Startups Make Impact on Retail Banking: Efma Finacle Report

Retail banking globally is undergoing a thorough shake-up with innovative technologies, from startup to digitisation, finds the eighth annual study 'Innovation in retail banking' released on Wednesday by Efma and Infosys Finacle.

According to the report, almost 73% of banks consider working with innovative startups as the best approach to access disruptive technologies. "Banks have largely embraced digitisation, and are aggressively adopting new technologies in order to innovate," states the report.

It also finds that the proportion of banks with an innovation strategy has increased from 37% in 2009 to 74% in 2016. "In addition, banks are now more likely to collaborate with startups in order to stay competitive, with nearly three quarters seeing them as the best way to leverage new technologies," the report states.

Infosys Finacle, part of Infosys product subsidiary EdgeVerve Systems and Efma, a global not-for-profit organisation, launched the annual study by collating data from 158 banks in 56 countries.

The study points out that the most disruptive new technology for banks is advanced analytics and big data, with 79% of them claiming that it is having a significant impact now, or will have within in the next two years.