The biggest changes to the financial services industry between now and 2020 will be cultural, according to panellists speaking at Sibos 2016.
Eileen Burbidge, partner at Passion Capital and special envoy for fintech for the UK Treasury, suggested that if financial institutions do not react quickly enough to innovation and technology change, “they will risk obsolescence”.
This threat does not necessarily come from fintech companies, she said, but from large technology players that will venture into the financial services space.
When asked what will affect the industry between now and 2020, Sanoke Viswanathan, chief administration officer and interim chief at J.P. Morgan, said that while technology developments, such as use of ‘the cloud’, will “make a huge difference to us”, the biggest change will be cultural.
This change will occur both within and between enterprises, and between large corporations and start-ups.
Burbidge reiterated this point. She noted that technology is in a steady state, “in that it continues to accelerate”, and continues to have an impact on the industry.
But she also pointed to a change in “how people’s expectations are changing and also how financial services institutions think about delivering to those expectations”.
She also argued that this will include the regulators, which she urged follow the example of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, “increasing innovation and competition and not simply about protecting incumbent industries”.
