual or to the contextual environment. Someone living with very little income, for example, will find it more difficult to make long-term decisions around savings or accessing credit. Their constrained circumstances will force them to focus on their immediate needs. A good example of this is when low-income adults borrow from informal providers at very high rates for consumption.
Integrating behavioural insights into our data collection and analysis strategies can advance our understanding and predictions of financial behaviour and guide us to design financial services that really help adults achieve their goals. With current innovations in survey design and data collection, we can test these insights quicker and learn faster.
As part of our global i2i programme, we’ve looked into the barriers and opportunities for integrating new sources of data (e.g. social media) into financial service decision-making that can change the way we do business.