To deliver growth, bank execs lean into transformation
Amid ongoing volatility, bank leaders see opportunities to create new value. The key? Sticking the landing on enterprise change.
Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
“Change” is not a word often used to describe the banking industry. But it’s front of mind for many banking leaders as they search for new ways to create value for their companies, according to our latest industry survey.
Despite unprecedented volatility—macroeconomic headwinds, geopolitical uncertainty, technology risks, and regulatory activity—the banking leaders in our new survey were largely bullish on growth prospects. A big driver of that optimism is a commitment to change, with leaders expecting much of the growth to come from transformative new opportunities that redefine how they develop products, operate their businesses, interact with customers, and manage risks.
Indeed, activating enterprise transformation is an overarching theme in our new report. It’s no longer a lofty on-the-roadmap goal, but a “today” business imperative that ensures banking institutions stay competitive, enhances capabilities, and creates new value in an era of compound volatility. Here are some of the highlights from our new report, which included feedback from 200 US bank executives.
Growth through change
Banking leaders certainly have a lot on their plates, as our 32-page industry report details – interest rates, tax code changes, market gyrations, disruptive technologies, and cyber risks – and that’s just a partial to-do list.
Despite the complex challenges on multiple fronts, the executives in our survey remained optimistic about growth as they press the accelerator on changes that can future-proof their businesses. Broadly, our survey looked at three overall areas—here are some key takeaways from each:
Growth and strategy:
- Two-thirds of the bank executives were confident about growth prospects.
- To improve profitability, 59 percent were targeting inorganic growth, and 52 percent cited cost transformations.
- Cybersecurity (45 percent) was flagged as the top strategic risk, well ahead of interest rate pressures (38 percent) and disruptive technologies (30 percent).
Operations and modernization:
- Generative AI (GenAI) is front of mind here—65 percent of respondents said GenAI will be essential in their go-forward operations, and half said they expect GenAI to handle as much as 5 percent of their teams’ tasks within a year.
- Online banking (62 percent) and mobile banking (57 percent) were the top priorities for improved customer experience, while 8 in 10 said they plan to modernize and expand digital payment options.
Risk, regulatory, and tax environment:
- Regulatory activity remains an enormous headache, and respondents expect that it will continue to increase in most areas, led by cyber risk (80 percent), data governance (68 percent), and financial risk management (60 percent).
- Heightened tax enforcement from the IRS (58 percent) and global tax authorities (55 percent) were cited as the top two tax risks, with implementation of the global minimum tax ranked as a close third (53 percent).
The way forward
In many ways, our survey captures a US banking industry at a crossroads. Banks face an increasingly complex and constrained environment, and the survey clearly shows that leaders expect this pressure on growth to continue. Meanwhile, customer relationships get more tenuous by the day as digital-first consumers seek enhanced products and services.
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Against that backdrop, it’s not surprising that leaders are focused on future-proofing their institutions with enterprise technology initiatives that enable their organizations to become more digitized, data driven, and customer-centric. Beyond just technology, though, this future-proofing will also require nurturing talent, streamlining risk management, and optimizing how the company operates.
To navigate this enterprise transformation crossroads, our report also identifies a dozen recommended steps for banking leaders to consider, including the following:
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For all of the recommendations, as well as a deep-dive on the full survey, download the report now.
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