Building the Financial Institution of the Future

Are you ready? (No, really, are you?)

From technology to consumer needs, you’ve been hearing about the seismic shifts in your world for decades, but many of your peers in the financial industry have done little more than react to new trends and regulation. Today, both new and old forces of change are creating the perfect storm for disruption—and innovation.

Social Network Capital

The days of institutional experts are over, and the social space is transforming how people engage with their money. In Quarter 3 of 2017 alone, Venmo processed over $9 billion in payments. No wonder big bank-backed Zelle and Apple Pay are scrambling to keep up in the P2P payment fray.
The Next Trust Wave

Since the 90s, we’ve been bemoaning the loss of consumer trust. Now we’re seeing people entrust every aspect of their lives to technology companies not only out of convenience, but also perceived shared values. Financial industry players need to play within the new rules of the trust game.
Disloyal Disciples

Well-trained by a dynamic market, savvy customers demand better incentives, pricing, and features—and if you don’t satisfy them, someone else will. Newcomers and veterans alike have made switching providers so easy and attractive that loyalty is at stake in every interaction.
The Rookie Advantage

Whether it’s in payments, lending, or online banking, start-ups who ruthlessly focus on customer experience are nipping at veteran heels. And with different and often looser regulations, these new kids have a playbook all their own.

The time to act is now. What’s your game plan?

To defend your position as a leader and innovator, you can’t simply keep up with the changing times. Instead, you must harness and use emerging threats to your advantage and reinvent the way you do business.

Social Finance

New Models of Collaboration & Connection

As a smart, established player, you have the power to employ your customer bases and related data to leapfrog competitors and create connections not only with customers, but between your customers. By connecting customers around common goals and desires, you can amplify your own value and voice.

Trust 2.0

Renewing the Customer Relationship

Overall trust in financial institutions may be down—but 83% of customers still trust banks to protect their data, assets, and privacy. In order to deepen relationships based in partnership, you need to build upon this existing trust through a seamless experience and transparency not only about your processes, but also your shared values. What do you believe in?

CX-Led Followers

The Era of Customer Experience inFinancial Services

Financial institutions have always have been built around products and services, but today’s customers demand experiences beyond transaction. You need to offer deeper guidance and coaching from beginning-to-end to guarantee customers are using products and services most successfully—and then you need to prove their ROI.

Cultural Currency

From Protocol to Problem Solving

The financial services companies that will lead tomorrow’s transformations are already beginning their own internal transformation. You now need to ensure that you not only have the right leadership and technical abilities, but also the right behaviors and mindsets around innovation to move from a world of everyday improvement to one of disruption.

So, what do you do next?

As an innovation company, we work with the world’s leading financial institutions to turn global shifts into competitive advantage every day.

In partnership, we can help you:

Build new business models that answer evolving consumer, cultural, and commercial needs

Design new value propositions, platforms, and experiences based in human insight that move products beyond transaction

Embed a culture of innovation that ensures you have the internal creative capability to tackle ever-shifting challenges

This POV was co-written by Sumita Bhattacharya

Sumita is a partner at ?What If!, leading commercial strategy. She is relentless in her pursuit of unique ideas to accelerate to market. She ensures innovation contributes to revenue, and puts her commercial expertise to work building capability across leading organizations.

Contact Sumita

This POV was co-written by Mark Newhouse

Mark is a keen observer, with the imagination of a designer and the resolve of an entrepreneur. As the Managing Director of ?What If!’s San Francisco, he helps clients respond to future forces, connect with leading-edge innovators and pursue new ventures.

Contact Mark

Never stop asking…
?What If!