We all know the world is changing rapidly, and this rapid change is reflected in the banking domain. Increasing regulatory compliance, combined with growing customer expectations for seamless and relevant experiences and increased competition from emerging Neo-banks, means there is more to do than ever before.
The biggest opportunity is in leveraging technology and data, but the biggest challenge in banking is leveraging technology and data. For large banks, data is their biggest asset and advantage, yet legacy systems and disparity make it difficult to access. For new players, who have fewer data and customer history, it’s harder to achieve fast decision outcomes while safely managing risk.
We all know what we know based on our experiences and associations, and that there is much to be gained through sharing experiences and lessons learned from others, particularly those that have walked the walk before us.
One of the maestros, who is practised in the art of this, is Chris Skinner. He is known as “The Finanser”, and has been blogging daily about the banking and finance industry for the past 12 years (long before Fintech was even a thing). He has consulted globally, including to the World Bank and the White House, and travels the world, speaking with lenders to uncover what they are doing, what’s worked, what hasn’t, and most importantly, the lessons learned from both.
Chris has learned so much from his interactions with the industry, that he’s written several books about it. He is currently working on an exciting new book, which focuses on the leading banks in the world who are achieving success at doing digital.
With so much knowledge and Insight, it was an easy decision for Valocity to invite Chris down under to exclusively meet and discuss with our banking clients what those succeeding in digital are doing right.
All the successful lenders had a common theme:
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Customer obsessed – not focused on returns, products, or shareholder value, but customer value – which in turn creates shareholder value.
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Alignment and top down support – having the whole team knowing what they are working towards, with both the board and leadership giving the mandate and the space to focus on digital and invest in it.
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Digital at the heart – digital is not a division, a project, or a title – it is at the core and should be a focus on transformation for everything in the bank, step by step (not just adding on the pretty front ends).
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Partnership and collaboration – you cannot do it alone – there is too much to be done. Technology and data is changing too fast, and partnering with those with niche solutions that solve different problems and allow integration/agility is crucial to success. The risk of not partnering is taking too long, investing too much, and creating additional legacy issues.
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Leadership – experience in digital, technology and data is vital. Most lenders have all banker leadership – how can you be a “digital” bank if you’re only filled with “bankers” trying to make decisions and lead in these topics when they have no experience of what digital technology transformation really is.
Many of those succeeding rapidly focus on the customer experience and hence the technology first, with the technology driving the banking. We need to reinvent – the tech comes first, the banking comes second, so techfin, not fintech.
As Chris says –
“Fintech is trying to do what we’ve always done, cheaper and faster and better with technology. Techfin is re-imagining everything with no idea of what’s been before with technology. It’s a very different approach.”
Valocity has a passion for ongoing innovation and we’re driven by transforming the old. We fundamentally believe that just because that’s the way it’s always been done, doesn’t make it right. Our success is born through partnerships and collaboration, and through bringing tech to the fin.
We look forward to continuing to work with our partners and continuing to innovate, executing digital transformation through technology, data and cloud-based agile platforms.
The future is changing fast, but as Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve a problem by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created it.”
There were so many ideas from multiple workshops and discussions so for anyone wanting to know more please get in touch.