Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, today released a report that examines how banks intend to change their strategies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the findings, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on almost all (96%) European banks, with over three-quarters (78%) planning to change their future banking strategy to adapt to changes in consumer behaviour, such as the accelerated adoption of digital banking services and cashless payments.
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The study of 200 banking executives found that, as a result of growing demand for digital services, 80% of banks have accelerated their plans to digitally transform. Banks also predicted that digital transformation projects will need to be delivered in two-thirds (69%) of the time, with 89% saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically increased the speed of change in banking from years to months. The study also found that:
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- Three quarters (75%) of banks “weren’t prepared” for the scale of change that COVID-19 has triggered in consumer behaviour.
- 88% of banks were overwhelmed by the demand for online and mobile banking during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, banks say that digitally transforming to improve the online and mobile banking experience (76%), offering new, differentiated payments services (70%), investing in security and anti-fraud solutions (70%) and modernising core banking and payment platforms (66%) have all increased in priority.
“The future of banking has come around quicker than most expected. The onset of COVID-19 accelerated many trends in consumer behaviour, with more people moving away from cash and adopting digital services such as online and mobile banking,” comments Ian Johnson, Managing Director Europe at Marqeta.
“These are all trends that were set to slowly change over time and banks would gradually transform to adapt. But COVID-19 has drastically moved up the timescales, with 36% of banks saying COVID-19 has “opened up the floodgates” to modernising core banking and payment systems. Attitudes to modernisation have clearly changed. Banks are now speeding up efforts to transform because they know that the winners of the next age of banking will be determined by who can best adjust their strategy to adapt to the new normal.”
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