In light of the increased digitalization in the financial services industry and an uproar of disruptive fintech technologies in Southeast Asia, Software AG today released its top five predictions for the banking industry in Asia Pacific for 2017. "There will be some seismic shifts in the banking industry in 2017, as threats and opportunities from digital banks, fintech and regulation continue to shake the business landscape in Asia," Anneliese Schulz, Vice President, Software AG Asia. This year will finally see banks begin to wrap their arms around their most valuable asset: client data. While banks have spent millions of dollars to collect the data, few have dedicated themselves to fully operationalizing the insights to be gleaned from it by using predictive analytics and machine learning. In fact, a recent survey by Options Group revealed that to maximize the opportunities offered by emerging technologies, banks are expected to hire significant technology specialists, aimed at turning data into actionable insights.