The pandemic revealed digital gaps between banks.
Asia Pacific banks are going back to the drawing board on their digital transformation programs. Digital banking fitness has been the key factor, with digital banks enjoying three times the growth in customer bases compared to traditional banks.
The second edition of the Fintech and Digital Banking 2025 (Asia Pacific) IDC report commissioned by Backbase, reveals incumbent banks are reinvigorating digital transformation initiatives, having had to accommodate at least a 50 per cent growth in the quantity of digital customer transactions and interactions.
It is expected that organisations will undertake a comprehensive realignment of customer engagement projects, with the report having highlighted that digital capabilities are the key to resilience and winning the race to recover from pandemic-related setbacks.
New competition in an evolving banking landscape
While the APAC banking landscape saw the departure of some neo banks and fintechs due to COVID-19 challenges, the report predicts that we will still see 100 new challengers across the region by 2025. With new challengers presenting stronger post-pandemic propositions, there will be at least two digital banks in every APAC market that will pose a significant challenge to incumbents. Remaining neo banks and second-round players are expected to compete on being digital-first.
Some fintechs that had gained sufficient size by 2019 found success, gaining more market share than expected. Fintech categories that have typically shown success include payments, wealth advisory, alternative data, lending platforms, and account origination.
Traditional banks double down on digital
Meanwhile, traditional banks are increasingly focused on being digital-first. Innovation initiatives are expected to re-accelerate in 2021, and will most likely have a higher chance of success as banks restructure their agile and DevOps teams. 50 per cent of Tier 1 banks already have agile frameworks in place.
The report also found that digital banks have seen three times the growth in their customer bases compared to traditional banks in 2020/2019. Investments in digital channels have paid off: banks have growing strength to acquire new customers, expand share of wallet, and push more products. 44 per cent of the top 250 banks in APAC will leverage platforms with componentized modernization and API-enablement.
Strategic investments and growth priorities for 2025
Technology spending on governance, risk, and compliance saw double-digit growth in 2020/2019, while other areas of investment lagged behind.
The latest edition of the Fintech and Digital Banking 2025 (APAC) report found that 60 per cent of banks in Asia Pacific will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) technologies for data-driven decisions, compared to 48 per cent from the previous year.
One result of this is a more humanistic type of customer centricity, as the economic downturn required banks to communicate with customers in an empathetic, trustworthy, and reliable way. This has been complemented by the increased integration of human agents into customer engagement strategies, as contact centres saw surges in usage.
A back-to-basics trend has also overtaken the need for new revenue sources. Banks will be focusing on digitalising their core business of lending with some focus, subsequently, on deposits.
New capabilities will be acquired from fintech partners: by the middle of 2021, 50 per cent of lending decisions in retail banking will be supported by fintech propositions, underscoring the accelerating bank-fintech collaboration.
Tags: banksdigital bankingIDC
