Banking at a Crossroads: The State of Banking Modernization

For decades, banks were among the first and most eager early adopters of new technology. When mainframe computers arrived in the 1950s, for example, bankers were first in line with their checkbooks. Over the next 50 years, the banking revolution was fueled by evermore powerful hardware. 

And yet today, many banks find themselves lagging behind leaders in fintech and “Big Tech”—a catchall term for the top technology companies in a given industry. Companies in these categories are using cloud-based platforms that are better at meeting the modern customer’s expectations. They’re faster, cheaper and more dynamic.

“[Legacy banking systems] can’t fuel those digital experiences that consumers expect now,” says Barry O’Connell, managing director, Americas at Thought Machine.

One solution is open banking, which leverages cloud technology and open application programming interfaces (APIs) to provide greater financial transparency and control. “It’s a dramatic shift in how [banks] operate and run their business,” says Brad Steele, general manager, Americas, and managing director global partnerships at Thought Machine.

To learn more about digitalization in banking, Forbes partnered with core banking and payments software provider Thought Machine to survey 150 U.S.-based banking leaders. We synthesize their responses in this report—which explores the overall landscape of banking modernization, along with its risks, rewards and rates of adoption.

Finish Reading the Report