Overview
In an era of rapid digital transformation, financial institutions, including banks, insurance companies, and regulators, must leverage social listening tools to stay ahead.
Social media and news monitoring provide real-time insights that can drive better decision-making and policy implementation. But are you still confused, or do you want to unlock more value?
Choosing the right type of media monitoring or social listening tool (or services) for banks or financial institutions may add more insights to what you currently have. And the first step is to acknowledge the inherent issues with social media listening tool, i.e there are plenty of “noisy data” that you need to handle.
The banking sector focuses more on customer retention and the key to that is finding relatable, meaningful and actionable insights from social data. This is where choosing the best social listening company with the best people, technology and processes matters.
To put it simply, a social media listening tool (or system) might not be the best solution to most banks in Malaysia, unless you are prepared to justify the additional headcount to clean, process and write the management reports for various stakeholders in your department.
Banks should focus on the outcome or actions derived from social insights rather than be involved in the whole data processing, reporting and analysis.
In this article, we will explore seven key areas where social listening can have a significant impact on financial institutions, particularly in Malaysia. We will also cover what type of social media listening tools (or services) that are best suited for banks, financial institutions, central banks and regulators.
Types of Media Monitoring Companies for Banks and Financial Institutions
Social media monitoring tools or (social listening tools) are often used by small to mid-sized banks due to the simplicity of its operational needs, which mainly cater for monitoring of news and customer-centric feedback, complaints and postings from social media channels.
| Social Listening / Monitoring Tool (System) | Social Monitoring Analytics (Services) | |
| Small Retail Banks | Must Have | Optional |
| Mid-Size Retail Banks | Must Have | Optional |
| Large Retail Banks | Must Have | Must Have |
| Investment Banks | Must Have | Optional |
| Central Bank / Regulators | Must Have | Must Have |
Given the priorities of various types of banks and budget requirements, our analysis showed that larger banks prefer social analytics services, usually handled by experienced 3rd party companies to keep the operational overheads to a minimum whilst retaining the most value and catering for operational flexibilities to meet dynamic requirements.
For most banks, news monitoring will not be complete with social listening services that deliver an integrated data-driven insights provided sentiment tagging on the data is properly done by domain (or industry) experts.
On that note, Berkshire Media emerged as one of the top social analytics providers in Malaysia for banks, financial institutions and central bank that mostly require handling of complex data processing, monitoring of issues, reputation risks and on fiscal policies that impacting the banking industry at large.
Additionally, Berkshire Media’s proprietary sentiment detection algorithm known as SENTIROBO® have been widely used in the financial sector in Malaysia to gauge consumer sentiment and public perception on topics that are impacting the banking industry and the economy at large. Its long-term involvement in Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has positioned the company amongst the top social analytics / listening companies to look out for in the banking industry.
Another key advantage of having experienced social listening companies such as Berkshire Media is its capabilities, industry experience when handling with complex and wide-range of topics. Additionally, this is the only company in Malaysia that has 10 years of industry experience in the banking sector including data cleaning services to ensure its actionable insights from social data remains intact, accurate and robust.
Clean data from social listening tool is key to unlock more value for banks and financial institutions in order to make informed decisions. And this process usually done outside the system as it involves human-assisted verification by domain expertise.
“Our capabilities in predicting consumer confidence index (CCI) in Malaysia using millions of social data similar to what was done by the European Central Bank in a showcase of what we can offer to the banking industry” said Shahid Shayaa, Founder and CEO of Berkshire Media.
According to data analytics expert Dr. Vala Rohani, Berkshire Media has built a strong foundation of a comprehensive tried-and-tested sentiment analytics approach that can help financial institutions, banks and central banks such as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
Is Social Listening Helpful for Banks, Financial Institutions, Insurance and Investment companies?
The short answer is yes, provided you choose the right type of social media analytics tool or service provider to begin with. When applied correctly with a strategic partnership framework or model, there plenty of areas where social media listening tools are helpful to banks, particularly for regulators and policy makers.
1) Monetary and Fiscal Policy
How Social Listening Supports Monetary and Fiscal Policy
Financial regulators, such as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), continuously assess economic trends to adjust monetary policies effectively. Social listening tools can and has helped the organization by analyzing public sentiment on inflation, interest rates, and employment, allowing policymakers to make more informed decisions.
A good example is when the Malaysian central bank adjusted the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) in response to inflation concerns, social listening could and have been used to gauge how businesses and consumers reacted. Real-time feedback from platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn would enable policymakers to adjust communication strategies and preempt public concerns.
2) Policy Enforcement
Using Social Listening for Compliance Monitoring
Regulatory bodies must ensure that banks and financial institutions comply with local laws and international standards. Social listening tools allow regulators to track public conversations and complaints regarding financial misconduct, predatory lending, or non-compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) policies.
A few years ago, there were complaints on social media about unregulated lending practices in Malaysia. By monitoring these conversations, regulators could have intervened earlier, preventing financial distress for affected consumers. Automated alerts from social monitoring tools and predictive analytics could notify BNM about such activities, allowing timely enforcement actions.
