Community

Great article - and so true that the future of banking services is connecting to all sorts of data. Especially on the business side where  proactive financing can be secured to improve cashflow.

Over the past five years there have been dire predictions about the future of banking – where startups with a good idea will somehow put large global banks out of business. This is the same existential nonsense that has occurred in every technology cycle – and every time large banks with deep R&D budgets figure out how to incorporate new technology into their existing infrastructure. There should be no doubt that banks will once again take the best ideas in the marketplace and incorporate them within their existing franchise. FinTech today as always will do a great service to banks by challenging them to be better. History shows that the banks who are awake and listening will become bigger and better; and those who are asleep will fall by the wayside.

CommBank is monetizing the gold mine of data they have into a value-added service for consumers. Even better - it adds a social component to banking that will be appreciated by young customers because their lives are heavily influenced by social media. At a time when innovation in financial services seem to be the purview of non-bank start-ups, its great to see a traditional bank leverage the data assets it has and create new value for itself and it's customers.

Congratulations to Wells Fargo for their bold move towards borderless consumer banking. With such a strong trend in mobile banking on the consumer side, I am surprised that more banks are not gearing up for similar growth on the business banking side. Consumer-led adoption of innovation in banking followed by business adoption has a long track record. Mobile banking will undoubtedly be the next.

Corporate mobile banking is also a market opportunity with huge upside potential, yet it receives little coverage. Think about all the small businesses that call the front seat of their truck their office - and would benefit from mobile banking services. Being able to accept payments via mobile card readers, make an important payment to a supplier after checking an account balance - will become commonplace very soon. And will certainly be an competitive advantage for those banks that embrace this new channel. The added convenience and productivity in a SME's life will be worth a lot - and research shows that these people will be willing to pay fees for such valuable services.

Liz - I want a scene like that too....can you arrange?

Congratulations to Finextra! I couldn't agree more with Paul - that Finextra is indispensible and very much a part of the industry fabric. To all Finextra staff: Thank you for serving the financial technology community so well with a website that is rich with valuable content and a community that is vibrant.