Joël Nadjar
Partner
Sébastien Chevallier
Senior Manager
The financial sector is at a turning point and open banking is at the heart of this shift. The “platform economy” is pushing banks to reconsider their business model and become part of wider ecosystems. This raises the question of what path to take in this open banking journey, which is precisely the subject of the research study we carried out with Efma, a financial non-profit backed by global BFSI companies.
Open banking offers new perspectives but what kind of financial institution would you like to be in the future?
The survey focused on the Bank-as-a-Service model, which represents a real change for traditional banks by positioning them at the very heart of new B2B2C models
Here are 5 insights to understand the overall achievements and ambitions for open banking.
Banks are at the beginning of their open banking journey and the next few years look very promising.
Actions banks should consider in the coming months:
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Plan innovative use cases and partnerships based on open distribution models
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Design new services that can be natively used by both internal and external distribution channels
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Launch services securely and guarantee the protection of customer data
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Deliver new services quickly and at the best cost by improving the modularity of information systems
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Improve access to IS assets – such as API and datasets – so they can be used efficiently by consumers
In retail banking, the trend for the next two years is the opening of “everyday” banking services to become part of wider ecosystems.
Some other trends to note:
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As the very first steps in the open banking chain, onboarding and KYC services will continue to evolve out of necessity.
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For many players, the value chains involved in the coming service expansion are not yet ready to scale up. Substantial investments will be needed to make them sufficiently modular and configurable – essential requirements for the Bank-as-a-Service model.
Business model reshaping and time-to-market improvement are the current main priorities.
Based on feedback from the executives interviewed in the survey, here are some basic guidelines to consider in your open banking journey:
1
Go where your customers are and sell them your best product.
2
Don’t be afraid of platforms. Leverage them as new channels instead.
3
Think differently and deliver unique solutions to your partners.
Open banking isn’t (only) API-focused. Other approaches are being explored to acquire new partners.
The open distribution model is a strong growth lever for banks, and competition will be stiff. With limited potential for differentiation of traditional banking products, banks cannot rely solely on the quality of their offer to attract new partners.
Here are 3 strengths that banks will need to demonstrate to become as attractive as possible to potential distributors:
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Be excellent in all areas: As service providers, banks will carry solution vendor responsibility toward their partners – they must commit to reliable release plans, strong Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and professional B2B consumer management.
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Be agile and easily accessible: Distribution partners are focused on customer experience. They will not allocate time or resources to adapt banking services to their needs or perform extensive system integration. Instead, they will favor ready-to-use and versatile solutions.
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Have excellent and robust architecture: Business partners buy not only a banking product but also the underlying technology and resources – which contribute to their reputation on the market. Have the right balance between innovation, scalability, and stability.
Platforms are everywhere. Banks must adapt and become easier to work with to fit into this ecosystem and limit intermediaries.
Efficient and quick service offerings will be the market picks. For most players,
getting the best time-to-market with maximum efficiency will require building up the following prerequisites:•
Setting up a product-oriented organizational model with agile delivery processes
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Providing adequate support to project teams by ensuring standards and capabilities
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Bringing modern concepts to IS architecture and delivery chains
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Paying closer attention to the design of banking services – making them modular and parametric. This allows them to support a wide range of customer segments and functional requirements from potential distributors with limited additional development
Ready to get ahead in your open banking journey?
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