It was on this date, July 11, in the year 1804 in Weehawken, New Jersey, that Alexander Hamilton, architect of the American financial system, met his fate at the hands of Aaron Burr. Some would argue that the financial services industry has changed very little since then. Change has some slowly to financial services, and innovation has proceeded at an evolutionary, some would say glacial, pace. That may be changing however. Recent decades have born witness to the introduction of technology solutions that have accelerated the transformation of consumer experience.

It's in the Bee Movie that we have our first encounter with the concept of Colony Collapse Disorder. The 2007 animated comedy film depicts the phenomenon of a mass disappearance of worker honey from the hive. In the film, bees, who generally, function as a very centralized organization decide to disappear from the beehive, leaving behind the queen bee. Without bees, the production of honey, fruits, agricultural crops, flowers and vegetables is hit because they are primarily responsible for pollination. Vittorio D'Orazio, Research Director- Banking and Investment Services, Gartner believes that the financial services industry is in the midst of a colony collapse disorder, as its delivery model changes in response to digital disruptions.

In a major policy shift, Britain has abandoned a plan for close ties with the EU for financial services, instead saying it would push to improve the EU's legal mechanism for access to countries outside the bloc known as "equivalence," where access is patchy and can be revoked at short notice.

Nearly 55% of banking and wealth management professionals believe artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and automation will shape the future of the global financial services industry. According to research by Avaloq, nearly 34% cited the increasing use of more open and collaborative platforms and 26% cited the rise of distributed ledger technologies and cryptocurrencies. The research also found that three of the top current areas digital infrastructures are delivering significant improvements in performance include: ensuring compliance under changing regulations, improved customer experiences and better cyber security. Superior customer experience was singled out as the most competitive advantage for institutions to have in five years' time. Nearly 41% of respondents cited this as their preferred competitive advantage and 19% for'operational efficiency'.

From embracing robo-advisers, to drones helping assess insurance claims and Australia's major banks scrapping ATM fees, the banking and financial services industry is currently in the process of immense change.