Banking

While banks are easy targets to blame, the recent leaks of suspicious-activity reports—revealed by BuzzFeed News in September—instead confirmed that they are fulfilling their roles in the fight against international money laundering. Rather, it is the whole system that is on the verge of collapse and needs to be rethought.

In June, The Atlantic published “The Looming Bank Collapse”, a piece by University of California, Berkeley law professor and ex-Morgan Stanley derivatives structurer Frank Partnoy, which generated significant debate over whether a banking crisis in the same mould as that witnessed during the global financial crisis (GFC) is just around the corner.

The Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors (the Fed) in the United States concluded its two-day monetary-policy meeting on Wednesday, September 16, announcing that interest rates will remain unchanged at near-zero (0-0.25 percent), another decidedly dovish signal that its monetary policy will effectively be on hold for the next few years.

The Bank of England (BoE) announced on Thursday, September 17, that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had voted unanimously to leave its benchmark bank rate at 0.1 percent whilst also maintaining the target for the total stock of asset purchases under its quantitative-easing (QE) programme at £745 billion.

During its policy meeting on Thursday, September 10, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to keep its main refinancing benchmark rate unchanged at 0 percent, along with leaving its rates on the marginal lending facility and deposit facility the same at 0.25 percent and -0.50 percent, respectively.

At its most recent monetary-policy meeting in late July, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) discussed implementing a number of monetary-policy tools to allay concerns regarding the economic outlook for the United States. And while the FOMC had already taken numerous emergency measures

Banks exist to securely enable customers to conduct their financial affairs, but this requires changes in practices as customers change. While serving older customers who are comfortable with tried-and-true methods, legacy banks are being confronted with young clients who prefer to transact via their smartphones. In our fluid, tech-driven society, providing omnichannel solutions that meet customer expectations without compromising security is crucial for all banks competing in the “new norm”.

If one word defines the last decade, it is disruptive; but if the events of 2020 so far are any indication, we “ain’t seen nothing yet”. No sector is more likely to be disrupted by the pandemic than banking; however, those that see opportunity in crisis can outmatch this major threat to their bottom lines. Resilience, adaptability and vision are must-haves for banks that choose to lead out of turmoil.

Utilising several of the new waves of disruptive technologies such as big-data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, neobanks across the world are fundamentally transforming the very notion of banking. And given the restrictive impact that the coronavirus pandemic is having on the global population,

The pre-pandemic world had its share of risks, but they were predictable, and risk managers knew how to use data to measure and manage them. Mid-way through 2020, the finance sector finds itself thrown into a grave new world marked by great uncertainty, a reality for which it was not well prepared. Being ready for the unknowns is now a must for survival, but how can banks accomplish that feat?