Too often, established banks have approached their digital operations as mere extensions of their existing models. However, with those that have launched a new digital bank - complete with its own budget and management team - are showing how it should be done.
The old-style banking business model, run across numerous jurisdictions and business lines, is being eaten up by regulatory impositions and newer models that take a narrower focus.
Bankers who reject Bitcoin yet embrace the blockchain technology it is based on do so at their own peril, says Chris Skinner.
New entrants may be disrupting banks, as they have done for other industries, but they will not bring about the death of banking, says Chris Skinner.
Banks have always used their branch network to offer physical proximity and convenience to customers. However, now that banking is moving outside of the branch, lenders are having to find new ways of getting close to the customer.
Is fintech disrupting banking technology or facilitating it? And what does this mean for the old players?
If banks are to adapt to the digital age, their first step must be to replace their core systems – which, in many cases, pre-date the internet – but, thus far, there has been a reluctance to do so.
The issue of what constitutes a digital bank is an oft-debated topic of late. And while each digital bank will have its own unique qualities, all should cover five key factors.
Bitcoin has the potential to destroy banking, money and regulation as we know it.
Banks’ brand worth may not be high in the minds of consumers, but their trustworthiness is infinitely more important.
Coding is the new rock 'n' roll, as shown by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey. Now banks are getting in on the act, with the competition to attract the next generation of 'rock stars' hotting up.
Those looking towards digital behemoths such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple as the companies most likely to shake up the financial world are way off the mark.
Banks are being charged by governments with preventing financial crime. Given the cost and complexity of this task, the only way they can effectively manage this new role is by utilising new third-party databases and information exchanges.
New rules based on the old banking system are at odds with a newly globalised world, in which innovation takes precedent over regulation, and technology and society are the principle axes of change.
Talk of banking channels is passé and misses the point. Going digital is about connecting everything, not carving it up.
In the race to be the 'most digital', banks have lost their human touch, and consequently the relationship between customer and bank has broken down. It is, therefore, time to get back to basics.
Banks concentrating all of their energy on their digital offerings risk forgetting the most important component of the bank of the future: the customer.
The rise of Bitcoin has many governments around the world worried, but should they be?
With so much change afoot it is not yet clear if new technologies and digitalisation have completely revolutionised the fundamental banking model or simply tweaked it.
All the talk surrounding big data is getting old; it is time for companies to step up and show what they can actually do with it.