The Road to Successful Digital Transformation.

Every player that operates within the intricate ecosystem of financial services is at a tipping point. The pandemic deeply entrenched the digital agenda, especially for payments, and financial institutions recognise that the effects of Covid-19 are likely to have a permanent impact on the industry.

Tink1 found that 74% of European banks see an increased need to enhance their digital services, and 65% believe that banks must increase their speed of innovation. This immense pressure to digitise is being played out across the globe, as regulators and industry bodies scramble to expedite timelines for the modernisation of payments systems.

On top of this, technology firms and fintech startups have never been more innovative, leaping into action to capitalise on the opportunity the pandemic presented and shepherd financial services into the new digital world. Embedded finance is answering the demands of consumers, and incumbents are eager not to lose their footing by investing heavily to innovate and evolve.

Open banking has taken hold in several jurisdictions, and in certain circumstances, is flourishing into the more expansive open finance. Ultimate success will depend on fundamental impediments such as incumbent banking cooperation, consent mechanisms, and concerns around privacy being managed or removed.

Certainty around digital identity is predicted to bolster not only the momentum toward open finance, but to build on the capabilities required to deliver a central bank digital currency.

2020’s upheaval of brick-and-mortar retail led to the soaring uptake of e-commerce and a shift in payment trends, as contactless transactions became the norm. While the efficiencies of this new digital world have been exponential, criminal activity has naturally followed, and financial institutions are having to protect customers from sophisticated fraudsters.

New forms of crypto assets further complicate the situation, especially as regulators attempt to balance the need to regulate alongside the need to foster innovation, all the while attempting to protect consumers from new forms of harm.

The opportunities, however, are myriad in nature. The seemingly unquenchable appetite for the potential new technologies hold payments modernisation appears to be outpacing the historically risk-averse
financial services sector.

With expert views from Banking Circle, Nuvei, and Thunes, in this report, you will learn from industry leaders about the events and trends defining global payments into 2021 and beyond. The report includes insights from BNY Mellon, Citi, Deutsche Bank, ING, J.P. Morgan, Metro Bank, Nationwide Building Society, Open Banking Implementation Entity, Plaid, Rabobank, Raiffeisen Bank International, Société Générale, and SWIFT.

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