Banks Were Not Made to Be Open – Until Digitalisation Became Mainstream

Digitisation and new technology presents banks with new challenges and opportunities. Although most stakeholders tend to focus on the challenges, banks have opportunities to grow and prosper, if they anticipate and strategically navigate change management.

In the 1990s, it was claimed that fintechs delivering a razor-sharp digital customer experience made banks look dusty and lumbering. Now, tech giants are rapidly penetrating areas that had traditionally been home to financial institutions.

It is an open secret in the banking industry that they are weighted by legacy infrastructure. Research shows that a typical bank in Europe uses up to 80 per cent of its information technology budget on maintaining old systems – i.e. getting the same old engine to start again every day. With such a large portion of the bank’s resources dedicated to maintenance costs, there is little room left to develop new solutions to meet the ever-changing demands of clients.

The question becomes: what will the banks of the future look like?