Fintech is seen as the biggest disruptor according to financial institutions, but less than half have a fintech strategy, according to a KPMG survey.
The KPMG report Forging the future: how financial institutions are embracing fintech to evolve and grow found that even though emerging technologies have become a disruptor of financial services value chains many institutions are falling behind in implementing effective strategies.
The greatest source of disruption according to respondents was emerging financial technologies (57%), followed by growing global regulatory uncertainty (51%), and new business models (46%).
Only 46% of respondents said that their institution has a clear fintech strategy in place, 42% said that it is in development and 10% have no fintech strategy at all. Of those with a strategy only 47% believe it is well aligned to the challenges.
The report surveyed 160 financial institutions across 36 countries and found that over 70% ranked enhancing customer service as a top objective of their fintech strategy in addition to transforming existing capabilities (48%).
Overall, 61% of respondents say their institutions have taken a partnering approach to fintech in the past, while 81% are currently partnering with start-ups or plan to do so in the next 12 months.
KPMG global co-leader of fintech Murray Raisbeck said: “We’re seeing many financial institutions continue to struggle to build and execute a comprehensive strategy around fintech. In many cases, fintech innovation is left to individual functional areas, without any kind of overarching strategy across the organization.”
