Open Banking, which allows third parties to build applications around the activities of established banks, is curtailing the way banks have always functioned. The tried-and-true vertical-integration model, through which a bank maintains a firm grip on all of its operations, is being replaced by a more cooperative approach. How will innovative banks fulfill their roles as suppliers, producers and retailers of financial products and services in the Open Banking era?
The trend toward global interconnectedness has never been stronger, with innovation and technology helping to make the impossible now possible. The rewards are vast in terms of reduced cost, increased opportunity and greater inclusion, but there is an obstacle that is slowing progress: existing proprietary banking infrastructure. Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story, as the way is being paved for full worldwide banking integration.
Getting regulatory compliance right is a necessity for financial institutions today, because getting it wrong is a punishingly expensive mistake. Just as fintech has been rapidly embraced by the industry due to its many proven benefits, the new kid on the technology block, regtech, is set to blaze its own innovation trail, disrupting the old ways of doing things in a bid to cut costs.
In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, it became clear that banking resolution was one of the key aspects of the necessary reform of financial regulation, with the objective of reducing the cost of banking crises and avoiding the use of taxpayers’ money. In the case of global banks, the cross-border dimension added a new layer of complexity to these debates.