Digital Vision: Digital Banking – Foreword

Carol Houle, Global Head, Financial Services & Insurance, Atos

Digital services are transforming the way we manage our money and the pace of this change is only accelerating. New technologies now mean established service providers can satisfy changing expectations from consumers and keep ahead of competition from new players in the sector. Find out how the digital transformation of banking is accelerating and what this might mean for the future of banking.

Digital disruption is not new to the banking industry: technologies advance and hungry market entrants are emerging all the time. What has changed, however, is the massively accelerated shift to digital channels as a result of Covid-19.

As we have seen through Atos’ work with customers and our recent research into the financial services industry worldwide, institutions have risen to the challenge of the move to digital; as recovery begins, the effects of this amplification are permanent and profound.

It’s no longer enough for companies simply to keep pace in their market: banks must reinvent their business models and anticipate what lies ahead. For incumbents, there are major challenges to compete with digital natives; and every institution must meet rising consumer demands and regulatory requirements while delivering on decarbonization ambitions.

More than many other sectors, widescale transformation must be finely balanced with robust governance, risk management and compliance. Advanced security is mission-critical in the face of cyber threats that are becoming ever more sophisticated and asymmetric. The shadow of legacy still looms and has to be addressed through digital transformation. And we are at the very start of the changes that open banking is catalyzing.

This paper explores these challenges and how digital enablers and data can help to make banking smarter, greener and safer. It examines opportunities for banks to deliver standout customer experiences and operate as agile, optimized and secure digital businesses. And it looks to the horizon, at emerging technologies such as blockchain and quantum computing and how they might help shape the future.

Banks play a unique role in helping people to live safely and prosperously. And now the sector is pivotal in enabling businesses and communities through sustainable finance to transition to a net zero economy. The adaptability and innovation that characterizes this sector will help to power progress for society over the next decade.

Atos is working with our banking customers and global partners to help navigate and accelerate business and digital transformation to deliver banks’ priorities and ambitions. At this pivotal time in history, we see important opportunities to collaborate to help create a cleaner, more inclusive and secure future for all.