The Banking and Financial Services industry is witnessing a rapidly changing landscape, the rise of fintech companies being the catalyst. Traditional banking products, services, and channels are losing relevance as customers, increasingly influenced by technological advancements in other spheres and social media, have started demanding better customer experience and convergence in financial services.
Changing regulatory environment and macroeconomic indicators have also contributed to make this a never-before opportunity for banks and financial institutions to embrace and leverage digitization. Partnership with fintech companies can help banks and financial services organizations harness digital technologies, advanced analytics, and personalization for cutting-edge solutions that improve customer experience.
The wealth and asset management industry is facing increased regulatory supervision and new competition from rising fintech companies and their innovative services. Multiple challenges such as weak growth in developed economies and robust growth in developing markets have contributed to greater volatility. Investment management firms that execute plans that help them anticipate demographic shifts, improve efficiency and decision making with technology, and keep pace with regulatory changes will likely find themselves ahead of the competition.
The rapidly changing environment demands seamless digital channels of communication and access to portfolio management, driving firms to digital transformation. Increased focus on cybersecurity, application of artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics are some of the emerging trends.
The last decade saw the adoption of core banking solutions by banks to make their service faster, smoother and cater to a larger client base. Recent years have witnessed stupendous changes in traditional banking products and channels largely driven by customers. Internet and mobile banking have seen rapid adoption resulting in fewer customers queueing up at branches to open accounts or seek loans. Service levels are no longer the differentiating factor.
The optimal customer experience at every touchpoint, that is efficient, convenient, personalized and streamlined is what sets apart financial institutions. Banks and financial institutions are faced with a stiff challenge of reinventing themselves to address the pain points of customers and ensuring a delightful experience every step of the way.
The global payments industry is undergoing a paradigm shift with an influx of technology, demographics, and regulatory dynamics. While the customer-facing part of the value chain continues to witness elevated levels of innovation, service providers are still grappling with back-end infrastructure enhancements.
Trends such as new opportunities in the payments industry in terms of adoption of Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), growth in digital payments, innovation in cross-border payments, and challenges from the entry of alternative service providers are impacting the industry in terms of fostering competition, nurturing innovation, and enhancing process and system-related efficiencies.
The world of ethics, risk management, and compliance saw many upheavals in 2016 which has reinforced the need to move away from a siloed approach to risk management to an integrated and consistent enterprise-wide framework. The role of a compliance function is continuing to change as well. Along with complying with standards & regulations, compliance professionals are increasingly responsible for creating and nurturing strong and ethical corporate cultures and protecting organizations from financial, legal and reputational risk
Emphasis has been placed on regulatory filings and reporting, enhanced due diligence and surveillances to mitigate cyber and data-related risks. With around the clock news and social media’s speed and uncontrollability, organizations are at the edge of a compliance failure.