Retail banker intl
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The document discusses the importance of establishing a digital-first culture for banks to succeed in the modern digital era. It outlines that traditional bank cultures are risk-averse, hierarchical, and slow to change, which does not suit today's fast-paced digital world. To become dynamic digital banks, the document recommends that banks adopt the cultural characteristics of digital-first businesses, such as embracing experimentation, collaboration, continuous evolution and prioritizing customer value. Changing entrenched bank cultures will be challenging but is necessary if they want to survive and thrive in the future.
Retail banker intl
- 1. FEATURE INDUSTRY INSIGHT LAUNCH Scotiabank shores up its defences by offering a holistic premium package There are around 1 billion users of Tencent’s WeChat. Banks should take note The UK is packed with digital banks. Can bunq change the status quo? US CHALLENGERS AND NEOBANKS FACE BATTLE TO WIN RETAIL CUSTOMERS issue 767 / November 2019www.retailbankerinternational.com UPHILL STRUGGLE RBI November 2019.indd 1 18/11/2019 16:08:27
- 2. 6 | November 2019 | Retail Banker International industry insight | backbase A 2018 Boston Consulting Group study of 40 digital transformations found those companies that focused on culture were five times more likely to achieve breakthrough performance than those that did not. Establishing a truly digital-first culture is, therefore, a priority if institutions are to become dynamic digital banks ready for the modern banking era. But what does a digital culture look like, and how do you create one? Business culture reflects the beliefs, values, rituals, attitudes, behaviours and structures that have built up among staff, and which take shape in a set of formal and informal rules. Culture can be tricky to define, but it is enshrined as ‘the way things are done’. Traditional banks’ long history, scale and function in society are mirrored in their cultures. While each has its own particular ethos, on the whole they tend to be risk- averse, hierarchical, rigid and slow to change. Banks’ core business comes down to making decisions about lending money, which demands strong risk awareness. The result has been a focus on control and avoiding failure. Prioritising risk control and minimising failure has also produced rigid delegation and reporting structures. Decisions are deferred up the management chain, limiting the ability to innovate and respond to customer demands, opportunities or market threats. Banks’ adaptability and the speed with which they can change is further constrained by their large, discrete, siloed businesses. Implementing IT and process changes is complex and risky. Legacy systems and workarounds are common, heightening fears that any transformations could have disastrous knock-on impacts. Incumbents have little incentive to change in any case. Regulatory barriers to entry and progressive oligopolisation of markets have created a moat around the biggest banks’ businesses. The ‘endowment effect’, where revenues are mostly generated by products sold in previous years, such as loans and mortgages, has further limited the perceived need to make changes. DIGITAL FIRST The old mindsets and ways of operating are ill suited to the digital world. Financial institutions need to adopt the cultural characteristics of dynamic, digital-first businesses to remain relevant and profitable. Digital-first businesses embrace more action and less planning, promoting speed and continuous iteration in the drive for results. In successful tech businesses, authority is delegated and teams have significant autonomy. Oversight exists, but constraints and controls are kept to a minimum. This creates an environment in which entrepreneurial ideas thrive. Small teams free of multi-layered decision making also allow for more agile execution. Experimentation is encouraged. Fast- moving digital markets demand constant change, so businesses need to be in a state of permanent beta – experimenting, learning, refining and repeating continuously. And because not all experiments will be successful, failure is accepted, not punished. With disruption spreading across all parts of the banking industry, the greater risk comes from not changing. Collaboration is central to digital ways of working, since no one person has the full range of expertise needed to solve customer problems. In digital-first cultures, teams have designers, coders, developers and techies integrated with product and service, business and customer-focused staff. Collaboration software then enables ideas to be refined through many small interactions before they reach formal sign-off. Digital-first businesses also collaborate with external parties. The spread of cloud computing has fostered an API economy, where specialist capabilities are easy and relatively cheap to access. Taking advantage of these often leads to quicker results than building the equivalent functionality in-house – although this may require the development of new partner management skills. Evolution is another core tenet of a digital culture. Updates and upgrades are developed quickly, continuously and iteratively, enabling firms to respond to customers’ changing expectations and deliver ongoing value. Creating value for customers is paramount for digital-first businesses. To do this, firms study their end-users to discover what they actually want and need. Every employee, no matter their job, should hear directly from customers. Employing constant testing with actual customers and encouraging customer feedback are key parts of the process. Like it or not, every business is now a tech business, and all employees should be tech people. Part of banks’ culture change focus therefore must be on helping develop employees’ knowledge and understanding of the digital world – for example, through expert briefings, digital workshops and hackathons. Monitoring digital developments at other businesses, even in completely different markets, also offers vital clues to how customers and markets are evolving. Changing engrained bank cultures is not easy. Disruption is uncomfortable and will likely breed fear and resistance. But if incumbent banks are to instil the digital-first culture that will help them survive and thrive, they must push forward. Change starts with a clear vision statement that sets out exactly the culture the bank wants. Messages have to be stark to overcome residual organisational intransigence. Any chance of successfully implementing that vision will then depend on strong leadership. Leaders’ behaviour cascades through an organisation and its culture, so they must walk the walk. Commitment to a digital-first culture must be honest and unwavering. Culture change is a never-ending project, requiring constant refresh and self-disruption. But it is crucial to becoming a truly digital- first business. < Banks’ old mindsets and ways of operating may have served them in the past, but embracing a digital-first culture is vital if they are to be successful organisations of the future, writes Backbase CEO Jouk Pleiter the core building blocks of a new digital culture RBI November 2019.indd 6 18/11/2019 16:08:37