Community

Very well said David.  For years, I keep getting asked about our tech stack when I have modernation discussions.  It is not about the tech stack.  Sure it might be interesting to know what runs the new system and be confident that it can handle the load, but it is a SaaS service and should be thought of as a "black box" with unlimited scalability, high availability and deployed in a large super secure data center somewhere.  It is not only about how this modern system can help the bank in its relationship with its existing and hopefully new customers, but also about how a service being managed by hardware, software and banking professionals free the bank to get back to banking and relationships rather being consumed with IT.

I agree with Melvin.  Other than a few examples around the world, such as NAB’s UBank, the digital-only banks are attractive when they advertise higher interest rates paid on deposits, but it is difficult for them to be profitable even without brick and mortar and expensive legacy systems.  Putting these digital banks together by cherry-picking the latest and greatest technology and cloud providers is not as cheap as originally expected.  With the right technology, the traditional banks can copy the competitors’ innovative products and keep those customers from ever needing to leave.  Here in the US we’re seeing a rise in attempts to start these neobanks.  Both the ones applying (and still waiting) for banking licenses and the ones who use banking services behind them.  We’ll see how this shakes out.