Growing up, a family Christmas tradition was that my mother would ritualistically proclaim, “That’s the most beautiful tree ever.” It seems that way with Celent’s Model Bank awards, too. In our tenth year we’ve just been through more than 150 submissions, and just like my mother, I can say that this was the best crop yet. The quantity emphatically broke records, and the quality was outstanding. Ongoing innovation in banking technology is clearly beginning to pay off, and we’ve been privileged to learn an immense amount from all of the financial institutions that took the time to tell us about their how they’ve been using technology and innovation to serve customers better, become more efficient, and mitigate risk. Those who’ve followed the Model Bank Awards closely will note that our awards format has evolved to follow the market over the years. As the imperative to be more customer-centric has become more pressing, it has in turn begun to blur the lines between one of the oldest ways to divide banking: channels. And lines elsewhere begin to blur, too – for instance, should a mobile payments initiative be in mobile, or in payments, or in its own category? We’ve addressed this conundrum with five categories chosen to provide a broad cross-section of the banking landscape.

• Customer Experience
• Products
• Operations and Risk
• Legacy Transformation / IT Platform Innovations
• Emerging Innovation

The entries were exceedingly diverse, and came from repeat submitters and new participants. EMEA led the pack quantitatively, with APAC and North America roughly the same, and the strongest showing yet from Latin America. We expected to see nominations around digital banking, branch and core transformation, and payments, to name a few, and we weren’t disappointed. We were also pleasantly surprised to see intriguing initiatives involving employee productivity, cross-selling, AI, Biometrics, and Blockchain. Inevitably some will be disappointed; there were so many worthy initiatives that the judging was the most difficult by far. It’s certain, though, that Celent analysts will have a full plate for the next two months as we reach out to our Model Banks and complete the work of distilling their rich stories into pithy case studies that illustrate the incredible innovations banks are undertaking today. As for what you can expect between now and April 4 in Boston, look for a series of articles from the Celent analyst team highlighting some of the many insights that we’ve gleaned along the way. We’d recommend that you check back in; as we notify the winners and begin to develop our case studies, we’ll keep you posted with a series of articles like this one that detail some of the insights. And while space is filling up fast, there’s still time to register for 2017 Innovation & Insight Day, April 4, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. Find out more about last year’s event here.