Sopra Banking Software's externally written reports with analyst firms
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1482142
• Advancing ecosystems and collaborative business models. In 2021, one of banks' top future initiatives was to improve IT integration with their partners. This year, it is all about embedded finance, driving growth by offering more financial products or services to third parties to integrate into their products, specifically via enabling API access. When it comes to capabilities, virtually all banks plan to invest in features that support ecosystem development, such as open banking compliance (94%) and data exchange with third parties (93%). • Improving environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). Over the coming years, sustainability will become a top priority for CEOs. 12 Financial services firms have a big role to play in sustainability with an opportunity to mitigate ESG risk to boost returns, drive transparency, and change behaviors. 13 The way banks are implementing ESG is two-fold: 1) to differentiate customer-facing products and services and 2) to improve ESG factors for their own business. If they could turn commitments into concrete action, they would not only drive growth but also win consumer trust. 14 • Leveraging emerging technologies and trends. Payment and money transfer is the number one digital banking capability banks are planning to increase their investments in the next year with a special focus on innovative solutions, such as blockchain, stablecoins, central bank digital currency (CDBC), and other investment cryptocurrencies, as well as real-time and cross-border payments (see Figure 8). Aside from payments, other emerging technologies that decision-makers are planning to invest in include innovative data security to safeguard consumers (90%), in regulatory technology (regtech) to enhance compliance (90%), in augmented and virtual reality to engage customers (88%), and in robotic process automation and low-code platforms to boost efficiency (87%). Pioneers invest considerably more than other segments. "Increase of more than 10% across all initiatives" 40% Pioneers 27% Explorer and Intermediates THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL BANKING, REVISITED 17