The formula that could help techs beat banks – and what banks can do

Janak Rogers

Host, The ANZ Way podcast

The tech giants are coming for the banks, ANZ Group Executive Digital Banking Maile Carnegie says, and they have the perfect customer formula to take them on.

On the ANZ Way podcast series, Carnegie says the biggest growth in competition in the banking sector over the next decade will come from outside the traditional players.

" You’re seeing these large tech companies wanting to move into financial services." - Maile Carnegie

“I think there is going to be a dramatic increase in competition in financial services over the next five to ten years,” she said.

“My assumption is we are going to see some competition from fintechs, But I think the big competition is going come from the tech giants.”

She said global behemoths like Amazon, Alibaba, Google and Facebook would all look to grab a slice of the banking pie.

“You’re seeing these large tech companies wanting to move into financial services,” she said. “One of the reasons I’m so obsessive about us needing to focus on the customer… is because that is the formula that is going to allow those tech companies to win.”

As the price of Bitcoin surges alongside interest in the unit, Carnegie said ANZ, while it was yet to dive into cryptocurrency, is “incredibly bullish” on distributed ledger tech - and actively working in the space.

She said blockchain had the capability to “drive an extraordinary amount of customer value” over the next 12 to 18 months across the sector.

“If I’m honest with you I’m surprised at the degree of traction cryptocurrencies have had,” she said. “If you said to me what was the moment that made me raise my head and say ‘What?’, it was when Japan, an incredibly conservative country... said they were going to endorse cryptocurrency, that’s when I was like, holy smokes, this is moving faster than I assumed.”

She also touched on the importance of banks getting their customer segmentation right as the spread of banking services rapidly increases. Listen to the podcast above to find out more.

Janak Rogers is the host of The ANZ Way

The views and opinions expressed in this communication are those of the author and may not necessarily state or reflect those of ANZ.