Whether you’ve been reading the papers, keeping up with the Twitterverse, attending industry forums or all of the above lately, it seems that talk of emerging competition in the banking industry from the likes of Bitcoin, Google or Apple in the U.S. or Tencent and Alibaba in China has reached a fever pitch. Here’s what some industry insiders have said in recent months.
- Jamie Dimon: “Technology companies “all want to eat our lunch. I mean every single one of them, and they’re going to try.”
- Marc Andressen: “Bitcoin offers a sweeping vista of opportunity to reimagine how the financial system can and should work in the Internet era, and a catalyst to reshape that system.”
- Accenture: “Consumers are more likely than ever to bank without branches and consider a non-traditional provider.”
- A Tweet from American Banker’s Digital Banking Summit: “Walking into a branch is going to seem as silly as walking into a Blockbuster in ten years.”
Given that Silicon Valley mainstays or financial upstarts do not face the same type of regulatory headwinds, physical footprint or legacy technology infrastructure, is the deck stacked against retail banks when it comes to these emerging disruptors?
Niti Badarinath, head of Mobile and Money Movement at U.S. Bank, says that banks shouldn’t dwell on the fact that the field is tilted and he says that those who do, do so at their detriment. In Badarinath’s view, it’s more important to consider the core strengths that banks have historically brought to bear and to see how these assets play out both today and in the future with consumer expectations.
Watch the video below for more on Badarinath’s take on the key ingredient needed to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage in a mobile and connected world.
Editor’s Note: Check back with us soon to see video excerpts from our bank of the future panel or follow the conversation at #fintech.
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