Digitalisation in consumer banking

Abstract

There are a lot of developments in the financial industry and new opportunities in digital developments seem to be endless and new entrants on the market will increase competition, even foreign competition. The results from this research are important for the banking industry because it can give an idea on what to expect in consumer banking, help banks realize how digitalisation can affect their business and how they can use the results to improve their strategy. The purpose of this thesis is to answer the research question of how digitalisation will affect consumer banking in the next 10 years. The research method of choice is the Delphi method, where a group of hand-picked individuals with knowledge or experience in the financial industry, will take part in a research that will help answer the research question. The idea of the Delphi method is to try to achieve a consensus among participants on the given dilemma by asking a series of questionnaires. It took two rounds of questions to establish a consensus among those participants.These results indicate that digitalisation will clearly have an impact on consumer banking in 10 years, it differs however where those impacts occur. The specialists confirm that technological developments will shape the future of the banking industry, but these changes need to be conducted carefully. The main findings from the research are that digital payments will be dominant in 10 years, there is however no consensus on whether there will be a need for personal bank account. Participants agree on that financial services through digital channels will be dominant in 10 years and that the need for human interaction will still be demanded. Rates and prices will be the most important factor in competition among banks in 10 years but having a good digital service platform will give a competitive advantage. There is consensus that banks need to be able to work with third parties and foreign competition will increase in the next 10 years. The legal environment will also be in favor for all those non-banks and other financial institutions and give them a competitive advantage.