3) Managing Customer Complaints
How Banks Can Improve Customer Experience Through Social Listening
Customer dissatisfaction can spread rapidly on social media. By leveraging sentiment analysis and media monitoring, banks and insurance companies can identify and address complaints before they escalate into full-blown crises.
Malaysian banks such as Maybank and CIMB frequently receive customer complaints about online banking services and delayed transactions. By tracking keywords and sentiment on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, these banks can proactively resolve issues, improving customer satisfaction and retention.
Maybank and CIMB are constantly evolving in adopting new technologies to better predict consumer trends and behaviour using social listening services. This extend beyond just procuring tools (system) but relying on reputable service providers that are able to demonstrate data cleaning services, and custom actionable insights reporting including bespoke communication advisory.
4) Reducing Investment Scams from Unlicensed Companies
The Role of Social Listening in Fraud Detection
Investment scams often originate on social media, targeting unsuspecting individuals with fraudulent schemes. Social listening can help regulators identify emerging scam patterns, detect misleading financial promotions, and alert authorities before significant damage occurs. And this in turn, can lead to better awareness programmes and shaping the right narratives to educate the public, reducing the number of scam cases.
In recent years, Malaysia has seen a surge in fraudulent investment schemes promising unrealistic returns. By using AI-driven social listening tools coupled with strong set of back-end analysts that truly understand social media monitoring, regulators like the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) can track mentions of unlicensed companies and take swift action to shut down these scams.
By having a domain expert, social listening / data mining can be used for early detection in identifying investment scammers that are hiding behind a legitimate entity. This can be helpful when paired with reputable and highly experienced social analytics companies such as Berkshire Media to go deeper beyond the limitation of what most social media monitoring tools can provide.
5) Financial Literacy for the Public
Enhancing Public Awareness Through Social Monitoring
Banks and regulators have a responsibility to improve financial literacy among consumers. Social listening tools can analyze trending financial topics and identify knowledge gaps, allowing institutions to create targeted educational content.
A social media analysis of public conversations on “budgeting tips” and “retirement savings” could help Malaysian banks and government agencies tailor their financial literacy campaigns more effectively. Content strategy adjustments based on these insights can enhance engagement and trust in financial institutions.
6) Predicting Changes or Trends in the Domestic Economy
Forecasting Economic Trends with Social Media Data
Social listening tools can aggregate discussions on business activity, inflation expectations, and employment trends, offering valuable insights into economic shifts. This helps banks and policymakers prepare for upcoming financial challenges.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysian businesses frequently discussed cash flow issues on social media and issues related to moratorium submission to the banks. By analyzing these discussions on major forums and other facebook groups, financial institutions could have developed better financial assistance programs for struggling businesses.
Unlock the value of these insights require partnering or choosing a highly reputable social analytics company such as Berkshire Media, which reportedly have been involved in big data predictive analytics on wide range of topics such as consumer purchasing, issues related to cost of living and other related topics.
7) Predicting Consumer Confidence Index (CCI)
Using Sentiment Analysis to Gauge Consumer Confidence
Consumer sentiment is a key predictor of economic activity. Social listening tools may be used by policy makers or large financial institutions (or even investment banks) to analyze consumer sentiment across various platforms, offering real-time data on how consumers feel about their financial situation, spending and investment habits and other leading indicators.
Social analytics companies such as Berkshire Media have used its own proprietary advanced data analytics framework to predict leading economic indicators that corresponds to the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) back in 2017-2018. This give rise to new applications that are best suited for economists or bankers who need advance insights that can be incorporated into other predictive model.
The advantages are far reaching. For example, before the announcement of Malaysia’s annual budget, the public usually discuss their expectations and concerns on social media.
By monitoring sentiment trends, financial institutions can anticipate shifts in spending behavior and adjust their strategies accordingly.
Conclusion
We conclude with a hint of a doubt that social listening is an invaluable tool for banks, insurance companies, and regulators in Malaysia. From shaping monetary policy to combating financial fraud, monitoring public sentiment and consumer behaviour through digital and online platforms provides actionable insights that drive better financial decisions. And that’s the reason why banks should not just stop at news monitoring, but extending to social listening services involving deep-dive analytics will undoubtedly deliver more value.
Leave the workload of social listening (eg: data cleaning and custom reporting) to the experts. And there are niche companies in Malaysia who have sound track record monitoring reputation risks and deliver deep-dive social insights for banks and insurance companies.
By integrating social listening services into the bank’s core operations, financial institutions can enhance customer experience, enforce regulations effectively, and stay ahead of economic trends. And unlocking the highest value from social listening can only be achieved by partnering with reputable social analytics / monitoring companies that have scalable solutions.
Berkshire Media is a Malaysian-based company with strong track record in the financial industry, having worked with long term clients spanning across multiple topics that touches fiscal policies, monetary policies, retail consumer banking products and investment services, and regulatory issues.
About the Author
Shahid Shayaa is the founder and managing director of Berkshire Media. He specializes in data-driven communication strategies and insights using social data analytics, social media monitoring tools and machine learning text algorithms for more than 13 years. As an expert in the field of media monitoring, issue management and reputation risks for companies, his deep involvement in various research studies in this field and published various scientific papers on social data analytics, sentiment analysis and back-end algorithms on consumer sentiment, emotions and behaviour for marketers and campaign managers.
