In the battle for best-in-class customer experience and innovation, incumbents still come up short compared with today's agile new players. Banks are grappling with a bloated technology infrastructure that isn't aging gracefully, creating mid- and back-office ineffectiveness. With historically low proactive investment from banks in IT enhancements, many firms find it challenging to provide customers with the expected last-mile experience. Did you know that middle-office employees use around 80% of their time to gather data from systems, but use only 20% to analyze the data to make sound decisions? In my view, these mid-office bottlenecks, coupled with pandemic setbacks and challenges to economic growth across the globe, are making banks' digital transformation journey steep, yet imperative to serve customers well. According to Capgemini COVID research, 57% of consumers turned to digital banking at the onset of the pandemic and say they will continue even after the crisis resolves.

In January-March 2019 The Economist Intelligence Unit, on behalf of Temenos, surveyed 405 global banking executives on the changes they see taking place in their industry to 2020 and 2025, their organisational response, and the longer-term impact on their strategic development. This, the sixth iteration of the retail banking survey, focuses on how these retail banks are incorporating and advancing technology delivery for their current and future customers. The survey is part of a global research programme on retail banking, which includes in-depth interviews with retail banks, fintechs and regulators from North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. The survey respondents were geographically diverse: 25% were drawn from Europe, 25% from Asia-Pacific, 18% from North America, 16% from Africa and the Middle East, and 16% from Latin America. Respondents came from a variety of job functions: marketing and sales (18%), IT (15%), and customer service and finance each accounted for about one in ten respondents (9% and 10% respectively).

In the United States, political parties continue to debate the wisdom of rolling back regulatory mandates imposed on banks after the 2008 financial crash. While some financial services experts argue that the burden of compliance is too high, consumer advocates see a need for continued oversight. The appropriate next steps may be a matter of perspective. One undeniable outcome of those 2008 regulations was an intensified focus by Western banks on compliance, often at the expense of innovation. Asian banks and fintechs, however, pressed ahead – developing new digital business models and client-centric services.