With fintechs under pressure, 2024 offers traditional institutions a rare window of opportunity to regain ground lost to digital disruptors over the past two decades. But to be successful, banks need to shift from product-centric to customer-driven innovation. The pace of innovation seems poised to only accelerate in 2024 and it is wanted to understand how banks can keep pace. To remain competitive and relevant, banks must create products and services that both solve their…

The growth projections for the buy now, pay later business in 2024 are generally optimistic. But things aren’t all upbeat.  A new study by Juniper Research projects that the global buy now, pay later transaction value will more than double in the next four years, from $334 billion in 2024 to $687 billion in 2028. Activity will spread to new markets. Getting into it a little deeper, it realised that a lot of the volume…

In most retail-banking markets, a few large institutions, operating at similar efficiency ratios, dominate market share. Changes to the retail-banking business model have mostly come in response to regulatory shifts, as opposed to a purposeful reimagining of what the winning bank of the future will look like. Retail banks have long competed on distribution, realising economies of scale through network effects, and investments in brand and infrastructure. But even those scale economies have limits above…

Only a year goes by without major events – whether geopolitical, financial, or something completely unexpected like a global pandemic – that intensely impact financial markets, the economy, and the banks. Last year was no exception, and 2024 is on track to remain challenging. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and two other large banks in early 2023 put a spotlight on interest rate risk management. The suddenness and severity of their fall ramped up…

Strategies and budgeting for banks and financial institutions describing a barrage of economic, technological and demographic forces, converging to create unprecedented challenges and opportunities for financial Banks and institutions of all sizes. How individual banks navigate this complex landscape in 2024 will determine their competitiveness, profitability and even survival in the coming years. Those who effectively leverage data, build digital capabilities, and forge strategic fintech partnerships stand to gain market share. Covering institutions’ risk of…

The year 2023 is over and 2024 has already started. Unemployment has been low and, crucially, inflation is marking fall in most of the world. And yet, the economic outlook remains deeply uncertain. Higher interest rates are grinding their way through the system, wars are wreaking havoc around the world, and climate disasters are becoming more and more common. The macroeconomic situation in 2024 will remain difficult and uncertain, but there are key themes and…

Driven by a combination of at least five converging trends: the growing availability of real-time payment rails; increased interest from businesses seeking to avoid card processing fees and gain faster access to funds; increasing democratisation of payments; a move away from subscriptions to micropayments, and even a potentially big push. Compared to much of the world, has lagged on adoption of pay-by-bank, which is also commonly called “account-to-account,” or “A2A,” payments. Pay-by-bank entails payments being…

Attentiveness glows going off among bank credit cards suggest that lenders in general and card lenders specifically will have to watch spending trends closely as the return of inflation continues to exert new pressure on purchasing patterns. As consumers lean more and more heavily on credit cards, the effects of marketing efforts hatched during the pandemic and before may produce unpleasant side effects. And the impact of credit limit increases intended to promote “top of…

Over most of the past decade, fintech firms have experienced rapid growth and increasing consumer adoption, fueled by digitization, changing consumer behaviors, and abundant investor funding. In response to a continued inflow of investment funding, many fintechs prioritized hyper-growth above all else, focusing on acquiring users over achieving profitability.The funding environment shifted significantly as economic conditions deteriorated. Investors grew more risk-averse and emphasized profitability over growth. As a result, fintech valuations dropped precipitously. During the…

Strategic rebranding can drive big results across the board for financial institutions, with performance increases in acquisition and market share, with deepening relationships and service adoption, and with increased employee engagement. Different financial organisations achieved numbers like these through well-orchestrated strategic rebranding initiatives. Strategic rebranding can achieve the net member growth, growth in new customer acquisition, growth in young target acquisition (200-44 years old), loan growth, increase in mobile banking users, NPS, decrease in staff…