The recent financial crisis in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey has forced banks to adapt and evolve in order to face the challenges ahead. Institutions need to formulate strategies so as to avoid the mistakes of the past and create the business environment of the future.
Following the spate of high-value fines imposed by regulators across the globe, corporate governance has recently turned its focus towards compliance. This, however, will need to change in the coming years. Futurist, trends and innovation expert Jim Carroll recently stated: “Sadly, with all the current focus on compliance, I’ve come to believe that there is a critical lack of future planning on many other corporate boards around the world.” As such, banks will have to shift their concentration to new technologies for the future.
There are certain emerging themes that will affect the business models of banking in the years to come. Increasingly, it appears smaller banks and those operating in emerging markets, such as Turkey and India, are generating more innovative ideas than the more traditional leaders. This has to do with the antiquated systems that most banks have heavily invested in, and are now reluctant to give up.
