Digital Customer Experience, Innovation, and Cost Reduction are Top Priorities for Banks

• Independent study commissioned by Virtusa and produced by Finextra identifies the current Top Global Banking Technology Trends.

Virtusa Corporation, a global provider of digital strategy, digital engineering, and IT outsourcing services that accelerates business outcomes for its clients, announced the findings from The Top Global Banking Technology Trends, a July 2019 research paper commissioned by Virtusa and conducted by Finextra. The paper highlights the key shifts in banks’ approach to their IT platforms over the last 18 months.

“This study with Finextra identifies the current trends in the banking industry and assesses the top focus areas for banks,” said Executive Vice President and Global Head of Transformation Services at Virtusa, Bob Graham. “The banking industry is undergoing a seismic shift that demands banks reinvent themselves. The study shows several trends accelerating over the past year including open banking, cloud, microservices, fintech partnerships, and the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning that are all driving banks to expand the frontiers of digital transformation.”

The research paper has inputs from over 100 banking executives, including C-level executives, vice presidents, and directors from global banks, regional banks, and fintechs from 25 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

According to the study, the market sentiment appears to be positive with budgets freeing up from regulatory compliance initiatives to spend on other programs such as innovation, measures to improve business efficiency, and new products and services. Further findings from the study include the following:

• Digital customer experience (79%), innovation (45%), and cost reduction (46%) are the top three areas of expenditure
• 87% of respondents said that their institution is evaluating or has already launched API-based services
• 50% of respondents are building out a new, dedicated infrastructure for their mobile channels
• 54% of respondents viewed blockchain for international payments as being of either the highest or a high priority; 44% was the similar figure for domestic payments
• 86% of respondents have already adopted cloud, with a significant amount (38%) adopting hybrid solutions

The research paper also highlights that banks are now actively partnering with relatively small suppliers, seeking to use regulatory changes to drive new income streams and use new technologies like microservices, artificial intelligence, and blockchain to provide enhanced internal controls, security, and support new customer propositions.

According to the study, the use of APIs is not a new initiative, but regulations and compliance have driven their wider adoption. Banks are embracing their use to meet the expectations of their customers and match the competitive offerings of new entrants. Bank and fintech partnerships are emerging, and although there are challenges in working together, the survey results record 70% of respondents have at least one solution in production.

With over 25 years of industry experience, Virtusa has become the partner of choice for many leading banks and financial services firms. Virtusa supports clients to accelerate business transformation by leveraging digital technologies while driving operational excellence and cost efficiency within the organization. Virtusa supports leading global banking and financial services clients across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Australia, including more than half of the top 30 global banks and many of the top national and regional institutions.

• To access the full study, visit here :  https://www.virtusa.com/lnd/top-global-banking-technology-trends/