Reinventing banking in a time of disruption
Banking is no stranger to disruptive change. The past 18 months have put financial institutions’ adaptability to the test and—as we argue in our Top 10 Banking Trends for 2022—brought the industry to a tipping point. The eighth annual Efma-Accenture Banking Innovation Awards show that the industry at large has passed this test with distinction, responding to the challenges of the pandemic by innovating at higher speeds and with more ambition than ever before. The awards, which recognize excellence in banking innovation, this year attracted a record-breaking 816 entries from nearly 300 institutions in 73 countries. Among them are transformative programs and projects that will help change the face of the industry for years to come—many of them rolled out in accelerated timeframes that would have been unthinkable pre-COVID.
Given the extent and speed of change in their and their customers’ environments, banks realized that they could no longer evolve in incremental steps. They needed to deliver bold innovations, often in the blink of an eye. The pace of innovation we witnessed during 2020 and 2021 was unprecedented, and is a clear indication not only of what banks are capable of, but also of the far-reaching transformation that lies ahead.
In addition to being innovative, banks in 2021 embraced the need to be more purpose-driven and human than before. Their creative efforts were not only about cost efficiency and customer experiences—they were about solving human problems. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, as one example, launched a coronavirus money plan to help customers keep an eye on their finances when their typical money flows got into trouble.
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