Go Time: New Opportunities Varied, Vast and Right Around the Bend – If You Prepare Now

The convergence of banks and brokerages happened slowly over decades, culminating with a truly seismic shift in the late 1990s. Glass-Steagall's repeal saw to that. By contrast, neobanks and prediction markets and crypto exchanges have melded together just in the span of a few years.

Banking executives now face a multi-front competitive threat. A comparison of the typical bank versus fintech rivals and digital asset platforms reveals a capability gap that widens by the day.

Traditional banking and deposits, lending, as well as domestic payments and investing, among other business segments, represent areas that are no longer exclusive terrain. Digital asset services and tokenized fund offerings are, on the other hand, likely well out of your wheelhouse.

Just as financial technology has given rise to a host of smart applications done with a click of a screen, blockchain technology is putting in place not just another new-fangled product to distribute while it's in fashion; on-chain nativeness is an entire overarching architectural framework that cuts across everything a bank touches.

Thinking about digital wallets and related functionality as the new bank accounts can open up a panoply of ancillary fee channels. Long gone are the days of "lazy" savings accounts. The retail consumers of tomorrow will expect competitive yields whether in the form of a staking token or a stablecoin reward – and they are beingabetted by AI programs that automatically search these vehicles out. The embrace of blockchain – to prepare an on-chain offering -- is not just a chance to keep clients from going off to some other platform. It's a chance to monetize built-in demand that most likely already exists.

There's also an opportunity to expand internationally through tokenized offerings to some $9 trillion worth of overseas assets that is actively seeking a U.S. financial home and U.S.-linked account experiences. Tokenized assets bring economies of scale and efficiencies to the firms that transact at scale wholesale institutionally; but there's a range of fees to be made by retail-focused banks that are capable of facilitating digital custody, trading. Now add in a layer of cross-selling and next-generation engagements, which could take the form of say, connectivity to a digital predictions market. "It's the same relationship," as one of our sales team members, an ex-banker, likes to point out in pitch meetings. "Just an entirely new asset class."

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