Banking-as-a-Service and embedded financial services are set to have a notable impact on the industry in the next 12 months, according to a global survey from Finastra.
Of 785 bankers from the US, UK, Singapore, France, Germany, Hong Kong and the UAE quizzed, 85% expect BaaS to make an impact over the next year, with 40% believing this will be "significant".
Meanwhile, 94% of those surveyed agree that Open Banking is important to their organisation, with 63% reporting that it’s enabled them to improve customer experience and 59% stating that it’s helped attract new types of customers.
Collaboration remains important to 94% of financial services institutions, though there remain several existing and new barriers surrounding regulation, security, and technology.
Complex regulations have been identified as a significant barrier, with 40% of global respondents agreeing. France (47%), Singapore (45%) and Germany (44%) picked this as their number one barrier.
An increase in security risk was identified as the top barrier by banks in the US, Hong Kong and the UAE (all 40%), while legacy systems and IT was cited as the top barrier to collaboration in the UK (48%).
Covid-19 has acted as an accelerator for businesses to adapt and invest in new technology and innovation, according to eight out of 10 respondents.
Eli Rosner, chief product and technology officer, Finastra, says: "Our findings show how financial institutions are already benefiting from Open Banking and, new this year, a growing role for BaaS.
"We believe that these initiatives have already started paving the way to true Open Finance, helping financial services institutions to develop and enhance the services they provide to their customers."