NEW YORK - Aug. 3, 2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdown have exposed problems in a variety of today's spheres. And the banking sphere turned out to be one of them. When the whole world switched to remote work, and people locked themselves in houses, banks were not ready for such a sharp change in disposition. Branches and offices were empty, causing unplanned losses, and the servers could not withstand the load when all the clients abruptly switched to mobile and web banking.
As a result, those financial organizations that had prepared a high-tech solution for clients in advance were the winners. They did it, not because of the possibility of a pandemic or other emergencies but, simply because they saw the future in this. They were in favor, and the rest of the banks faced a tough challenge: quick changes or slow inevitable death.
Digitalization needs to be approached comprehensively - the introduction of several "pop" technologies, while the system remains the same in general, will not produce an effect. At the same time, there is no use in developing a long-term concept. The optimal period for the transition of banking services to digital is 3-5 years. Any digital bank should be based on smart architecture. Such architecture is characterized by the weak cohesion of components, integration on the basis of business processes, and the adequate cost of subsequent support, as well as leaving the possibility for subsequent scaling.
The mobile-first strategy was trending even before the lockdown. Back in 2019, the majority of clients preferred to use banking services via a smartphone. Mobile banking applications are constantly evolving, and in order to be called a modern service, support for a number of features is required. Most importantly, they should include data security and integration with various services, such as Apple/Google Pay.
Many banks still work on Cobol-based systems that are more than 40 years old. When it became necessary to support such systems due to a sharp increase in the number of clients, the market simply couldn't provide the required number of specialists. We should think about modernization in advance, and a competent technical approach is important for the implementation of such a project. In his article, the Head of Andersen's FinTech department Denis Ostapchenya considered in detail all the nuances of digitalization of modern banks, drawing on our experience of developing projects for giants such as Tinkoff, BNP Paribas, and Sberbank.
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