The banking industry will come to look back on 2020 as a uniquely challenging year, but one in which impressive things were achieved against the odds. There have been many lessons learned through this process, and further learnings to take on board for 2021. Across the industry, financial institutions are raising the bar when it comes to technology strategy and product innovation, meaning that a failure to embrace the lessons and operational benefits from Covid-19 risks falling behind competitors. Projects that were in the pipeline for 2-3 years in the future are being brought forward. In short, the future is now and the industry needs to respond.
In this fourth and final wave of Celent’s Covid-19 Banking Insight Panel polls, we examine the impact that the response to the pandemic has had on the way that financial institutions are planning for 2021, as well as the longer-lasting changes to culture and operational processes. Many banks are emerging from the Covid period as more responsive and nimble organisations. Alongside this, strong growth in IT budgets for 2021 point to something of an arms race when it comes to the digital experience.
While there remains a good deal of uncertainty about the coming year, one thing is very clear: succeeding in 2021 will require strong technology leadership, with as much of an emphasis needed on building the agility for future change as addressing short-term objectives.
Key findings from this survey include:
- 51% of respondents report that Covid-19 has changed the way that technology-related decisions are made in their institution.
- 69% report that they are a more agile organization as a result of Covid-19.
- 54% of respondents report that open banking initiatives and partnerships are now a more important part of their product innovation strategy.
- 88% of our panel expect to see IT spending increase in online and mobile banking at their institutions.
- 68% expect to increase their spending in automation for loan applications and processing in the coming year.
