How should Asia-Pacific banks push the frontiers of transformation?

With on-ground conversations revealing that the lack of right-fit talent as the primary hurdle in delivering on their transformation vision, sizable investments will be channelled into reskilling staff and transitioning them toward a more transformational, digital-first culture. Equally critical is to refresh legacies to reduce complexities and enhance efficiencies, innovate faster yet ensure regulatory compliance.

2. Redefine transformation and place customers at the heart of this change

There is an urgency to transform customer experiences, particularly as customer-savvy entrants proliferate, and customers’ expectations continue to grow exponentially faster than their ability to deliver. Banks that are relentlessly client-centric and develop financial solutions aligned with that mission are best positioned to offer the most differentiated value propositions.

With today’s customers seeking (and expecting) financial services that are not only intelligent, trusted and highly personalized, but also digitally embedded and ubiquitous, Asia-Pacific banks are therefore elevating their distribution outreach to support more seamless access to their offerings via consumers’ everyday activities. 

Self-serve platforms are the channel of choice for 60% over the next three years as they redesign customer engagement journeys with a deeper emphasis toward more cost-effective, time-efficient, seamless options. 

3. Reposition for agility at scale by revamping technologies

Traditional banks typically dedicate 15-20% of operating expenses to technology, with these percentages creeping upward annually. However, it is untenable to allocate so much merely to “keep the lights on”, hence the urgency for them to transform to achieve high levels of digital maturity and deeper agility. 

To craft appropriate digital expertise to power the banks of tomorrow, Asia-Pacific respondents are ramping up their cloud and AI budgets, while also placing continued emphasis on big data analysis. In particular, 80% of interviewees would invest in cloud computing within three years (up from 30% at present), enabling them to leverage APIs and modular technology architecture, and engage third-party providers to innovate with more agility, better scalability and reusability.

Seventy percent of transformation leaders also intend to invest in artificial and cognitive intelligence within three years versus 30% at present. Among others, funds would be funnelled to harness the power of data to generate insights on clients’ need, conduct sophisticated modeling to underwrite and approve credit, and offer rapid client onboarding through seamless processes.