DFS 2019: C-level execs with “no idea” holding back innovation
Governance procedures and C-level executives with a lack of technological experience are holding back innovation in the financial sector.
That’s according to a panel at the Digital Finance Summit in Brussels this week, which discussed what measures could be taken to improve the deployment of new technology by incumbent financial institutions.
The panel at Digital Finance Summit
“We need the right structure at banks to make sure we can go live as soon as possible,” says Michael Aamand, head of commercial analytics at Danske Bank.
“There is a lot of regulation and committees that you need to go through. If we tore all that down we’d be able to go a lot faster.” Aamand adds that there are a lot of people sitting at C-level in organisations who have “no idea”.
Kara Kennedy, custody product manager at BNY Mellon, adds that when the bank works with tech partners that are well educated in terms of regulation and implementation processes it makes “a huge difference” in the rate of adoption.
“We can get involved in a new and exciting technology and at the proof of concept stage it looks great, but when you look to take that out to the wider business it becomes much more challenging from a timeline perspective.”
For Jonathan Neubourg, head of digital innovation and channel strategy at Belfius Bank, sometimes banks must take things upon themselves to search for a change in regulation. “Sometimes just going to talk to [regulators] directly can help in changing a mindset.”
He adds that from an implementation perspective that everything new that is done must be done so with the customer in mind, or it will just end up a “waste of time and money”.
Danske’s Aamand agrees. “Sometimes the customer can be forgotten. We all love technology and working with data but to be honest I don’t think many [developers in banks] know why they’re working with this technology. There can also be a big difference in what the customer wants and what they say they want.”
